Progressives today have put patriotic Southerners in sort of a propaganda headlock. Because of slavery, our resistance to Civil Rights, the march of time, and the average American’s shocking ignorance of American history, they have been able to paint the American Civil War, our heritage, and our Confederate flag as wholly racist, and so far they have won this fight over definitions. Even generally solid Conservatives like Ted Cruz seem eager to sacrifice our heritage on the altar of appeasement. And why shouldn’t they?! The South will remain the backbone of the resistance to Progressivism with or without its potent and embarrassing symbol, right?
But this is a grand strategic mistake.
Why? Because to convince Southerners to strike the colours is to strike at the substance of the issue, that is, at the deep morale and instincts of the Southern man and woman. If the Left can ever get us to accept their view of history, or better yet, to forget ours altogether, then they take the first great step towards breaking that instinct in the Southerner to resist tyranny i.e. them.
And let’s all face it. It is the Southern man and woman’s instinctive resistance to the nonsense of Progressivism that has held the line against it since the founding of this nation. Progressives hated us then as they hate us now. And for good reason. We stymie and frustrate them so.
So how do we get out of this headlock that the media, the educational establishment, and both parties have us in? How can we holdouts, who in hindsight would not have surrendered at Appomattox, be heard above the din that declares Southern history, our culture, and our battle flag to be fundamentally racist? There were, in fact, two sides to the story, as there are to all stories. How do we get the mob to hear ours once again?
First, we should acknowledge the truth that that terrible war was in fact about slavery. But it was about many other things as well and our ancestors were clear on why they were fighting. And on these points they were, in hindsight, right.
That war did in fact settle more than just slavery. It also settled the relationship between the several states and the federal government. And the states lost so much of what sovereignty they had that 107 years after our defeat, Roe v. Wade became the law of the land and the states could do nothing to stop the abomination. This is the unassailable proof that the war was also about States’ Rights.
And this little fact needs to be pointed out over and over again.
THE WAR WAS ABOUT SLAVERY AND ROE V. WADE and many other things besides.
And so-called Conservatives like Ted Cruz and Governor Lee need to think twice before throwing our history under the bus. Appeasement will not work with the American Left and we need Southerners to find their old fighting spirit once again, and its source is our history.
M.C. Atkins
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