Saturday, August 17, 2013

Cato Institute warns libertarians against neo-Confederacy in really interesting video.

Kevin Levin mentioned this video on his blog. His blog does have some interesting items and I do visit it. Though I find his "Road to Reunion" attitude a negative thing as well as his ad hominem attacks on myself when he has no real argument for his position, it doesn't mean that you can't learn some really interesting items at his blog. http://cwmemory.com/blog/

This blog posting of his is about a video by the Cato Institute warning Libertarians that the Confederacy isn't a model for Libertarians or represent Libertarian values. It is fairly good going over historical information that hasn't generally reached the public. The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tvKjRB7wg5k

It is worth watching for the how libertarians interpret the Civil War.

However, it seems that the video also incorporates some neo-Confederate views of the Civil War and is to some extent self-defeating. He even quotes Murray Rothbard which is truly self-defeating. If this is the anti-Neo-Confederacy of the libertarian movement their cause is already lost.

Let me suggest a shorter message to conservatives and Libertarians. If your movement embraces white supremacy in our multipolar and multiracial world you are truly lost.

As everyone should know, my effort is non-partisan and I don't do this research for the advance of any partisan cause. My website www.templeofdemocracy.com is named after a 19th century metaphor for the American republic and my goal is to defend that republic against its neo-Confederate enemies.

Yes, I am able to figure out that sometimes others use my research for partisan goals. I suggest that those who have embraced an element of neo-Confederacy give up neo-Confederacy and thus not be susceptible to partisan attacks over it.

As Kevin Levin points out and I pointed out in an earlier blog posting it is interesting that conservative leaders are having to start warning their followers and readers against neo-Confederacy. I think that though these warnings are good and necessary and a good start against neo-Confederacy entering the conservative mainstream, they are not enough to prevent neo-Confederacy entering the mainstream of conservatism. I think the conservative movement needs to have a good look at itself and how it processes the issues of race. In particular its practice of exploiting race resentments. I don't say all conservatives do this, but I do think many do and the conservatives that don't remain silent.

A conservative movement that to some extent at some level is a white racial movement will embrace the rationalizations of neo-Confederacy despite all the historical facts, despite reason, despite logic, despite common sense.

This rejection of the Confederacy is a good first step, but it isn't adequate.

As for Kevin Levin I think that his opposition to neo-Confederacy, a word which he has gone on record as not liking, is based on the fact that neo-Confederates are upsetting a historical discussion of the Civil War which regarded it as a sort of a toy soldiers game. He is largely if not entirely uninformed by critical theory in his thinking.

Again, that doesn't mean you can't learn something from his site.

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular Posts Last 30 days

Popular Posts All Time