Neo-Confederate Fictions: Brilliant military leaders and patriotic Confederate nationals.

Neo-Confederates like to go on and on about their "Brilliant" military leaders. However, I would like to point out that the Confederate armies lost the war. Now, some might think that losing a war is a small technical detail in evaluating military competency, but I think that winning a war is a criteria that you could use to judge military commanders at war.

Now the cry of the Neo-Confederates has been that the Confederate armies were outnumbered. Being outnumbered is certainly no advantage. However, it isn't a insurmountable obstacle either. Alexander the Great, defeated Persian armies in battle many times the size of his army. The Swiss triumphed over the armies of the Austrians. The Dutch won against the Habsburgs. The Vietnamese won against the United States.

Prince Eugene de Savoy defeated armies much larger than his much to the chagrin of Louis XIV and others and is considered great.

Great military leaders overcome odds, that is where they get the reputation as being "great." Average military leaders meet the expectations set by the odds.

It seems that Robert E. Lee was rather clueless on the idea of fighting a defensive war and squandered the Confederacy's military resources in battle, when he could have just sat tight.

A lot is spoken and written about Gettysburg and Pickett's charge, and it being the "high water mark" of the Confederacy. This "high water mark" comment is a real sign of the lack of comprehension of what war is about. Was Moscow the "high water mark" of Napoleon's French Empire? But supposing Lee had won the battle of Gettysburg and the American armies retreated. What would be next? Well another battle with the American armies which he might lose or suffer further casualties. Or would he have to retreat back to Virginia before the American army trapped him in Pennsylvania and capture him and his army?

Patriotism in the Confederacy

Wars cost money. Loads of it, lots of it, vast quantities of it. The American government knew it and went to raise it through taxes. Congress added tariffs to provide the funding for American war bonds around the beginning of the war. Later the income tax was added. With this cash flow there could be credit. You can borrow money when you have an income.

The Confederate government didn't raise taxes. They decided to print money. You can print loads of paper money, lots of it, vast quantities of it. You can reset the plates and add a zero or zeros. However, it is very inflationary and you add zeros in a race against its depreciating value.

Taxes would have required the use of the Confederate currency to pay them so money put into circulation would come out, and an income from taxes would allow the issuing of bonds, to raise funds without printing money. However, with runaway inflation, you are not going to get anyone to purchase bonds, when they are going to be worthless.

Inflation doesn't fall evenly on the population. It hit people who are paid wages and have their wealth in savings and cash on hand. Landowners and slave owners would have their wealth without the burden of taxation.

There is an expression "Put your money where your mouth is." The Confederates, despite all their bluster and oratory and blather about honor, weren't going to dig into their pockets to pay taxes for the war.

Richardson takes stand against Confederate flag.

The article on Bill Richardson taking a stand against the Confederate flag is in this article here.

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/55887.html

As the article points out, he had been reluctant to speak on it previously.

Article here.

I updated the Presidential Candidate page. http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

I think that we can expect almost all, if not very likely all Democratic presidential candidates to take a stand against the Confederate flag.

I am updating the Presidential Candidate page as small things develop, such as candidates dropping out, etc. and don't announce every revision in the blog. There is a link to the page in the right side bar of this blog.

South Carolina Primary in 2008/ Neo-Confederate protests

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16465466.htm

The above article reports on Neo-Confederate protest against the NAACP MLK event at the State house protesting against U.S. Senator and 2008 Presidential candidate Biden.

We can expect to see a lot of this in the upcoming 2008 presidential campaign. However, I think most Democratic presidential candidates will be disappointed if they don't get a protest against them by Neo-Confederates. A Neo-Confederate protest would be an image booster for a candidate hoping to attract Democratic voters across the country.

The question is, whether the Neo-Confederates will be disruptive. That is, will they pull down signs and posters, and harass campaign workers and operations. I don't know if they will or will not. I think it is possible.

It seems Biden is dropping his "slave state" Delaware identity.

