A Tale of Two Nations: the Civil War may have been won by the North, but in truth the South never emotionally conceded.

If the South yearns for another ass-kicking, I guess we'll just have to do it again. I lived in Alabama for 3 years on a contract there and I used to tell them this - We could take all of the thugs from NYC and kick their ass. I still believe it, and I'm ready to go. I hated Alabama and would love to put them down - again.

This is an excellent, pithy article by Mark Karlin, but I don’t think it goes far enough: I have a friend whose family comes from Oklahoma but lives in Louisiana. She recently married and moved to Mississippi. When I first met her and we got around to talking politics (she, a southern Conservative and I, a Green Liberal) one of the things she slipped and smirked to me was “and the south shall rise again.” I told her I thought it already had because of all of the southern conservative politicians that held office in the federal government at the time. I had grown up in the northeast and I had never known so many southern politicians hold federal office in nearly a half century of living, like Senator Arlen Specter who, for some strange reason left Oklahoma (a red state) and took office in Pennsylvania (a blue state) but held office as a Republican for thirty years. While I agree with Mark that it is southern values asserting themselves here, we should also note that it was a Democratic president (Bill Clinton) who handed the media over to the Conservatives as their private propaganda machine. This is something that burns my toast on a daily basis. I now live in the south and I have watched Comcast Cable Company (a monopoly) move C-SPAN up into the more expensive packages, and Comcast refuses to carry Keith Olberman (MSNBC) or any of the other progressive voices (Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, etc.,) even though six to eight channels remain blank (filled with electronic snow) so that the poor never get a chance to hear the other side of the political story in an effort to maintain a Republicans stranglehold on the thinking of southerners. Yet, this current president (another Democrat) has made absolutely no move whatsoever to reverse out Clinton’s “Telecommunications Act of 1996,” and it appears that this is so because President Obama is more Right of Center than Left. I see this as disaster by design because the corporate media has been anything but kind to all of this presidents olive branch overtures toward the Right. My guess is that the Neo-Cons are trying to solidify much of the Right-wing's base on unspoken racial lines, evoking and provoking old biases to gain a political foothold. As long as the TV remains the primary source of information for the masses and as long as it goes unregulated with the likes of Limbaugh/Hannity/O’Reilly (and all of the other talking heads who are biased for the purposes of basic survival and a paycheck: Geraldo Rivera, Dennis Miller), the current administration only hamstrings itself, intentionally and/or purposefully. No one with any kind of political savvy would knowingly and intentionally leave such a biased and oppositional loose cannon/loose end force out there unless they were either weak, not very smart, or it served their purposes. Especially with a pivotal mass media outlet such as the TV which shapes so much of grassroots political thinking. It was also another Democratic president, LBJ, who insisted on forced integration that flipped the south from being Democratic (the Dixiecrats) to becoming Conservative Republican. Just to integrate two populations and expect them to love it was pure insanity. A backlash was inevitable but I don’t think any of them expected it would tear the country apart for generations to come. What was fundamentally lacking among the Black community was a sense of self and that has eventually remedied itself with Black colleges and universities, Black businesses, and a sense of Black community which has readied itself to meld in a new era of younger generations who are choosing not to recognize color as a barrier to societal membership. The election of our first president of color manifests this point. We also see Democratic Congresses and Democrats in Republican Congresses adding to the confusion and problems. Firstly by being so complacent as to allow the pieces of a political coup d’etat that would threaten our Democracy to its very core creep into position. Secondly, to blatantly participate in yet another (this is the third) Great (Republican) Depression precipitated by the Goldman-Sachs crowd that have been around time immemorial. Or thirdly, to allow themselves to be wooed and seduced by the palm-greasers on K Street without lifting a finger to protect the country from a clear and present danger; a domestic enemy. Instead, the Democratic members of Congress went along to get along, with the exception of a few of courageous people like Paul Wellstone and Dennis Kucinich. Another facet to the southern conundrum are the schools. According to my friend, southern schools teach a not-so-friendly version of southern history which only serves to insulate a Republican stronghold while perpetuating the injury suffered by southern society at the hands of the Civil War. Traditionally, a southern education was not as good as a northern education; Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are, for example, seats of higher education located in the north and were unrivaled in the south. In recent years Conservative Republicans have infiltrated the education system (Contract on America) throughout the whole country, teaching Calvin Coolidge/Milton Friedman/Chicago School of Economics along with pro Neo-Con values (unregulated Free Trade together with a white bread nationalism) and this has become a great