The War Is Over

It’s the same with the people who proudly display Confederate flags – quite prevalent in southcentral PA. Flags are symbols & have meaning and flying that flag is a sign of support for treason & the dissolution of this country. These same people hold sacred the US flag and see no contradiction in their actions.

These are always the same people who question someones patriotism if they don’t condone torture or are critical of the President*.

*only applies to republican Presidents

My husband and I were just discussing something similar this morning. The civil war may be far off in terms of years, but not so much in terms of generations, and the memories they keep. There’s an important distinction to be made there.

I grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, so I’ve heard southerners use the phrase “war of Northern aggression” since I was a child, usually with a knowing smirk or a winking nod. I think Stevenson meant it as a dig against Big Government dictating terms to the states, but there’s no excusing the quiet racism buried in those words.”States’ Rights” is used these days as a battle cry against Roe v Wade, the alternative to Big Government and Activist Courts compelling states that would otherwise outlaw abortion entirely to keep it safe and legal. But you can’t ignore history, and the original sin protected under States’ Rights was slavery. Stevenson and his ilk are only digging a deeper hole for their party in exile with racist bullshit like this.

Yeah, that’s a good point, Mrs. The Trust. I’m in the process of researching a book I hope to write about late 18th and early 19th century America as seen through the southerly migration of my great-grandmother’s great-grandfather, who lived from 1786 to 1854. His youngest son fought in the Civil War, earned the rank of Colonel, and lived an unusually long life for his era. My great-grandmother (who died at 87) remembered her grandfather well, and told me the War stories he told her. I was much too young to understand or appreciate those stories, but it was still a secondhand account of a living narrative.Even Vietnam seems far-off and irrelevant to this new generation of Americans, which is one of the reasons I think John Kerry sucked it so hard in 2004. No one gives a shit about history anymore, which is more terrifying than it is sad. I’m in awe of this nation’s history and those that ignore it — especially those in power, like Mr. Stevenson — confound me entirely.

Elvis, the GOP aren’t racist. Look they have their own “Obambi” Michael Steele. That makes everything just right.You are so fucking right about the code words of, “State’s Rights”. It is code for, “I hate minorities, love Jesus and AK-47s”. Because Jesus would have been carried a Colt .45 to compliment his title of, “Prince of Peace”. God I love irony.Off to school to deal with “Mountain Morons” and their Confederate flags stapled to their Ford Escorts. Cause these colors don’t run!!

Elvis, as wife to a history junkie, I agree with you, too many fail to look through the lens of history (for lack of a less trite phrase) when considering opinion. (Or worse, governing.)I think that history also becomes compartmentalized by region. I noted the differences in culture the first time I drove across the country, I remember thinking “how the hell do we agree on anything?”I look forward to your book. (I do.)

A month ago in my town, there was a reenactment commemorating the 144th anniversary of the fall of Ft. Fisher, the last confederate seaport. All around town, plaques on historic houses and landmarks use phrases such as “defending” the town against the Yankees and how they “stood up against” the opposing forces. The danger with this terminology, and what Stevenson said, is that it aggrandizes the Confederacy.I adore history and everything about it. My idea of a fun weekend is to curl up on my couch and read a biography about Leonardo da Vinci or about the War of the Roses. But we have to be able to acknowledge both the positive and negative aspects of each area of history. And by referring to the Civil War as “northern aggression,” it ignores the evils of the Confederacy and the part they played. Then it just becomes a story of how the big bad Yankees were awful meanies and beat up on the genteel South. It becomes revisionist history, and I think we’ve had quite enough of that, thank you very much.And using Stevenson’s comparison, does that mean pro-lifers would also have been pro-slavery?

“the war of northern aggression”makes him sound like a cartoon buffoon – Foghorn Leghorn comes to mindI hope they keep this rhetoric going. They are shrinking their party daily. Most people in the south, like the rest of the nation, either think that moniker for the Civil War is ridiculous or they don’t even know what it means.

