Posted on 02/24/2005 4:02:20 PM PST by CHARLITE
Howard Dean and Yankee Democrats don't have a clue what it means to be a Southerner. It's not about Confederate flags. It's about honor, family, self reliance and American patriotism.
Who are these Confederate voters that Vermonter Howard Dean wants to represent? Is Jefferson Davis on the ballot again? I thought he was dead, along with the Confederate States of America. Hey, I’m a Southerner, why didn’t I get the memo? Duh, Dean was just being "hisself", a Yankee liberal, describing voters as he sees people – divided by race, class and gender. What a hoot. Liberals imagine identity politics fit real people. Dean should listen to Yellow Dawg Democrat Zell Miller.
Confederate Voter is the wrong term. Democrats covet the White Southern Voter. True, the white Southerner majority’s ancestors were Confederates, but that provides the wrong connotation – slavery, segregation and racism – that doesn’t fit the present and the future. The South is different from the rest of the country in significant measures, but the distinction isn’t "Confederate", it’s simply "The South". Yankees and liberals just don’t get it, although Dean did stumble over truth when he talked down to Southerners to get over “race, guns, God and gays.” Behind "race, guns, God and gays" are issues based on values.
The South is about deep-fried shared values, history, and identity. Better universities have courses on Southern culture. Psychologists can test for regional attitude and behavior differences. The differences matter when Southerners vote. If only the liberals could understand that complex thoughts –- not easy divisions of race, class and gender –- reside in the heads of most Southerners. Liberals shouldn’t forget that Southern culture encourages a fierce passion for ideas held as right. Over 300,000 dead Yankees learned that lesson.
Here are some ideas held in common:
Slavery, segregation and racism are wrong. They are sins against God. There are white, black and other racists. None are respected.
The Confederate battle flag is a racist symbol only to racists, demagogues (liberals, thus Democrats), and dummies. To Southerners, Confederate symbols stand for courage, sacrifice, and fidelity. The people who want to oppress the Cross of St. Andrew want to suppress the Cross of Jesus.
The American flag is the highest national symbol and beloved above all else.
There are absolute truths, unchanging and yet always relevant, in the Holy Bible, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
The Bible Belt is buckled by people who actually read the Bible, believe it and evangelize it more than any other region. From a Biblical world view come the values that count.
Ten Commandments. Our culture and laws are based on our Judeo-Christian values. Historical fact is not hate, nor is it "imposing" beliefs, nor is it a separation-of-church-and-state issue. It’s a free-speech and freedom-of-religion issue. This issue draws from the same power as Martin Luther and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Watch out.
Family First. Your name is all you have really in life. You can not shame your last name – your People. Honor is personal, familial and real.
Love the Land. Hunting, fishing, and animals are all part of good stewardship, using and preserving our natural blessings.
Men and Women are different for good purposes. Men should be gentlemen. Women should be ladies. Marriage is between one man and one woman only.
Sexual sins are wrong. Adultery, homosexuality, incest and bestiality are all wrong. Tolerate homosexuals -- they’re your kin -- but don’t honor them.
Fight when right. Serving in the military is an honor. Fighting for freedom is worth the cost – no matter what.
Defend yourself. We have a right and duty to defend our persons, our family and home and neighbors with whatever it takes, including personal firearms.
Leave us alone. Tax less, govern less, nanny less, lecture less, because we want the individual freedom for our family, our property, our opportunity, our liberty to prosper.
Crime leads to poverty. Poverty doesn’t cause crime. Our ancestors built something from nothing and re-built it again after destruction. Better to earn your way in life than take a handout. Better to be poor and free than rich and slave.
We are Americans first. We are Federalists who believe in the Constitution as it was intended, not as it has become with the Judicial Oligarchy and Federal Behemoth. We don’t want to be ruled by the U.N. or anybody else. We don’t give a damn what foreigners think of us. And, frankly, my dear, we don’t give a damn what Yankees think of us (and that really bothers them).
We are conservatives based on convictions. We are not loyal to any Party, as much as to our Principles.
The Democrats can con Southern voters like Bill Clinton did. But, the Democrats are on the wrong side of ACW II (the Great U.S. Culture War, 1962-TBD) for the South. A few factors can change that:
If Southern culture, fueled by Christian evangelism, is ascending, then the immigrant invasion (foreign and Northern) will add to the Southern census - and conservative votes - after each generation of assimilation.
If the Liberal Cultural Cleansing, most ruthless in government schools, is gaining and Southerners are weak enough to surrender, then Liberals can win elections.
If blacks ever get off the Democrat plantation, then the South will explode as a conservative haven, hope and success. Progress is so slow in this emancipation. Yet, the irony is how Southern values – white and black are so close. We are united more by culture than we are divided by race.
As a Republican, I’m glad that Dean and the Democrats think talking slowly means you’re stupid. As a man actually named "Bubba" all my life, I’m proud to be disdained by any non-Southerner - and non-conservative, non-camily, anti-evangelical Christian - "youse guys".
October 6, 2003
James Atticus Bowden has specialized in inter- disciplinary, long-range "futures" studies for more than a decade. He is employed by a Defense Department contractof for the Future Combat Systems. A 1972 graduate of the United States Military Academy, he is a retired Army Infantry Officer. He earned graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University. He holds two elected Republican Party positions in Virginia.
Mr. Bowden's e-mail address is: jatticus@aol.com
It drives the pundit and politicos nuts that they can't pinpoint a Southern man on a chart.
Thanks for the ping DC2000!
Great post devolve - I enjoy all your posts.
good answer. bump
I've read that a large part of the cowboy population was southron. I guess the southern spirit truly is the image of America.
Honest law-abiding people shouldn't have to support bums and deviates. Hushpuppies should have onion in them.
Everyone is a 'yankee' to the foreigner.
Bttt
Texas bump.
Most Northern Americans really don't think of the South at all. They don't care what happened last week let alone something that happened during the 1800's. They live their lives, go to work and don't think of anyone else outside their circle of friends or relatives. Most every Northern American thinks a Yankee lives on the Northeastern seaboard and works on a lobster boat. Most of the time, the only time a Northern American sees a confederate battle flag is on the news at some KKK rally. The only Civil War battlefield a Northern American would probably visit would be Gettysburg but that would only be because it was part of the itinerary.
If a Northern American meets a Southerner, they would be amused by the accent but as a curiosity and not hostile. The Northern American may have had a ancestor killed in the Civil War but they may not know what side he was on. The larger percentage of Northern Americans didn't have relatives in this country in the 1860's.
"Fight when right. Serving in the military is an honor. Fighting for freedom is worth the cost – no matter what."
I think the liberal brainwashing system has won in this respect. Myself and one of my first cousins were the last members of our entire family to serve in the military during the Vietnam era. All of my other cousins and their children didn't chose to volunteer as their fathers and grandfathers did. It's a shame, as our family has served since before the revolution. There are still plenty of volunteers from the South though.
You bet -
ping
We'd like to see them, please :)
Bring them out more often.
Liberals don't get it, but many of us Yankees do get it. More than you think, especially outside of the big cities.
Nothing irks me more than some leftist from Ann Arbor or another area to get away from there, and then brings "Ann Arbor" with him. I do care he did it in Ann Arbor, so I know what not to do here.
Correction - some leftist from Ann Arbor or another area MOVES HERE to get away from there...
~ Hushpuppies should have onion in them. ~
LOL! Asked for hushpuppies in a fast food fish joint in Tacoma, Washington one time. Didn't know what the heck I was talking about.
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