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I have no respect for a populace that through its ignorance, apathy or scheming has subverted the original intent of the Founding Fathers into a statist run socialist tyranny.

I see.

So when are you leaving?

Birth of Tha SYNDICATE, the philosophical heir to William Lloyd Garrison.
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"So when are you leaving?"

Are you telling me to leave?

I'm sorry, but I'm not ready to depart from the country that my family has lived in for over 250 years.

I wonder if they would have participated in every major US war since the rebellion against English tyranny if they knew it would become the farce it is today...

IMHO, we were better off under the crown of England.

A few years ago, these guys would have been Democrats. A Republican in a town full of these guys would have to learn to keep a very low profile.

I can remember the old days, (I was young, but I remember). To speak ill of the good-old-boy establishment was guaranteed to get these guys up in your face. Likewise to be polite to people you weren't supposed to be polite to.

To openly declare your views, as a Republican, took a lot of raw, physical, courage. A Republican had to have some courage, but most probably learned to mute his views and blend in. A Republican who didn't watch his mouth would get a visit from the boys, who would remind him how things worked. A Black man with a smart mouth was guaranteed a visit from the boys.

As I say, I was young, but I had big eyes and big ears. I knew which side I was on.

I remember, years later, when King began to lead his marches. Of course, no one knew about his personal life, nor did they care. The people who hated him, did not hate him because he cheated on his wife, because that was not known. They hated him because he walked where they told him not to walk. They hated him because he demanded to be treated as a citizen, full and equal.

I of course remember the attacks on his people, the bombings that killed the little girls, the people that were beaten. All of the good people would say, of course thats terrible, but... Always a "but". Racism is terrible but... The Klan is terrible but... the killings are terrible but...

All of that ended the day King was shot dead. All of the equivocation, all of the temporizing, all of the "buts" were over. It is sad, and tragic, but it took his killing for people to fully confront what they were doing, and to finally leave it behind.

You may or may not agree, but I count 1968 as the year racism in America died. Some of the people in this thread are trying to make me think it still lives, but I know better. I saw it die. Since 1968 no one I know could ever say the kinds of things that were commonly said prior. They could not let themselves feel the kinds of things they commonly felt prior to 1968.

So, they can tell me he was whatever he was, and they may even be right, so far as it goes. But I saw what life in some places looked like before he stood up, and I saw what life was like in those same places, among those same people, after he was killed. Transformed.

Not many of us will ever make that kind of difference with our lives. Many of us will never make the errors he made, philosophically, or morally. But he stood up, and most others didn't.

It is important to recognize that most of the people who stood by, and did nothing, would have considered themselves Christians. The guys who committed the attacks most certainly were not, of course, but they could blend and find support from the good people of the community who, while they didn't approve, didn't speak up either. It is very important to recognize this. These people placed "culture", and community loyalty, above religion.

It is important to recognize that these people were the good, and decent, citizens. Because the worst evils occur when good people go off the track. We can all protect ourselves from evil people, because they are easy to recognize. Its the good people, the ones who put loyalty over principle, who make real evil possible.