Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Confederates, Republicans and Racists





The Huffington Post reported on the wonderful celebration going on in Virginia this month. That new governor is really great for state pride, don't you think?


Virginia's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell has declared April to be "Confederate History Month," the first time in 8 years that such a proclamation has been issued in the state.

In the statement, McDonnell says that the Confederate history "should not be forgotten, but instead should be studied, understood and remembered," and that its leaders "fought for their homes and communities and Commonwealth in a time very different than ours today."


Over at Driftglass, where I found this wonderful news, here's what they had to say.

No. its leaders did not fight for "their homes and communities and Commonwealth."

Its leaders fought for the right to keep other human being as slaves: to work them like animals and kill them at will.

Its leaders fought for the right to enforce the institution of slavery with state-sanctioned terror and murder.

Its leaders were known as "Confederates".

To preserve and defend their monstrous institution, Confederates spent centuries constructing massive social, economic, religious and cultural fortifications around it.

Like hemophilia, Confederates passed that comprehensive social, economic, religious and cultural worldview down generation after generation.

Like syphilis, to this day Confederates continue to spread that social, economic, religious and cultural worldview everywhere they go.

About 40 years ago, the Confederates changed their name.

Now they are known as "Republicans".

Yes, indeed, racism is alive and well in America, especially among our conserviative friends. I don't particularly go for those comparisons to hemophilia and syphilis, I think of it more as a poison, a mental poison, but the point is valid. It's been passed down through generaltions, especially virulent and vibrant in the South.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

23 comments:

  1. "Confederates, Republicans and Racists." You seem to be repeating yourself.

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  2. Wasn't Lincoln one of the original Republicans?

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  3. Just goes to show you how massively ignorant of history you liberals are.

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  4. mikey:

    Educate us, moron. For a guy who self identifies as a Libertarian you sure do go out of your way to be an apologist for the GOP.

    TS:

    This is from wiki, but I suspect it's pretty accurate:

    "The Republican Party was first organized in 1854, growing out of a coalition of anti-slavery Whigs and Free Soil Democrats who mobilized in opposition to Stephen Douglas's January 1854 introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act into Congress, a bill which repealed the 1820 Missouri Compromise prohibition on slavery north of latitude 36° 30' in the old Louisiana purchase territories, and so was viewed as an aggressive expansionist pro-slavery maneuver by many. Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a radical vision of modernizing the United States—emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers."

    Until Lyndon Johnson had the good sense (and the humanity to overcome his own deeply ingrained prejudice) to listen to Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights activists--as well as his own party's liberals--and started the process that culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the U.S. southern states were all reliably (and nearly monolithically)Democrat. When he signed the civil rights act into law, Johnson lost the south. Since 1964 a number of southern politicians have switched parties, including both Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond--two of the U.S. congress most outspoken segregationists. Since 1964 the american south has been fertile ground for the Nixon, Reagan and both Poppy and Shrub's brand of divisive politics. It's the GOP that does the Willy Horton thing.

    If Lincoln was living in this era he would be much closer to Obama in both his policies and his temprament. It is quite possible that he would be a progressive democrat.

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  5. Of course, we would be remiss if we didn't mention NRA member and CCW holder Charles Alan Wilson was arrested for making repeated death threats to Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).

    WRT VA, a bit of a history lesson for our mouthbreathing Mike W: Alexander Stephens, the VP of the CSA, stated: "Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."

    --JadeGold

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  6. "Of course, we would be remiss if we didn't mention NRA member..."

    Any proof or is this just more of your lies?

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  7. Summary from this thread:

    Abraham Lincoln secretly ran the Confederacy and invented slavery for his NRA masters.

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  8. "Summary from this thread:

    Abraham Lincoln secretly ran the Confederacy and invented slavery for his NRA masters.

    April 8, 2010 1:29 PM"

    It is no wonder that I think you're nearly as big an idiot as mikey.

    Please explain how you arrived at that conclusion. I mean, I'm fascinated--not in a pleasant way--that someone could read plain english and come up with a hash like that remark you made. Seriously, on what do you base that conclusion?

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  9. It is no wonder that I think you're nearly as big an idiot as mikey.

    Well if anyone in this thread is an expert it'd be you Demo, you've proven that.

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  10. "Please explain how you arrived at that conclusion. I mean, I'm fascinated--not in a pleasant way--that someone could read plain english and come up with a hash like that remark you made. Seriously, on what do you base that conclusion?"

    Mostly I base it on the original article, followed by the comments that blame slavery on the Republicans then when it is pointed out that Lincoln was a Republican, you get all defensive and of course Jade has to troll the NRA into the discussion. Add in a dose of total disregard for history by the article author and the commenters and there you have my synopsis.

