Posted on 06/06/2009 2:57:37 PM PDT by Dick Bachert
by Charley Reese
Most of the political problems in this country won't be settled until more folks realize the South was right.
I know that goes against the P.C. edicts, but the fact is that on the subject of the constitutional republic, the Confederate leaders were right and the Northern Republicans were wrong.
Many people today even argue the Confederate positions without realizing it.
For example, if you argue for strict construction of the Constitution, you are arguing the Confederate position; when you oppose pork-barrel spending, you are arguing the Confederate position; and when you oppose protective tariffs, you are arguing the Confederate position. But that's not all.
When you argue for the Bill of Rights, you are arguing the Confederate position, and when you argue that the Constitution limits the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, you are arguing the Confederate position.
One of the things that gets lost when you adopt the politically correct oversimplification that the War Between the States was a Civil War all about slavery is a whole treasure load of American political history.
It was not a civil war. A civil war is when two or more factions contend for control of one government. At no time did the South intend or attempt to overthrow the government of the United States . The Southern states simply withdrew from what they correctly viewed as a voluntary union. They formed their own union and adopted their own constitution.
The U.S. government remained intact. There were just fewer states, but everything else remained as exactly as it was. You can be sure that, with as much bitterness and hatred of the South that there was in the North, the Northerners would have tried Confederates for treason if there had been any grounds. There weren't, and the South's worst enemy knew that.
Abraham Lincoln's invasion of the South was entirely without any constitutional authority. And it's as plain as an elephant in a tea party that Lincoln did not seek to preserve the Union to end slavery. All you have to do is read his first inaugural address. What Lincoln didn't want to lose was tax revenue generated by the South.
As Northern states gained a majority in both houses, they began to use the South as a cash cow. Here's how it worked: Most Southerners who exported cotton bartered the cotton in Europe for goods. When the protective tariffs were imposed, that meant Southerners had to pay them. To make matters worse, the North would then use the revenue for pork-barrel projects in its states. The South was faced with either paying high tariffs and receiving no benefits from the revenue or buying artificially high-priced Northern goods.
Southerners opposed pork-barrel spending. Their correct view was that, because the federal government was merely the agent of all the states, whatever money it spent should be of equal benefit. Their position on public lands was that they belonged to all the people and the federal government had no authority to give the lands away to private interests.
Northerners had announced they would not be bound by the Constitution. What you had was the rise of modern nationalism fighting the original republic founded by the American Revolution.
So, regardless of where you were born, you may be a Southerner philosophically.
Why is that? Who fired the first shot at whom?
I’ll ask this of another gentleman I’ve already asked. Where is Ft. Sumter located?
The Constitution allows for the suspension of habeas corpus in case of Rebellion.
Nope I am not necessarily a Confederate or even a Rebel.
I am Revolting though.
You’ve got to keep liberty as your goal or you’ll be had. And you should read the articles of secession and read what the confederates said in their own words as to their purpose. You can find it on the net.
The whole purpose of the separation of powers between the various branches of government, and the separation of powers between the various levels of government, is the preservation of liberty. If one branch or one level abuses its authority you have another branch or another level to appeal to.
If the state is abusing you, you appeal to the feds. If the feds are abusing you, you appeal to the state. If the courts are becoming dictatorial, then you work through another branch. Which branch, or which level should rule? The one that isn’t abusing its authority. The struggle between right and wrong, and the struggle between the people who want to rule you versus liberty, those struggles never end.
The whole notion of states’ rights is a key one in the preservation of liberty, but it fell into disfavor because it was used to defend bondage. We’re trying to resurrect it because it is necessary as a barrier to federal over-reaching. But associating it with the confederate cause is going to do it damage. Just as a gun can be used to defend the good or defend evil, the institutions of government can do the same and have done the same. In any struggle between the states and the feds, who should win? The one who isn’t presently oppressing you. Whichever one that is, in the present struggle. Next time it may be the other one.
It is curious that the Democrats wind up on the side of repression every time, whether its the slaveocracy, the marxists, the jihadists. Don’t put yourself in the position of defending their history.
History repeats itself. The Federal govt is now plundering the conservative states to benefit interests in the liberal states.
The conservative states should secede before ACORN, etc., do away with free elections.
Perhaps I misled you with the term “Association” as it did sound a bit like the CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION which predated and was obsoleted by the Constitution.
Would you be more comfortable with the phrase VOLUNTARY CONTRACT or COMPACT?
And if you are not, does it indicate that you take issue with the first principle that the STATES CREATED THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT which is fast becoming tyrannical and under which we all now suffer?
And, although we are instructed to be long-suffering, at what point do those evils become UNsufferable?
Which amendment?
My country is the USA.
NO NO NO...Give NC another chance! McCain only lost it by a couple votes!
We’ll send those jerks to NY where they cam from.
We want to stay with y’all.
I also take it as a proud American then that you stand behind the Declaration of Independence?
We are now witnessing the liberal takeover of a beautiful state by people from the north and below the border because we were the frog in the warm water when our new citizens form the north turned the heat on high..
The victors get to write history, which is why it's generally better to be a victor and generally not a good idea to get into a shooting war that you can't win. Had America's founders not been able to win, the American Revolution would be a footnote in British history and had they run their revolution like the French, we would no doubt have had our Napoleon and our revolution would be yet another example of what not to do. The problem with the American Revolution is that it gives people an overly optimistic view of rebellions that's just not supported by history. Most of them go badly and I have little doubt that the Southern rebellion would have gone badly even had they won their independence.
Or to put this another way, a lot of this is just as silly as people in La Raza sitting around complaining about the gross injustice of the United States taking the American southwest and Texas away from Mexico before the Civil War. Do you think we should give that territory back to Mexico and, if not, why not?
Article 1, section 8.
Article 1, section 9.
And I suppose I should add that my reply was to a very specific claim, which was that, "when Grant died, very few folks lamented his passing." I provided ample evidence that this specific claim was simply not true. Do you disagree?
No, slavery, as the key issue in the Civil war, is indeed what I was alluding to. Your err was in thinking that the things you were ranting about, none of which had been thought of at that time, were in any way germane to the discussion.
Or maybe you were just trying to change the subject away from something unpleasant for you.
Whatever. Like I said, it’s your thread. See you around.
“Where is Ft. Sumter located?”
As it was at the beginning of the War Between the States, it is located on property belonging to the United States which property happens to be in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
So you say that the British, by all rights, owning the colonies, were justified in their response?
Yet despite being a mediocre if not failure as President, there is still ample evidence that he was remembered fondly not only before but also after his death. He wouldn’t be on the $50 if he was really as bad as, say, Jimmy Carter.
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