Oh, Miss Scarlett, We Must Fight the Kenyan and Secession is the Only Answer

Last night after a Civil War lecture an acquaintance told me afterward that we, presumably the South, should secede again. In fact, he said, it is almost inevitable. That state's rights thing, he mused. I had to laugh, and that did not set well with him. He had just heard about secession, as it took place in our local county. He heard the list of reasons for secession, but he settled on something he referred to as states rights and immediately equated 1861 with today. He completely missed the discussion of options open to the southern states in addition to secession. It didn't occur to him that secession might not have been the correct choice.

He had not taken into consideration the inevitable outcome of that conflict and the devastation it wrought upon his ancestors and his "beloved" south. He missed the two common denominators that fed the fire as they feed all wars: money and power. The South had a landed gentry that was caught up in the tragedy of slavery. Slavery gave that socio-economic class the two things it wanted most: money and power. The loss of slaves meant a loss of power, both political and economic. These power moguls whipped unsuspecting southerners into a frenzy of a devastating conflict that left thousands of dead on the battlefields of this country and ultimately destroyed that which they so desperately wanted to save.

Should modern day southerners fall prey to the rantings of right wing extremists, who clamour for power and money, the results would be the same. This time it would be even worse. Simply the loss of Federal assistance programs would devastate the south. Social Security, Medicare, federal funding for law enforcement, medical facilities, emergency services, roads, veterans benefits... The list goes on and on.

Then there are the parallels with 1861. Few raw materials and little manufacturing would place the South at the mercy of foreign imports, which in the modern U.S. would be virtually impossible to obtain. Then there is the inevitable military action. Imagine a military conflict where the states had to complete with the United States military. The lost of life would be unbelievable. It would be a very short lived conflict to be sure. I don't think most southerners for all of their bluster would have the stomach for it. There was a lot of bluster in 1861 as well. It did not take long for them to figure that it was not going to be the pushover their leaders had promised.

No, secession is a folly. As in 1861, there is no real reason for it. No one's human rights are being trampled on. We live in a very free society with with a lifestyle so far ahead of most of the world it would be total stupidity to destroy it at the whim of a few power brokers, who are so far out of touch with reality that they seen an enemy behind every tree. Then there is that African-American, Muslim, born in Kenya President. He is the nightmare many southerners have been fearing since they lost the Great War.

In 1861, when slavery was king and African-Americans were considered to be no more than a draft animal to be worked, sold, and used to maintain a lifestyle, there was a great fear that slaves would somehow gain control and wreak havoc on their captors. Southerners feared that day when the Federal Government would free them, and they fought a war, ostensibly, against that day. Now one of them is President, an inevitability that southerners have feared for generations. It is now time to throw off the chains of the African-American led U.S. Government and yearn for that day when cotton was king and Scarlett held court on the veranda with a mint julep in her hand and her gallant admirers gathered around her before they went off to save the Confederacy.

The "God Language"

A friend posted the following on Facebook today:

"We may say all the right things and have the God-language down. We may sound very compassionate and very holy. But our true self is displayed not by our words or even our intentions. Our true self is displayed by our actions." Steve Scalici

It set me to thinking about something that has been bugging me for some time. The "God Language." It seems that we are besieged these days by God language. Everywhere I turn people are talking the "language." God does this and God does that. God causes this and God causes that. God saves this and God saves that. Athletes point at the sky and kneel after scoring a touchdown or riding a bull, or winning a game. Just yesterday young NASCAR driver, Trevor Bayne, thanked God for winning the Daytona 500. I have Facebook friends who never post anything but religious sayings, and their friends respond in a like manner with more God language. Everybody is praying for everybody. Kind of makes me wonder if they do anything else.

There is a siege afoot. It has reached epidemic proportions. Are all of these people really that good, or are they simply playing a game? Do they mean it, or has it become nothing more than a habit? Do they do it to fit in, or are they covering for some really bad behavior? In the case of politicians they do it to get votes, and they are often covering up some nasty habits. My guess is that it works the same with the average person. Some are very sincere and it shows. Others are simply playing a game. My late mother used to say that people who wear their religion on their sleeves "made her tired." I agree Mom. They make me tired as well, and I am getting very, very fatigued.

A Foreign Policy Disaster

Imagine if you will, the Tea-publicans in charge of the U.S. government at this time. Egyptians, fed up with the corrupt dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, revolt, demanding democratic reforms. U.S. President, Sarah Palin, reacts, saying that a democratic Egypt means an Islamic republic and a deadly danger to Israel. She immediately doubles U.S. military aid to Egypt, urging Mubarak to shoot to kill to put down the rebellion. She urges military readiness in Israel and urges that country to move its military forces to the Egyptian border to be prepared to assist Mubarak as he puts down the rebellion.

What had been a movement to bring democracy to Egypt with the many sects and religions working together to bring reform quickly dissolves into a nasty civil war. The Egyptian military begins to massacre and imprison citizens. Armed militias develop, assisted by militants from around the Middle East, who are looking for a foothold of power in that country. Mubarak asks for and receives U.S. military assistance to put down the uprising. Soon the United States is once again embroiled in a costly military action in the Middle East and hatred of this country rises to a fever pitch.

It sounds crazy, but with the Tea-publicans in charge and with their total lack of regard for diplomacy, it is very plausible. George Bush's unnecessary war in Iraq could pale in comparison to where we might find ourselves with the loonies from Tea-publican land in charge. Already, they have ridiculed the President for his support of democracy, something they talk a lot about, but apparently have no real desire to see unless it somehow involves spreading Christianity. Their fear of Islam and their desire to spread Christianity by force far outweighs common sense.

Teabaggers fight windmills on a daily basis from passing state measures to outlaw Sharia Law to seeing demon Islam in the Egyptian uprising. They have continued to support Mubarak throughout these past couple of weeks, eschewing their talk of democracy in favor of their Islamaphobia. Now that democracy may be a reality in Egypt they are turning their venom fully on the anti-Christ Muslim, Obama. It is so easy for them in their warped world view to see his support of democracy as a support of Islamic fundamentalism. Frankly, it is quite scary to think of them in power and running the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon. I fear that Cheney and Bush would be Mickey Mouse and Goofy, compared to a Tea-publican-run U.S. Government. Instead of saying "God bless America," we would find ourselves pleading, " God save America."