Also, this makes two Democratic Presidential candidates who have taken stands against the Confederate flag on the statehouse grounds in South Carolina. I have not heard of any Republicans taking a stand against the Confederate flag, if someone has documentation of such, please email me and let me know.

I will be tracking the issues on my http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm page.

The Bilboization of the Republican Party in the former Confederate States

As most everyone has heard, if they read a paper or watch news, Rep. Goode (R-Virginia) and numerous rightwing commentators had a fit over Rep. Keith Ellison taking his oath of office using a Koran.

http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/01/14/news/local_news/1020458.txt

It would seem to me the big issue would be the effectiveness of any of these oaths by any religious faith. For right-wing conservatism it seems that the necessity is to have hysteria over nothing all the time. A recent example of this is the outrage worked up by conservatives over Pizza Patron accepting pesos. The fact is that stores accept foreign currency all the time with some type of exchange rate charge when it is a feasible thing to do. U.S. Dollars are accepted in Canada where U.S. tourists go.

Theodore Bilbo, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000460, U.S. Representative and later Senator from Mississippi was notorious for his hysterical racism.

http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/amit/display.cfm?amit_id=2015

http://www.mdah.state.ms.us/pubs/bilbo.pdf

With the defeat of the Republicans in 2006 and likely further defeats in 2008 it seems that it many Republicans are independently setting their own course to make sure they are elected, national Republican party strategy be damned. The national Republican party seems to have much less authority with individual Republicans office holders who rather risk the wrath of the Republican National Committee (RNC) than the voters in the next elections. So the political philosophy of some of them seems to be talk-radio conservatism and also what plays locally. The concerns of the national Republican party to build a majority coalition by reaching out to various groups seems to be of little concern.

We have seen this last year when many Southern Republicans campaigned against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, with language right out of the Southern Partisan.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2006/05/south-will-rise-again-effort-to-block.html

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2006/06/neo-confederate-opposition-to-voting.html

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2006/07/voting-rights-act-update-neo.html

Further back in time was Barbour running with the endorsement of the Council of Conservative Citizens (http://www.cofcc.org/).

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=803

I think the contest in the Republican party will be between what the national Republican party wants, and their control over funds, and what it takes to be elected locally, especially when some competitors in the Republican primary may not be at all concerned with what the national Republican party wants. Also, some allowance will be made so nationally backed Republican candidates can get elected. So there will likely be allowances and concessions to hysterical talk show radio. However, this runs the risk of becoming a runaway process as the center of debate gets shifted to extremism by degrees. This will effect some type of shift to the hysterical talk-show right (Am I being redundant?) in the Republican party in the former(?) Confederate states.

This will make it difficult for Republicans elsewhere outside the former Confederate states to run for office. It won't be like Dixiecrats in the Democratic party in the 1950s and 60s, since the Dixiecrats were obviously not the political center of the Democrats, but the Republican Dixiecrats have been central if not the center of the Republican party in the 90s and certainly are now becoming more the center. The Republicans have captured the former Confederate states, but they are losing the rest of the nation.

With national media, the hysterical crazed yelpings of persons like Rep. Goode and others will cause a cringe with the public elsewhere and it will be very difficult for a Republican party in Wisconsin. When you have always start your conversation that you are not like those Dixiecrat Republicans, it must be fairly demoralizing and a rather uphill climb. Indeed as people leave your party you run the risk that your base and then membership are extremists and you leave also.

The Republican party having so completely captured the former Confederate states, but at the same time losing the rest of the nation with their increasing extremism, and with the increasing public discontent over George W. Bush, many Democrats are realizing that they can win without the former Confederate states. In fact, they certainly realize they can run a fairly good presidential primary campaign without the former Confederate states, and not compete with the few presidential candidates that might want to reach out for the Confederate vote. The book "Whistling Past Dixie" which asserts that the Democrats should bypass the former Confederate states has been getting a lot of attention. http://www.whistlingpastdixie.com/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.md.schaller27dec27,0,4959229.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

I don't know if a national political party can ignore completely any region, but I think the policy of centering the Democratic platform to eke out one more electoral vote somewhere in the former Confederate states is not going to be the automatically given policy anymore.

