> the institution of slavery was an indefensible cruelty.
I heartily agree.
And, at the risk of alienating our beloved Southern FRiends, I submit that “states rights” was a smokescreen to allow the slave states to continue this abominable practice without federal intervention.
While the Confederacy may have been correct in principle, that the US fedgov had no business intervening, they were grossly in error by continuing in this abomination.
And if the Confederacy HAD won, they simply would have won their independence. The trajectory of the North towards heavy-handed federal government was already set.
It would have been similar to North and South Korea, with a new armed conflict almost inevitable.
Now, if the “free” (non-slave) states had just minded their own business, slavery would have dissipated naturally. The advent of machines like the cotton combine would have obsoleted slavery. Such a machine could do the work of many slaves at a fraction of the cost.
But, what is, is. And we must deal with that.
Unfortunately, the country is not divided geographically, but rather ideologically. Even “red” states are only marginally so, as are “blue” states. There are whole communities, cities, and counties within these states that are predominantly of differing ideologies.
The balkanization is not on geographical boundaries, but almost house-to-house.
The government school system and the “entertainment” industry have done their damage, and continue to do so, and there may be no turning back from slide into the precipice of collectivist, totalitarian tyranny and moral depravity.
I submit that only a mighty Christian Revival can save this nation at this point.
Very likely, but few foresaw that in the 1860's. That's why a war was fought to end it, and why the south fought to keep its states right to own slaves.
BTW, "minding their own business" is what allowed the holocaust to occur.
I submit that only a mighty Christian Revival can save this nation at this point.
I agree.
Since He has spoken, and has told us that the world will degenerate into a cesspool before He comes back to set things right, I doubt even a massive Chrisrian revival will save the nation/world, but at least it will gather some more souls for His eternal rewards.