How to create a monster--- approve the Senate immigration bill

History seems in vogue these days.  There was a discussion of the Dred Scott decision in  previous post.  Might as well look at the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the subsequent Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act approved of the concept of popular sovereignty.  Popular sovereignty allowed the people of the territories to decide amongst themselves on the institution of slavery in their territory.  It seemed fair and democratic.  But the result was disastrous.  It destroyed the Whig Party, created a new party ( the GOP ) that was plainly hostile to the South, which led to the Bleeding Kansas mini civil war that was to determine the status of slavery in Kansas.

It looks like the GOP is making the same kind of mistake that Stephen Douglas made.  They want to appear to bow before the public will and approve a really bad idea under the aegis of popular opinion.  However, if it appears that the public finds the GOP hoodwinked them into approving the bill, and the Democrats double cross them by going around it, the GOP will lose its ass and maybe its very existence.  That scenario is a analogue of Bleeding Kansas.  As settlers streamed into Kansas so as to affect the outcome of the election, so could history repeat itself.  The temptation to flood the voting rolls will be too much for the Democrats to resist.  If such happens, the war could be on.

The result could be unpredictable.  If the GOP goes away, the mood of the rest who are still conservative, just may get nasty.  This could lead anywhere.  The talk of secession should not be taken lightly.  Nor should the talk of a constitutional convention.  If these politicians keep playing around, they just may put the entire country at risk.  Is that what they want?

We already have red and blue states.  We already have racial politics.  Compare those with the North and South just before the Civil War.  Do these politicians really want to repeat the history that started a national conflagration?