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You will not find any post of mine about "how great slavery was." You are the one obsessed with that particular system, not I. It had some good points, one must admit; but the underlying premise was certainly wrong, and ill advised--but so too are the demeaning underlying premises of the American Welfare State, and the Bush foreign policy. Was slavery even worse? I am not that judgmental of a system that is clearly sanctioned in the Bible, and which has existed in many forms, throughout the historic period, in every region of the earth.

My points, in repeatedly challenging the South haters, is that their obsession insults the American tradition and divides traditional Americans, at a time when we are losing more and more of our common heritage. I attack you, because you sabotage what I believe in; you slander the freely entered into Union of proud States, where it was understood that we would not interfere with each others' unique customs. For you, that frustrates your need--compulsion, apparently--to slander the South. But it also means that I, who identify with the Jeffersonians, must accept and respect the right of the people in New England to pursue their more strait laced value systems; the right of Massachusetts, to this day, to impose absurd policies on its people, etc., etc..

You know, respect begets respect, and contempt invites contempt. Your lack of respect for the Old South invites the disrespect for other things that you value. It is a short dead end street, which rapidly ends meaningful and mutually beneficial discussion. It is pathetic.