Sen Ron Johnson (R-WS) is scared people will be hurt or killed if schools teach Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), under which “Racism is not merely the product of prejudice but ... is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons.”

This concern about backlash, from those who do not appreciate this is the Land of the Free, has been stated before. Referred to as the “immediate peril” it was blamed on “the incessant and violent agitation” against slavery over the previous quarter century.

The agitation, said this person, was a “malign influence on the slaves and inspired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence a sense of security no longer exists around the family alter. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehension of servile insurrections.”

“Many a matron throughout the South retires at night in dread of what may befall herself and children before the morning.” The speaker was President James Buchanan in his last address to Congress, December 6, 1860.

Buchanan was more concerned over white women in households that owned slaves losing sleep than he was over the evils of slavery. Until January 20, 2017, Buchanan was considered by many scholars to have been the worst POTUS in history.

The text of Buchanan’s speech is fact. One other matter bears attention. Many of the same folks who say we should forget about slavery because it is ancient history also extol the virtues of the States whose leaders committed treason in 1860-61 and seceded from the Union.

The Confederacy did not advance a noble cause. It defended the most egregious example of racism - chattel slavery. Those who advocate that sick philosophy and say it will rise again are outnumbered by those of us who advocate for civil rights.

Karma can be a nasty thing. Some give it a Calvinistic twist. On the other hand, I favor Hobbes more greatly. He observed we are engaged in the war of “all against all.” Then again, Hobbes stopped in his tracks at mention of a tuna fish sandwich.