Know Nothings

Too Much of Nothing

Now, too much of nothing
Can make a man feel ill at ease
One man’s temper might rise
While another man’s temper might freeze
In the day of confession
We cannot mock a soul
Oh, when there’s too much of nothing
No one has control 

Too much or not, nothing should never be considered a virtue. 

Saying that you Know Nothing, if you are not Sgt. Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes, might sound like an insult.   But it became the name associated with a political party when the phrase was said so often by its members.  In the 1850’s, the Know Nothing Party was an anti-Catholic, anti-immigration, populist and xenophobic movement, that because it was also anti-slavery was absorbed into the nascent Republican Party.  Does this platform sound familiar?  It may be fair to say that the descendants of the Know Nothings have captured the current Republican Party.

You reap what you sow.  The January 6^th invasion of the US Capitol shows the danger of catering to those who Know Nothing.  It has taken more than a hundred years, but isn’t time for the Republican Party to decide whether Know Nothings belong in the Republican Party.  If they have captured it completely, perhaps those remnants who are not Know Nothings should leave and form a new party.