equalizer. Students today are brainwashed equally in an educative system that has fallen prey to corporatism and corporate interests. Another piece to the puzzle are the churches which receive a tax-exempt status predicated on their not using the pulpit as a bully pulpit; something that has been blatantly ignored as we regularly see key church figures such as Pat Robertson, his son, and the now deceased Jerry Falwell voicing political preferences and opinions. Even the current Pope was put in place (allegedly) by W’s administration with a bag full of money (a reported two million dollars) delivered by Conde Rice to the Vatican to replace a German (former Nazi) candidate on the short list of young, all Italian candidates for the position of Pope. In return, one of the first things the new German Pope did was to voice approval and support for W’s Neo-Con regime here in the United States. US politics is non of the Vatican’s beeswax. The churches take ‘economically stressed whites’ who are poorly, badly or not educated at all and sell them on ideas such as “don’t listen to or believe anyone who is educated,” (subtext: only listen to your churches,) and “the path to glory is through Jesus Christ and the church is His representative on Earth,” and “if you are a born again Christian (believe in God and the Holy church alone) you are Someone but it you don’t you are Nothing” (as seen/heard in the documentary "The Jesus Camps"), which attacks the minds of children with fanaticism or essentially strokes vulnerable adult egos to herd them into a malleable group to collect their money and their votes. (American Greed reports that the biggest number of people being scammed for profit are religious groups because their “faith” makes them so vulnerable; the opiate of the masses.) Mark notes that the south never emotionally conceded but it also never culturally conceded, either. We can still see a version of the Old Plantation Society that the Neo-Cons have adapted to their needs. For example: in the Old South, women did not compete with men. Through the nearly decade long friendship with my friend, I have repeatedly heard her parents council her that it is “vulgar” for a woman to compete with men and threaten her with “if you ever want to get married (a high Neo-Con and Old Plantation/southern value) you will never compete with a man, according to the Bible, your place is in the home”. Rev. John Hagee went so far as to say, "any woman who works or holds down a job, is a whore, a tramp, and a slut because she is taking away jobs that rightfully belong to men." Rev. Hagee delivered this pronouncement on nationalized TV. I saw it and was aghast. Right-wing Aryans are concerned about being swallowed up by rising hispanic and black numbers together with falling white numbers. Studies concluded that when females go to school and become educated, they are less likely to become involved with reproduction; ergo, Home Schooling. Thus, we get the Neo-Cons in concert with the Old South touting “a woman’s place is in the home having (white) children,” and the (Southern Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian) churches promulgate this “family value” which serves political purpose from the pulpit. What the badly educated (brainwashed) populace fails to see is that all of these forces have been at work to tip the scales of power in this country in favor of the already wealthy. What we have here is a fight to the death for the control of America. It is a class war between the remnants of the Old (English) Aristocracy, the Old Plantation South (white masters et al.,) and We the People. It is also a war of freedom versus corporate subjugation. It is a war between the rich and the poor. It is a war for the minds of the future ("give me your children and I can shape the world": Hitler). It is a war for the heart and soul of this country which will either be a free Democratic Republic given to us by our forefathers as their dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or the economic, mental, and physical slavery proffered by the industrialists via their “corporations are people” regime that seeks to patent all DNA for corporate use exclusively. I don't know about you, but I don't want some damn company holding a patent on MY DNA! As Mark points out, “it doesn’t have to be this way.” (Hear! Hear!) But to take our precious, beautiful country back “requires brutal vigilance.” (I forget who said this, possibly George Washington; sounds like something he would say...) Like the Black community, we must first come to believe in ourselves that We the People can come together and rescue our country from the clutches of the worst evil of our time. I hope each and every person will do what they can to self-educate themselves to the corporate corruption plaguing our country and save, redeem and restore America to her former standing in the world as a country that can be trusted to be truthful and do the right things, a country that stands as a beacon of light for anyone who may be suffering. But first we must save ourselves. If you love your country, things must change and we have to start with the man in the mirror. It’s an inside job and no one is going to do it for us. Our fate will be the results of what we do or do not do to bring about this much needed change. Nothing changes if nothing changes.

The Founders compromised with slavery and got the Civil War. Reconstruction compromised with the same system and got Jim Crow. The Democrats compromised with their Dixiecrats on civil rights and got the Southern Strategy. Regardless of why they are what they are, it is pointless to compromise with neo-confederates. They are deaf to all voices but their own. They pass their fears and prejudices on to their children like family heirlooms and call it freedom.