I have relatives back in Georgia that still “hate Lincoln.”So what was the most egregious part of the “war of northern aggression?” The sending in the troops part or the part where The South was forced to not have slaves? I’m totally confused. He should clarify that.

Elvis, the GOP aren’t racist. Look they have their own “Obambi” Michael Steele.

NEWS FLASH, GI – Michael Steele is not black. If he were, they wouldn’t have chosen him.But seriously, does anyone know Steele’s background growing up, or (for lack of a better word) pedigree? I’d research myself, but I really don’t care that much, just didn’t want to seem “ign’ant.”

According to Wiki he was adopted (unclear, tho, since it also says he & his half-sister were raised by her father and their mother) & grew up in NW DC.Interesting tidbit that his half-sister was married to Mike Tyson.

Not to mention, wasn’t the North going to the South to stop the oppression of a people (among myriad other things)? Weren’t they going to be greeted as liberators? Should we start referring to the Iraq War as the War of American Aggression instead of the Iraq War?Having lived in the South my entire life, I have seen plenty of those bumper stickers that say, “The South’s Gonna Do It Again!” I have always wondered what it was going to do again because the first time it did things didn’t go so well.

The civil war is better described as the “war of Southern Conservatism.” We LOVE the status quo, and we’ll be damned if we’ll allow those damn yankees to change it. Blacks are good property, everyone should own a dozen or two.As general Longstreet said “We should have freed the slaves and then fought a war about state’s rights. That may have been more successful.”

Please, everybody – a little context here. Representative Stevenson is probably just pandering to his constituency, just like any other politician.It just so happens that in his case, his constituents are the types of people who have “truck balls” hanging off of their trailer hitch. (google it if you’re a yankee)

>>>NEWS FLASH, GI – Michael Steele is not black. If he were, they wouldn’t have chosen him.Did he start out white and slowly change color? OMG… He’s got Late-Stage John Boehner Syndrome… All we can do is pray, now.

I’m sure Michael Steele is no shape or form involved in any Niggerdoon.Clayton Bigsby.http://www.metacafe.com/watch/291638/clayton_bigsby/

Sorry. That should have read.I’m sure Michael Steele is no shape or form involved in any “Niggerdom”.Clayton Bigsby.http://www.metacafe.com/watch/291638/clayton_bigsby/

“There wouldn’t have been a war had the South not seceded..”Some nations deal with this differently, without war considered the one and only possible outcome. Czechoslovakia didn’t have a civil war, they had a civil dissolution.Watching Congress today, it is a bit difficult not to think that a civil dissolution would have had better results for both parties.

Chris-

According to Wiki he was adopted (unclear, tho, since it also says he & his half-sister were raised by her father and their mother) & grew up in NW DC.

I think he was adopted by his sister’s father. That would make sense in this context. Stepfathers (or Stepmothers) do not have the same legal standing as a birth father or mother unless they adopt the stepchild. Sounds like his mother found a good fellow to marry.

Lyle -I agree. The north would have been much better off without the south.If you look at where federal tax dollars go, it is pretty clear why the rust belt is rusting and the sun belt is sunny.The stats I quote are from circa 1974, I doubt it has changed much because these numbers were stable from 1948 through 1974.For every dollar South Carolina contributes to the federal budget, they receive $3.05. Strom Thurmond new how to steer pork.For every dollar New York contributes to the federal budget, they receive $.51.For every dollar Pennsylvania contributes to the federal budget, they $.58.The bottom line is that the North has been subsidizing the south ever since the “war of southern capitulation.” We have been paying for this war ever since we won it. I found that to be a strange definition of win.I’ve never seen this fact mentioned by anyone. I find that rather surprising.I think I mentioned that I was a Political Science major for two years until I changed schools and majors.

Kudos on your Civil War history. The last thing Lincoln wanted was a war with the South. He did everything he could do to avoid it. He was even prepared to volutarily abandon Fort Sumter on April 13, which South Carolina knew about. They decided to fire the first shot on April 12, 1861 anyway, effectively poking a stick in the eye of the reluctant giant to their north.The rest is history.