Is Fiscal Cliff our Dred Scott case?

Clancy Hughes, thank you for your excellent Point of View piece printed last week. You introduced forthrightly the possibility of Civil War brought closer by the provocations of the Tea Party in the U.S. House. The Great Civil War of 1860 was likewise provoked by a 1857 U.S. Supreme Court decision (famously called “The Dred Scott Case”). The Court established that “All blacks — slaves as well as free — were not and could never become citizens of the United States and therefore have no right to sue in a court of law.”
This preposterous decision had it that a Southern Bossman’s (piece of property) slave (as property) could not sue any more than could the Bossman’s suitcase. Southern Bossmen were getting ready to take their slaves along with them to farm in Minnesota and New York. Abolitionists were fit to be tied. The Supreme Court was their last legal resort. They had been turned down in the House and Senate and there was nothing they could do to keep slavery from creeping Northward.
Will the Fiscal Cliff be our Dred Scott Case? Both of these show how prejudiced lawmakers can thwart the proper functioning of our nation. Thanks, again, Clancy for alerting us of the importance of the Fiscal Cliff.
James Donally