Driving anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon gives me the heebie-jeebies. I hold radical views, have long hair, and don't want to end up underneath a dam.

Obama has an awful lot on his plate. And I'd stay away from Dallas for the time being.

:<{) "I'm doing my best to give Obama a chance, but not a chance to be another Bush."
:<{) 2006: Incumbents should be filling their trousers with butt biscuits!

I have a friend who lives in southern Virginia. She was influenced by those conservatives around her to participate in what she calls a "Tea Party" because she was worried about being stuck with more taxes. She still works at 67 out of need. She is not a racist. In fact, she is half Native American and has beloved grandchildren who are part African American. She is not a birther and voted for Obama. The problem is that politics upset her. So is unwilling to check things out and listens to those at church, etc. who believe the liars.

Mark, great comment. I might add that the Civil War was mainly fought by poor whites of the south for the same type corporations of the day. No corporate CEO, his son or other relatives fought in the Civil War, just as they have not fought in the wars of today. But they riled up the poor whites who did not own land or slaves, and sent them off to die. As you said, their anger should be against the corporations and insurance industry that are ripping us all off. When will they learn? lexus01

In case anyone wonders where I'm coming from, currently I'm as disgusted with the Democrats as I was with the Republicans.

They have still not learned to govern. Governing means preventing and solving problems, not pretending to solve problems.

Years ago, someone did a good thing establishing OSHA. The idea was to keep workers from getting their hands cut off in factories (among other things).

It wound up with some yo-yo with a ruler citing a company because all of the toilet seats were not 18 inches above the floor.

Today's version of Democratic helpfulness is the regulation of organic farmers. The small guys who produce the best food will now have to pay $500 or more for registration, and fill out lots and lots of forms. It's possible that this will lead to a better food supply, but my best guess is that the good organic farmers will be out of business within a year.

When it came to the banking crisis, we did not have regulations, but we did have laws against fraud and theft.

None of the thieves have been charged with anything. Theoretically the free-enterprise system "fixes itself" when the crooks lose their money and go to jail.

It's an interesting idea and we should probably give it a try.

I have no idea whether the market is able to "fix itself" but ours doesn't because our government is more crooked than the bankers.

There probably is a certain amount of racism and other forms of bigotry in the town hall protests, but a lot of their emotional drive comes from knowledge of what weasels the Democrats can be when they get the chance.

That is all I really have to say! The "teabaggers," "deathers," "birthers" and whatever other "ers" are out there just really need to get over themselves and move on! We have enough problems in our country to solve--without the bitter folks still fighting the Civil War!

wow. just wow. so all opposition to Obama is just plain old racism and people wanting to turn the clock back to the time when blacks were slaves??! you people have become completely unhinged. i think that if anything, you are projecting your own racism onto others and then attempting to exorcise it. i am almost 44, have been a lifelong democrat and old fashioned liberal (not "Progressive," mind you), and i don't know this party anymore. i think that 8 years of Bush has turned the dems into what the repubs were after 8 years of Clinton, and it's not pretty.

Stunning article, Magnificent in its Truth, Beauty and Timeliness. Thank you for giving us this monumentally important vision. Breathtaking. A permanent crack in the "Liberty Bell" that is America? Yes, if we good sheeple choose to leave it cracked. Will it be finally split in two? 1930's GERMANY DID NOT SPLIT IN TWO. WITHOUT MEANINGFUL OPPOSITION BESIDES "TALK" AND "HAND WRINGING," AND "RIDICULE" from the "good" people, THE HATE MOB plunged Germany, and the world, into the fire of Hate, and melted it all down, torturing and killing millions in the process. Holocaust. THIS TIME, IN 2009 WE "GOOD" PEOPLE NEED TO RACE, LIFE-ON-THE-LINE, without Hostility, onto the field of battle, the streets, the Town Halls, the Internet, Congress..., NOW, or it will be HELL to pay; literally. BATTLE STATIONS. CHARGE. Seriously. Now. (Or never).

