Posted on 03/21/2002 9:58:54 AM PST by TEXICAN II
But then, war is always so popular & competition in the government business is never popular.
I'd be interested to get opinions on what the world would look like if the South had won. Would we still be separate nations, or would a reunion have been inevitable? I seriously doubt slavery would have continued indefinitely, and the European antics of the 20th century would have placed unique pressures on both a Confederacy and a separate Union....One of many questions: Would two nuclear nations now occupy what is now the U.S.?
One of my ancesters rode with Forrest-my Mother and Father had about 20 grandparents & uncles in various Confederate States. Some earlier Virginia & North Carolina ancestors were present at Yorktown ( one direct ancestor, Light Horse Harry L., later delivered a eulogy at Washington's funeral ). One uncle was at Ft.Sam Houston, in San Antonio, when he resigned his US Army commision, declined Command of the Union Army, before heading home to assume command of the Army of Virginia ( his younger sister Katherine was a Gr-Gr-Gr-Great Grandmother ).
Besides participants of the American Revolution & War of Northern Agression, my mother's most serious genes of true rebelion come from William Wallace.
Both parents had Grandparents in the Texas Revolution.
Personal skills include a natural capacity with both rifle & pistol-I was trained by the time I could hold the weapons. I can provide my own kit, horse and weapons.
Genetically, you see, I am one inherently disturbed individual & seriously impaired, but given my verbal skills, wonder if I might perhaps make a great G-2? I have some measure of the importance of intelligence-as I read that my Uncle's Army suffered greatly at Gettysburg for want of Stuart's intelligence. If selected, I shall be ever loyal & shall never fail you!
Even now, Sir, I await the fresh mail, with its promise of the proper code with which to enroll for your most urgent dispatches! Do not forget me! I shall serve in capacity you deem apropriate!
"If the South would have won we'd have had it made....
I'd probably run for President of the Southern States.
The day Elvis passed away would be a national holiday,
If the South would have won we'd have had it made."
Okay, maybe Hank Williams, Jr. isn't the best political analyst on this topic. I think we'd have stayed two nations, or more than two. With secession firmly established as a valid political strategy in both nations, either more states would split off, or the knowledge that they could would make other statesmen less inclined to push them. It would probably result in a decentralization of the federal governments of however many countries you eventually end up with.
As a side note, look what this libertarian web site had to say about the possibility of modern secession after the 200 election:
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Sobran is wrong: there were never three safeguards.
There was and is only one safeguard: that the general population of the U.S. behave in a manner conducive to the existence of a free society.
Only then can the elected leaders be expected to act in the best interests of the country, in accordance with the Constitution.
At the same time, the electorate is expected to hold their representatives accountable, and to protect their own rights, as well as the rights of others.
And finally, all people are expected to recognize and follow through upon their duties to society.
Sobran is engaged in a bit of Constitutional idolatry here. He expects that somehow a scrap of paper can act as a hedge against people who want to get around the constraints it embodies. Without the underlying moral concensus that created it, the Constitution is without meaning.
To understand what's going on, one has got to go back to moral first principles. In fact, one is pretty much required to go back to Christian first principles.
I would be very interested in hearing what you have to back up that claim. Can you show by any measure how slavery was on the wane in 1860? Can you show how it would have been possible under the confederate constitution that slavery could have varied by state, much less county?
If Mr. Sobran is so wrong, and rather doubt that he is, maybe you should tell him about his careless writing-I only brought it to the attention of more people. His web site invites reply.
I shall not fill in the blank areas of your history education. Look it up, sir, if you wish to know.
But that's precisely the point, and precisely where Sobran misses the boat. If the people aren't accustomed, how are you going to make them accustomed? The answer is, you can't. They have to get there on their own.
There's a story about how, during the Viet Nam war, we sent a group of earnest young folks over to Saigon to help them craft a nice, new constitution. They argued, negotiated, and sweated amongst themselves, and it was by all accounts a thing of beauty.
Only problem was, it had absolutely no impact -- the moral values of Vietnamese people were different from those enshrined by the earnest Ivy-leaguers.
As for the Constitution being a great political instrument: it is. But only because it expresses the far greater moral fibre of the people who created it. The strength of the United States came not from the scrap of paper, but from the people who wrote it.
I have. I can point out to how the slave population rose by over 20% between 1850 and 1860. I can point you to statistics which show that the southern plantation owners propered during that period like never before. I can also point you to statistics which show that the number of free blacks actually declined in a number of southern states, while growing everywhere else. Finally I can quote chapter and verse of the confederate constitution which shows that the document protected slavery throughout the south and safeguarded the importation of new slaves.
You make blanket statements without offering any evidence to support them, and when challenged on your claims you find that to be a character flaw in those who challenge you. Well I have a great deal of respect for your right of free speech and your right to say whatever you want. But I do have problems with false speech and I'm sorry if you are troubled by that. The easiest way to silence me would be to do the research and prove me wrong. Are you interested in doing that?
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