[colorado tanker]

You might want to check out Born Fighting by Webb and some of the Civil War research on the role of the Scotch-Irish descendants versus the role of English descendants in influencing political attitudes. Scotch-Irish are much more independent while the English are more accepting of big government. The South was heavily settled by Scotch-Irish. Even in the last election you could predict Bush counties in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania by looking at the Scotch-Irish settlement patterns.

As a proud member of Red State America, I'm really glad the South lost the Civil War. :)

[freedomfiter2]

As a proud member of Red State America, I'm really glad the South lost the Civil War. :)

It would've been better had the war never been fought. Given the military realities today, I'm glad that we are one large country. But if the philosophies which drove the north during the war ultimately win, we might as well move to France(yes I know we'd have to learn to speak arabic.)

[Who is John Galt?]

…the Southern states seceded because Lincoln was elected President and was anti-slavery.

Actually, Mr. Lincoln’s election was only the last in a long series of events that contributed to the decision of the Southern States to secede. Even John G. Nicolay, Mr. Lincoln’s personal friend & private secretary (who could hardly be called unbiased), conceded the point:

With all their affectation of legality, formality, and present justification, some of the members [of the secession convention] were honest enough to acknowledge the true character of the event as the culmination of a chronic conspiracy, not a spontaneous revolution. "The secession of South Carolina," said one of the chief actors, "is not an event of a day. It is not anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It is a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years." This with many similar avowals, crowns and completes the otherwise abundant proof that the revolt was not only against right, but that it was without cause.

That “thirty years” brings the origin of the secession movement at least as far back as the Tariff Crisis of the 1830s – which had nothing to do with either Mr. Lincoln or slavery. And if you read Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of 1825 and other historical records, you will find that the roots of secession significantly predate even the Tariff Crisis.

(By the way, we can thank our friend Walt for the Nicolay quote... ;>)

As a proud member of Red State America, I'm really glad the South lost the Civil War. :)

As someone who has sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, I’m really NOT glad Mr. Lincoln’s government and the Northern States ignored our own history, the writings of the Founders, the written records of the ratification debates, the ratification documents of the States, the most respected legal references of the early Republic, and the specific written words of the Constitution of the United States – and pursued a war against secession that killed nearly three quarters of a million Americans…