Will there be a Jefferson Davis sequel to Abe Lincoln?

Lincoln is getting all the award nominations and turn out at the box office – with our nation so divided, shouldn’t there be a sequel?
by Mark Vogl
Thursday, January 10, 2013

The debate and division in America today is as polarizing as it was in the ante bellum era. The issues are very similar in terms of the role of the federal government, with the exception of slavery. (though abortion and the murder of 55 million innocents is at least comparable to the tragedy of American slavery.) Progress, a term embraced by the left to define their agenda takes humanity back to the Medieval times, is the source of great strain on the national fabric. And secular humanism is running roughshod over the First Amendment, as a President and his administration attack the churches of Christianity.

Is the coincidence that this is the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, otherwise known as the War for Southern Independence, of Divine inspiration? Even secession is back in the news as the federal government once again attempts to assert its presence in the states and the daily life of its citizens through Obama Care. So, it would seem a perfect opportunity to make a movie about Jefferson Davis, a patriot politician who gave all he had for his people and their Cause. The rough treatment Davis has endured from historians is illustrative of what George Washington would have received had England defeated the colonies!

A movie about Jefferson Davis and the Cause of the South, one that minimized slavery while elevating the other more important causes could illustrate that America is facing another revolutionary time in its life. (Slavery was not threatened by Lincoln, there was insufficient states in opposition to slavery change the Constitution.)

And it is here that the American Conservative movement demonstrates its inability to compete with its Liberal counterpart. The American Liberal movement is head and shoulders above the American Conservative movement in understanding that politics is about shaping the complete environment within the nation. To some extent, some Conservatives have begun to counter with entertainment, movies etc. But these early experiments have not had the money or the celebrity presence of the Left. But it goes further than that. The left uses its ideology to make money! The Right has failed to grasp the concept. The Lincoln movie is making money while it helps sow the seeds of the Obama revolution.

Jefferson Davis is a character in American history that most would place beside Benedict Arnold or John Wilkes Booth. And yet, Davis was the consummate American politician. Prior to secession he was a national figure whose name was respected across the land, north and south. Davis was actually nominated by the Massachusetts delegation for President of the United States more than fifty times at the Democratic Convention in Charleston, South Carolina in 1860. It was a man from Massachusetts who said that only Jefferson Davis could defeat Lincoln and prevent war. Davis is a heroic American figure in many respects. A war hero, a popular representative of his people, an effective and efficient President, Davis has a story which has not been told. And yet, where is the conservative and Southern money to finance such a project?

Interesting that America can have a sympathetic view of a terrorist, John Brown. Brown not only attempted to raise armed resurrection within the nation, but slaughtered unarmed men in the presence of their families in Kansas simply because of their political views. But is John Brown’s evil highlighted for school children, or is he, like Bonnie and Clyde or Al Capone some kind of American legend?

A sympathetic movie towards Jefferson Davis would help Americans understand that good people can differ, they can differ so much that war can result. Does America want a second civil war? Could it happen? Or do we want to hide our heads in the sand, condemn the first war and think that it could never be repeated? History would tell us it could happen again.

A movie about Jefferson Davis could help Americans understand that each side has its sins, and it’s good. Neither the Left nor the Right is without sin. Both have sins which can kill the idea of America. Part of the promise of America is that the debate between Left and Right can remain peaceful. But, if one side is silenced, as Ben Shapiro indicates in his book could be the goal of the Left … then violence replaces dialogue.

Would a movie about Davis be a marketing nightmare? Probably … in part because the left wing media would chastise it, and Rush and Hannity and all the conservative talk show hosts would be too afraid to promote it. Sounds like a good Mel Gibson project. But there still is a South, and there are 80 million American descendants of Confederate veterans. That many? Yes…

America deserves a movie about Jefferson Davis, about what the whole secession thing was about. Of course slavery was involved, but if you look at the Constitution of the Confederate States of America you will see that the South anticipated many of today’s issues, and provided a guide through the same murky waters we traverse today! The issues which divided America in 1860 were not solely, or even mostly slavery. The issues were about the role of the federal government within the republic, and the future of America. Sounds like today, doesn’t it?

©2013 Mark Vogl

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