We need some real historians in the MSM who will brand all of this sovereign/secessionist/tea party crap as a rerun of the old “south will rise again” propaganda than has been around since the days of reconstruction. The beaten southern secessionist rebel states have kept this idea alive among the white population within their respective states since the Civil War. This idea has been symbolized for decades by proudly displaying the Confederate Flag at every opportunity
Following reconstruction, Southern white Democrats grudgingly existed within the Union without dispute as long as there was no interference from the Federal government. Currently all the power and influence in the Republican party is concentrated in the Southern states, so it is natural that the Republican Party would preach the Southern segregationist, secessionist, racist dogma. This is all that is available to the current Republican activists. The real intent and purpose of this new Southern Republican strategy is provided below the fold.
To clear up the confusion behind the utterances by Limbaugh, Beck, and the Texas insurrectionary Governor Rick Perry it is useful to layout the current events impacting this subject.
(1) A uniform front of southern governors immediately announced that they would not accept the Government’s Stimulus money targeted for the unemployed in their respective states. For the sake of brevity, I will call this group of governors the Confederate Group as this sentiment has been expressed by Governors of the States of Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.
(2) Until recently the Confederate Group were bereft of any plausible reason for rejecting this money other than weak statements that they disagreed with the distribution requirements that the Federal Government attached to acceptance of the Stimulus funds. These arguments were highly ineffective and logically inane when one considers that each state is suffering the greatest amount of unemployment since the great depression. However, the right wing media pundits have since seen fit to resurrect the long discredited theory of fringe groups who claimed the Sovereignty of States Rights superseded Federal rights. Thus far only the Legislative bodies of the States of Georgia and Texas have passed resolutions not only declaring the Sovereignty of their respective states but openly reserve the right to secede from the Union under the conditions of their own choosing.
(3) Thus far two of the five Confederate States have announced their willingness to secede from the Union if their demands based on their Sovereign Rights are not agreed to and acted upon by the Federal Government. This is the present status. Meanwhile, the employment situation grows steadily worse and the right wing propaganda machine continues to actively preach armed sedition against the Federal Government.
Many Americans living outside the Confederate States are failing to take Rick Perry and his cohorts seriously. In the case of Rick Perry the only straw that the media can grasp as a possible explanation for the Texas Governor’s secessionist statements is that he is desperately trying to appeal to the Texas right wing fringe group for support in the upcoming Republican Governor’s primary in his fight against former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. While this might have some validity, it is certainly not the real reason behind his actions. “There are much bigger fish to fry.”
What is actually developing here is a very ugly situation that if not dealt with swiftly and firmly can escalate to the level of reenactment of some phases of the Civil War. Let me explain what the Confederate Group is really planning for Barack Obama and the Federal Government. Their plan is based on the following events:
(a) Withhold the Federal Stimulus funds to the unemployed in their respective states in an effort to drive as many white low income people as possible to the point of utter desperation for the want of the basic necessities of life for themselves and their families.
(b) The Confederate Group and their financial supporters will sponsor protests and rallies through out their regions in the south. They will attract huge crowds to these affairs by providing plenty of food and liquor for the white folks in attendance. People will also be treated to continuous speeches by the most virulent bombastic fiery demagogues available. Liberal doses of racist slogans will be incorporated in these speeches which will clearly imply that just as the SOVEREIGNITY granted to States under the Constitution supersedes the rights of the Federal Government, so does that same Sovereignty give white people the right to rebel against Barack Obama and ALL OF HIS PEOPLE in the Federal Government. At this point the speakers will urge all of the attendees to “Go out and do something about Obama and HIS PEOPLE!”
(c ) In the past when roving mobs of white people attacked peaceful innocent black residents living amongst them, the news media always calls it a riot, and I would expect the same news treatment here. White mobs attacking black businesses, homes and churches is not far fetched, it has happened many times before in the south and the southwestern states of this country. (For further information check out the link below.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Tulsa,_Oklahoma
This is what the Confederate Group is attempting to stage, and the goal to involve all five southern states in wide spread civil unrest. If such a condition does arise in the south and southwest it will require a heavy Federal military intervention to extinguish and it will be costly in term of property destruction but also in the loss of life. Naturally the actual instigators of the insurrection will all engage in a loud and unrelenting national media chorus calling upon the President to resign as the only way to end the unrest. Their argument will be of course that these rioters are racists who are just not ready to accept a BLACK PRESIDENT, but it is more important for us to preserve the Union, so the President must step aside to pacify them.
The current national dialog needs to clear and honest. It needs to stop pussy footing around the ugly facts behind these latest attacks against President Obama and what they portend. It is obvious that these attacks are racially motivated and are precursors designed TO APPEAL to those unfortunate desperate people who have long been in the terrifying grip of unemployment and are facing homelessness and severe poverty. These poor people are suffering each and every day, and they are looking for SOMEONE to BLAME. They have no financial training and don’t understand why their loved ones are starving and without medical attention, while Wall Street Bankers get BILLIONS of bailout dollars. As Limbaugh said recently about these unemployed masses, “They don’t know what to think, so we’ll tell them”. This is a serious time bomb that is ticking away. The right wing fanatic demagogues think that time is on their side. As long as they keep stoking the airwaves with ANTI-GOVERNMENT talk, the fires of revolt and rebellion will continue to grow daily.
My concern with the growth of this sovereign/secessionist talk among the Confederate Governors is that the Obama Administration is so busy with the plethora of problems that it inherited from the Bush Administration, that it is not actively developing a counter plan to cope with the possible resulting region wide public unrest and riots. I think the White House is counting on a quick economic revival to keep a lid on this problem. However, employment is a lagging indicator in the marketplace, so it will be at least eight months before the rise in unemployment begins to level off. IMHO I don’t think the south/south western situation will remain fluid for this amount of time. I hope the above scenario does not occur, but unfortunately the events of the day are moving towards making this an actuality.
I realize that the Governor of Alaska has also embraced many of the secessionists’ sentiments in her campaign speeches. However, strictly from a geographical point of view, Alaska can not be physically included in the regional area of the five south/south western states that are currently engaged in the sovereignty/secessionist fever. Therefore, under these circumstances what the Governor of Alaska has to say on this issue is really of little consequence.