One developing trend might be that the Republican party will publicly embrace the Confederacy and the Democrats will increasingly reject it. That the issue of the Confederacy will become partisan. Of course there is the complication of James Webb, U.S. Senator (D-VA). However, in 2008, the Democrats will likely pick up more Senate seats outside the former Confederate states and not need Webb.

All of this will be occurring during the political debate over Iraq and likely an increasingly contentious debate over Iraq policy which I think will be agitating politics in general.

Christopher Dodd, D-Conn, calls for Confederate flag removal.

U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., called for the removal of the Confederate flag that flies at the South Carolina Statehouse as he attended a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial event at a Greenville church Sunday night (1/14/07).

Article in Kansas City Star



I have updated the 2008 Presidential Election page.
http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

Patriotism or White Nationalism, The American Legion

Over the years the American Legion has and continues to have activities with the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Evidently, a movement that would have shattered the nation is okay with a group that purports to be patriotic.

The old name for the Civil War and was used in the Congressional Record for decades was the "War of the Rebellion."

As long as the American Legion continues to work with Confederate groups, we are quite right to consider their "patriotism" to be dubious, and permeated with white nationalism.

Updated Presidential Candidates page. /Questionnaire

I added in John Edwards' admirable anti-Confederate record from my former 2004 webpage.

I also found that Barack Obama has an anti-Confederate record and added it.

Deleted out some candidates that have dropped out. The following is the link and I always have the link to this page on the right side margin of my blog.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

I hope to mail the candidates a questionnaire. I am going to write a new questionnaire. I will have it online also. When it is online, I would like people in the states or district of the candidate to write a letter for those who have not announced, and for those who have announced I would like people to write letters.

I am thinking that I need to start sending questionnairs in the next three months.

I have been busy working on multiple papers and books and haven't had the time to work on the questionnaire yet.

Behind the Plantation Facade, Historical Societies and selective memory

The Abbeville Institute, the current Neo-Confederate institute, (http://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/), with the usual Neo-Confederate leaders announces that they are getting a grant from the Watson Brown foundation (http://www.watson-brown.org/index.html). Evidently this isn't the first time they have supported the Abbeville Institute, according to their newsletter, "Legacy," in 2002 they gave a grant to the Abbeville Institute (http://www.watson-brown.org/media/pdf/legacy303.pdf).

One of the Heroes of the Watson-Brown foundation is Thomas E. Watson, and this is their bio of Watson ( http://www.watson-brown.org/heritage/tw_bio.html). This is the bio of Thomas E. Watson of the "Georgia Encyclopedia" (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2540).

I think that this selective memory of the past is typical of all too many small historical foundations and local historical societies. When you erase the past are you preserving heritage? For all too many, heritage is not history, but a gilded past that never existed, but is a fantasy. It is mostly a form of historical destruction and not preservation.

The other lesson is to see that the activities of the this foundation provide a beautiful exterior to the inner core of their mentality, support of radical Neo-Confederacy. The restored plantation houses, house a plantation mentality.

Here I stumble across the inner truth of this foundation, behind the token African Americans and the smiling faces. I doubt the local press or the "Atlanta Constitution" will report this, even if they know, and perhaps they will get some local African American group to defend them.

Just be aware, whether it is in Vermont or Georgia, or California or Minnesota, that often the "history" given out by historical organizations isn't but a frothy fantasy of the past, and this in itself is a political agenda. It is often a back door access to your thinking. Can you enjoy a beautiful plantation house, without subconsiously buying into certain views and fantasies? It is a question I can't definitely answer.

Bonilla Defeated

I see that U.S. Representative Bonilla from Texas was defeated by a Mr. Rodriguez. Bonnilla use to work with a group called the Descendants of Mexican War Veterans which was formed in the 1990s or late 1980s. They were busy working to erect monuments to glorify the Mexican American war.

http://www.dmwv.org/

There is a sort of Neo-Alamo movement out there, similar to the Neo-Confederates. I run into them here and there while tracking the Neo-Confederate movement.

