I appreciate your attempt to defend the Party of Slavery from its past crimes. Your response is a prime example of what my comment was pointing out.

"Democrats are quite aware and to my knowledge have not tried to hide under a rock about the reality of the southern Democratic Parties maintenance of slavery 150 years ago."

Your knowledge about the Democratic Party's lies about their past is clearly incomplete. Perhaps you should begin your investigation simply by going to their official website.

From their "who we are page" -- and at the top of their timeline:

"For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights, health care, Social Security, workers’ rights, and women’s rights. We are the party of Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, FDR, and the countless everyday Americans who work each day to build a more perfect union. Take a look at some of our accomplishments, and you’ll see why we’re proud to be Democrats."

That is correct, the Democratic Party claims that they have led the fight for civil rights for more than 200 years -- you know, when they were fighting their war for slavery. Their timeline begins at 1920. Almost 100 years after when their history actually began. Quite literally, they are rewriting their own history. And, apparently, you are unaware of it. As I suspect many Democrats are.

Actually the civil war was quite "clean" in its division between Democrats -- the south, and Republicans, the north. There were no Republican representatives in the south fighting for slavery. And the vast majority of politicians in the north that supported the war and later the 13th amendment were Republican. Only a minority were Democrats. And that includes Andrew Johnson, who took the presidency after Lincoln was assassinated by a Democrat. Andrew Johnson proceeded to take reparations that were given by Republican general William Sherman away from black people who were newly emancipated. For the 13th amendment, every rep who voted nay was a Democrat -- and that was in the north.

While the Republicans were not all abolitionists, the politicians who were abolitionists were Republicans. While Lincoln was more motivated to keep the union together than he was to emancipate black slaves, he still viewed slavery as a moral evil -- and had there not been Republican abolitionists, slavery may not have been abolished.

And yes, it does simplistically land on the Democratic Party's head: they fought a war to keep it going. The Confederacy was compromised of Democrats The Union was led by the Republican Party. And the statistical representation of congress and how they voted for the 13th amendment at the time proves this. 600,000 people died in that war. And the Democratic Party then took the reparations given by Republicans and fought to oppress the civil rights granted to black people by the Republican Party following that war. To argue otherwise is just swallowing the propaganda by the Party of Slavery. I am not a Republican, and the Republican party has been guilty of atrocious things, such as being the primary architect of the Iraq War, but it deserves the acknowledgement that it fought a war that ended slavery and the Democratic Party fought a war that attempted to extend slavery.

The reparations discussion isn't that complex; its only complex because Democrats want to defend the Party of Slavery from its crimes because it is now politically convenient for them that the Party of Slavery does not lose the power and wealth it acquired from its crimes. Democrats don't want to risk losing power and wealth, even if that power and wealth is derived from slavery and racial terrorism.

If the Democratic Party were perceived just like any organization is perceived, say like Exon Mobil, there would be no question about the moral culpability of its past behavior. If Exxon Mobil fought a war to keep people enslaved 150 years ago, they would still be liable for the damages, and the fact that Chevron did some racist things 100 years after, but still no where near as atrocious as what Exon Mobil did, would not relieve Exxon Mobil of that debt nor would it make Chevron responsible for what Exon Mobil did.

You should read their lie again, and perhaps reconsider your defense of them.

"For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights, health care, Social Security, workers’ rights, and women’s rights."

If reparations are owed to the descendants of American slaves, they are owed by the Democratic Party moreso than any other entity or person. That the Democratic Party is now attempting to place the moral blame for the legacy of slavery on innocent Americans when they are most responsible is an abomination. But not surprising, given their history. Don't be a part of that history by defending it -- condemn it.

I'm all for Democrats continuing to be Democrats, just do so while "speaking truth to power" and holding the party they are loyal to accountable. I haven't witnessed that yet though. Unless we count myself as a Democrat, as I did vote Democrat most of my life and even knocked on doors campaigning for Obama for 3 months in 2008. Although... I consider myself just independent.