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  11. What kind of Moron believes that Wikipedia is a reliable source?

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  12. FWM: Actually, the author is quite correct.

    You seem to wish to believe that because Lincoln was a Republican that the GOP has continued to champion civil rights from Lincoln to this day.

    To make this leap of fantasy, you have to forget the Dems told the Dixiecrats to take a hike and those Dixiecrats like Strom "Segregation Forever" Thurmaond and Jesse Helms became leaders in the GOP.

    Additionally, you don't see Dems calling out for Confederacy Appreciation Month--do you?

    --JadeGold

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  13. What kind of Moron believes that Wikipedia is a reliable source?

    The same kind who thinks California has relatively lax gun laws or that Chicago, with its handgun ban, is one of the safest places in the USA.

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  14. I should have taken a Dramamine before reading this thread. I am getting nauseous from all the spinning.

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  15. The part that the author is missing was that the Civil War was not a "War To End Slavery", at least not when it began. In fact, that association did not even appear in school textbooks until almost WWII.

    South Carolina was indeed an ardent slave state as were most of the South. When South Carolina succeeded, slavery was indeed listed as one of their grievances as was the Federal control of cotton exports. The other 6 cotton states joined S.C a month later and created the Confederacy. The remaining 8 Slave states did not succeed.

    Later, after Lincoln took office and threatened to invade the South. Virginia and 3 other slave states joined the Confederacy. They all listed as their grievance, the use of Federal troops to march through their territories and wage war on the cotton states. Four slave states did not succeed from the U.S. at all.

    Virginians are not celebrating the institute of slavery, but rather the pride in their state. And yes, other former Confederate states have had similar celebrations and under Democratic governors.

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  16. As a born-and-bred Southerner who has traveled quite a bit, I've seen a lot more racism in the North than I have at home.

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  17. Four slave states did not succeed from the U.S. at all.

    Thank you. Delaware was a "slave state" yet our state legislature voted overwhelmingly against secession.

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  18. "The part that the author is missing was that the Civil War was not a "War To End Slavery""

    Untrue. The reason for secession is clear: slavery. If you read why each state elected to secede--the main and overriding reason was slavery.

    "Virginians are not celebrating the institute of slavery, but rather the pride in their state."

    Baloney. If you celebrate the Confederacy, you are celebrating treason in defense of slavery.

    --JadeGold

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  19. Jade,

    If Slavery was the main reason for the civil war then why did not all slave states succeed? Why did Lincoln only free slaves in the rebelling states and leave slaves in chains in the rest?

    So if you celebrate the Confederacy, you celebrate slavery? So if you celebrate Independence day, do you not also celebrate slavery? Then any European holiday would also celebrate slavery. How about most African and Muslim pride, they engaged in slavery.
    Does celebrating Bastille Day mean you are celebrating the murder of women and children?

    Slavery is a vile institution and should be eradicated where ever it is found. However, to say the American Civil War was just about ending slavery is to ignore history altogether. And it is also not a stretch to celebrate one's heritage while ignoring the parts that are distasteful.

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  20. Oh, so now all of the Libertarians on this thread are upset that the GOP is being blamed for slavery. Well, we can stop that. It was just the slave states and their men (women and chattels didn't get the vote for a long time afte the war). So if it makes you all feel better that it was just southerners, regardless of their party affiliations who were responsible for the institution of slavery, I can live with that.

    The confederacy's leaders were vainglorious traitors and if they had won the war it would have been open season on their enemies--and we would either still have slavery or the U.S. would have been torn in two--or worse.

    You can all be apologists for the racists who pine for the "good old days" if you like. States rights, my ass, The idiots who thought that the northern states would not have the stomach for a war found out to their lasting chagrin that they were wrong.

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  21. "Mostly I base it on the original article,".

    Deconstruct the article and prove your point.

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  22. One think I've never understood is the personal attachment some people have with the Civil War. Remember when some Southern States had trouble because they wanted to fly the Confederate flag on their capital buildings? To me this is bizarre. Even worse is the rhetoric of people who take sides along these lines. I have exactly the same personal identification with this war as I have with the Punic wars when Rome destroyed Carthage.

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  23. Tennessee Budd said, "As a born-and-bred Southerner who has traveled quite a bit, I've seen a lot more racism in the North than I have at home."

    I grew up in North Jersey in an Italian/American family. I can tell you racism, mainly against blacks, was very openly displayed in the 50s and 60s. After that it sort-of went underground. People of my generation made an effort to change the way they spoke, at least for the most part.

    I suppose the same may be true of the South. But, let's face it, the ties with racism go so much deeper and are so much more a part of the culture, that I don't think you've got it right when you say it's worse in the North.

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