I’m something of a slavery buff myself.

I’ve got some book reviews coming up of Adam Rothman’s book Slave Country: American Expansion and the Origins of the Deep South and Randolph B. Campbell’s book An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821-1865. I’m interested in the spread of slavery around the rim of the Gulf Coast in the early 19th century and how that created the culture of the Old Southwest.

This is less an exhibit of antebellum slavery though than a window into the mindset of the Baby Boomer cuckservative who believes True Conservatism is synonymous with classical liberalism:

“Life-sized photographs of the bodies of four African American people dangled from nooses on Barney’s tree in Glenn Beck’s studio on Wednesday evening in Dallas. Beck didn’t kill them, but some white man did. They were images of slaves who had been hanged in the past for real and then hanged again in the present, this time from a tree once used for a children’s television show starring a purple dinosaur.

They were part of 12 Score & 3 Years Ago, an interactive and immersive slavery exhibition by Beck’s Mercury One foundation. It opens to the public on Saturday and runs until July 7. Beck will even show you around if you pay for the VIP tour. …

In the VIP lounge area, Beck appeared onstage sounding like a Southern gospel preacher. With short, white hair and goatee, he wore a black jacket, black vest and blue jeans. The crowd is a mixture of new and old money and far more diverse than I expected. Beck acknowledges that he is probably committing “political suicide” for hosting this kind of exhibition. Then he begins his talk about 40 million people enslaved today and how no one is paying attention. …”

LOL … what does this have to do with slavery?

The Glenn Beck cult isn’t even in the right century or region. The historical Klan didn’t look like this and it was founded in the Reconstruction era after the abolition of slavery. Southern planters didn’t go around lynching blacks for no reason. Slaves were their investment portfolio.

This is what you call a nutty Yankee enthusiast.

Culturally speaking, I have nothing in common with these people.