Good to see Bonilla defeated. Though I suppose the Neo-Alamo movement will find their own Hispanic equivalent of H.K. Edgerton to trot around and show case.

Sons of Confederate Veterans Press Release in 2000

Click here to read the 2000 Press Release..

I found the 2000 press release by the SCV in the Wayback Machine.

I have updated the Presidential 2008 webpage with the new information.

John Edwards enters presidential race

The Neo-Confederates hate John Edwards, since they seem him as a traitor for not being Pro-Confederate.

He has entered the race for president for the 2008 elections.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061216/ap_on_el_pr/democrats2008

I will have to update the presidential campaign page.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

Good question, why isn't this a scandal?

Public Eye blog on U.S. Senator Biden's comments.

Read Public Eye by clicking on this link.

More on SCV campaign against the NCAA and the Black Coaches Association (BCA)

This website has the email sent out by Christopher M. Sullivan, Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Sullivan is also the editor of the Southern Partisan magazine which is still being published.

http://shnvalerts.blogspot.com/2006/11/heritage-action-alert-scv.html

Humorous Editorial on the Neo-Confederates WMD, Weapons of Mass Denial

It is here.

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-93857

Senator James Webb, hero to Neo-Confederates

Tom DiLorenzo, leading Neo-Confederate, praises U.S. Senator (VA) James Web in this online article for his behavior towards President George W. Bush at a reception at the White House.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo117.html

The article quite correctly points out Webb's Confederate Celtic theories as the basis of his book "Born Fighting."

One part of Tom DiLorenzo's article bears review.

My intuition about Webb was confirmed recently when he refused to genuflect, scrape and grovel, and kiss the ring of George W. Bush at a White House reception (in stark contrast to every other member of Congress in attendance). Then, a day later, I really knew that Senator-elect Webb was a man to be admired when George "Statecraft as Soul Craft" Will, the resident Lincoln-worshipping Straussian /Neocon Iraq war apologist on the Washington Post op-ed page, called him a "boor" and generally trashed him in a column. Congratulations, Senator-elect Webb!

This is actually what happened from the "Washington Post."

Washington Post Article

At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.

"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.
"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

It was nothing about "groveling," "ring kissing," or "genuflecting." George W. Bush was merely engaging in common pleasantries. This is called being civilized. If James Webb didn't want to talk to George W. Bush why did he go to the reception? If George W. Bush didn't talk to Webb at all and avoided him, that would be a scandal, and so quite properly Bush approached Webb and engaged in everyday pleasantries.

Keith Ellison, U.S. Representative elect from Minnesota didn't want to meet George W. Bush and so he didn't go to a reception at the White House. Ellison is perfectly in his rights not to go and his choice not to go didn't violate common courtesy.

James Webb's behavior was discourteous and underminds the workings of democracy. Some Democrats and anti-War activists think he is a hero. I think Webb is a loose cannon and the Democrats might consider that they have a serious problem on their hand.

The Democrats might also consider that they have a Neo-Confederate U.S. Senator which is likely going to received wide-spread public admiration in the Neo-Confederate movement. Perhaps U.S. Senator Biden is trying to get his endorsement.

Presidential Candidate Biden Panders to Confederate Sentiment.

As reported in "The State" concerning Biden's campaigning in South Carolina, Nov. 28, 2006, Jim Davenport, Associated Press. http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/16117154.htm

"He's not shy about talking about South Carolina's Confederate history either.

After a club member noted an upcoming event at the state Department of Archives and History included a chance to see the state's original copy of the Articles of Secession, Biden asked: "Where else could I go to a Rotary Club where (for a) Christmas Party the highlight is looking at the Articles?"

Biden noted Delaware was a border state and "a slave state that fought beside the North. That's only because we couldn't figure out how to get to the South - there were a couple of other states in the way."

The crowd roared with laughter.

Evidently Biden is campaigning for the Confederate Vote.