Isn't it amazing that the overwhelming majority of soldiers who fought for the CSA were actually fighting for a brutally oppressive system that was viciously inimical to the soldiers own best interest? Yet today the wannabe brownshirts are also fighting for the interest of an exceptionally exploitive system and totally against their own best interest. Was the Enlightenment just a passing phenomenon? Has logic bypassed an alarmingly large section of the populace? Quite probably the only thing really settled by the Civil War was whether the South would be an economic colony of London bankers or of New York bankers. Slavery had become an anachronism: an economically flawed model that was on its way out to be replaced by the economically superior-for the plutocrats at least-universal serfdom of the working class that soon became the norm in the former CSA. But it is still possible to incite the descendents of these serfs-the white ones at least-to take to the streets to clamor for more exploitation. Discouraging as it seems, perhaps the hackneyed analogies of humanity to flocks of docile sheep kept by a small number of ruthless wolves is in fact correct. There are far too many of our fellow citizens who clamor for their chains and to be forever toiling for the wolves. And it appears that it has been this way since the beginnings of sedentary agriculture. Social Darwinism is proven correct with a minor adjustment. While the early Social Darwinists attributed the rise of the ruling classes to possession of positive characteristics intelligence, perspicacity, perseverance, etc., it can more easily be explained as the possession of negative characteristics viciousness, dishonesty, underhandedness, etc. and of course the inevitable possession of a strong penchant for violence. So what is happening today is not an anomaly, but is the inevitable and inexorable devolution of a people who achieved freedom in the form of a republic returning to dictatorial rule of some sort because they want it.

There are hate groups all over the country. This link is to the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate groups map: www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp I am just waiting for violence to start breaking out.

...there were plenty of Nazi sympathizers in the US. There were Nazi rallies that received protection by the police to allow their right to assemble and speak. And don't forget Prescott Bush, grandfather of W, who was funding the wrong side. Because of their views on "pure" race, the KKK could easily lockstep with the Germans. And now? We have Israel and Israeli/American citizens in positions of political and economic power in our country. Is Israel the new Germany?

live in a society that advocates the Old South Plantation system of plutocracy and white supremacy. I see it all the time in Virgina, the cradle of the Civil War. Unrepentant Confederates celebrate themselves, their ancestors, and build monuments to themselves as they rant about current politics.... Therefore into the breech.... sigh....

If Nazism is banned in germany, what exactly does that mean? what behaviors are not tolerated? What of the behaviors we see here would be banned there? Interesting! I'm going to go some research and find out....stay tuned... Well, it appears that the Nazi flag has been banned, While I do not find any information about Nazi practices being banned, there IS a lot about Nazism and I see several parallels to the right wing in this country. I can see why the Tea party demonstrations and the disruption of town hall meetings has been compared to the nazis. I have heard many ignorant people referring to the Nazis/Fascists as leftwing/commmunists. Why do they not know that the Fascists killed, beat and imprisoned Communists?? Surely they were NOT socialists even if that name was in their title! Ignorance of the truth is the only explanation for this kind of misinformation from the right now! I'm sure they hate to think that they represent many of the ideals of Fascists, but they should do some reading and learn the truth!

I believe the hope for the south and the nation is that a new generation of southern politicians as represented by John Lewis, James Clyburn, David Scott and Cynthia McKinney (who told the truth about Bush and 9/11 and was targeted for it) overthrow the southern ancien régime as represented by politicians like Lindsey Graham, Jim DeMint, and Jeff Sessions. There are neo-confederate sympathizers throughout the country even though its heart is in the south, just as there were fascists throughout europe even though its heart was in Germany. Hopefully when then neo-confederacy is overthrown in its southern heartland by the new generation of southerners, it will weaken throughout our nation just as fascism weakened throughout europe when it was overthrown in it's german heartland.

Comparisions with Nazi Germany are always tricky. There are fundamental differences between Nazism in 1945 and American racism in 1865. Nazism was an aberration. Hitler was attempting to impose a new ideology on Germany and Europe by brute force. Once the Nazi military power was broken, the Nazi ideology lost its power. White supremacy, on the other hand, was the organizing principle of American society prior to 1861. It was the victorious Union who had the task of changing that ideology by force. Furthermore, even in the north, only a minority were committed to real racial equality.

I always thought the essential problem the North had was the novelty of ideology at the time. Ideology was a late 18th century invention. The victorious yankees had no conceptual framework to understand that the ideology of White Supremacy needed to be CRUSHED for a Union victory to actually take. This problem is played out today all over the world, and it has horrible consequences. If the defeated side never concedes, the only victory is near extermination. The North probably needed to confiscate all land held be slaveowning Whites and ban the expression of White Supremacy. Nazism is not likely to rise again in Germany, it is strongly prohibited. Only a defeat as total as that of WWII, coupled with a determination to rebuild a society can truly defeat an ideology. Anything less leaves the defeated as a permanent violent opposition