I have updated the Presidential Campaign page with this link.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

Sons of Confederate Veterans start anti-NCAA Campaign

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) has started a campaign against the National Collegiate Atheltics Association (NCAA) and the Black Coaches Association (BCA). The SCV has a reference to it on their website www.scv.org which has a link to a story in the "Washington Post" on their campaign against the NCAA. The following is the link to the "Washington Post" article.

"Washington Post" article.

The SCV also announces a link to a website, which has been launched for the anti-NCAA campaign. http://ncaainterference.org/ This site is an attack on the entire NCAA and the BCA.

The SCV is already running a campaign against NASCAR and that campaign seems to be largely going no where. Perhaps they have given up on NASCAR and think the NCAA is an easier target.

Deranged Lew Rockwell Ranting

This article on the highways is fairly typical what passes for thought at www.lewrockwell.com :

http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block66.html

Interestingly enough, Block has a table of deaths per 100M vehicle miles. It shows that the rate has decline from 5.98 to 1.64, from 1957 to 1994. This is nearly a 4-fold reduction. However, Block calls the government departments in charge of the highways "mass murderers." Reading through Block's article you come across all sorts of rants and rages, references to Stalin and Hitler, but I don't find an actual critique of this enviable record of improvement.

When you consider that you have to work on an existing built system of highways and can't rebuild anything easily, and that there needs to be learning cycles, and sometimes lax laws (Texas in the 1980s refused to ban open alcholic beverages in cars while driving.) It is quite an accomplishment.

Block rages on various irrelvant tangents and seems to be incapable of logical thought. This whole article is supposed to justify private roads and highways.

Block is a professor of economics at Loyola University in New Orleans.

No Plantation Christmas

Here in Texas we have Christmas Tree Farms and Christmas Tree Plantations. I would hope that no one would buy a tree from a Christmas Tree Plantation.

Now, I know that technically that a plantation is a farm with an organized labor force in the production of some agricultural product. A plantation is the agricultural equivalent of a factory. However, in some contexts, its meaning is fixed as mean Old South Plantation, in some cases it is stated as such.

We support banal white nationalism when we purchase these products. We promote the fantasy that the Old South Plantation was desireable and erase the crimes of slavery. Purchasing "plantation" labeled products, the purchaser is complicit the historical falsifaction of the "Old South Plantation" myth and is guilty of aiding and abetting banal white nationalism. With the great many products available to the consumer, there is no reason to purchase plantation-labeled products other than to consume the Old South Plantation fantasy. No one is going to suffer even the most minor hardship by purchasing something other than some "plantation" labeled product.

Corporations which produce "plantation" labeled products are not good corporate citizens. Their other products should be boycotted also.

The Dallas Racist Way

It is not accidental that I was living in Dallas when I discovered the Neo-Confederate movement. The city of Dallas has this racist underground and because of it I found ten years of the "Southern Partisan" magazine in the Dallas Public Library in their storage.

The city of Dallas has no human rights commission. You might wonder why there is no agitation from the minority community for one, but then you should understand that this is a city where the African American mayor, Ron Kirk, declared a Confederate Heritage Day for the City of Dallas.

In the "Dallas Morning News" 11/18/06, Saturday, front page 1A, and 4A, is a story of the Federal Courts ruling that the Preston Hollow Elementary School practiced illegal segregation of minority students. This is the full online story.

Dallas Morning News story

This is the link to Federal Judge Lindsay's ruling:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/11-06/1118phopinion.pdf

The judge pointed out that is was very likely that officials in the DISD knew what was happening or should have known in his ruling which was very critical. The DISD public statements are very weasely after this court ruling. The DISD attorneys actually argued for seperate but equal in their defense.

In 2003 Dallas was released from a Federal Court Ordered Desegregation Plan, because supposedly DISD had moved forward from the Civil Rights era. Didn't take long for DISD to revert to their old ways. Remember this when you hear politicians saying that the Voting Rights Act is no longer needed.

This is a Dallas Independent School District school, with many minority school board members. However, like Ron Kirk, many of so-called minority leaders in Dallas, are just looking for the goodie bags that they can get from holding office and have an interest in civil rights mostly during re-election time.