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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInsurrectionists cry ‘tyranny,’ but the US has become more – not less – free
My mother, now dearly missed, had a tender spot for the South as do many Americans. That's why the Confederate battle flag is displayed at tea party gatherings, Donald Trump's Republican rallies, the recent insurgent takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and most tragically from the hand of 21-year-old Dylann Roof last year shortly before he shot to death nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C. We must assume "rebels" display that flag because they believe the Confederate cause was admirable.
Was it really? For that we have to ask why the Confederacy in 1861 started the Civil War, or at least fired the first shots as they cannoned Charleston's Fort Sumter into surrender. That war killed in battle 720,000 Americans, more than died in all our other wars combined. So, why the Civil War?
Some Americans today whose ancestors gallantly fought for the Confederacy (perhaps including my great grandfather) understandably say it was not for slavery. It was for the South's honor and liberty, to defend states rights and oppose an intrusive central government. But Southern leaders in 1861 those who ordered the cannons fired spoke more bluntly.
MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/insurrectionists-cry-tyranny-but-the-us-has-become-more-free/
katsy
(4,246 posts)Then why not free the slaves and then carry on their "states rights" battle? Just a coincidence they needed free or cheap labor on the plantations?
Ya know, I don't buy the romanticized version of the confederacy. Or the "everyone did slavery" apology. Sometimes when our humanity just outgrows these wrong headed ideas, like slavery, bigotry, apartheid... It's best to just stop and embrace the new reality where rights are expanded NEVER curtailed. I get "evolving" and understand historical perspectives. But when it came time to expanding human rights, freeing the slaves, the confederacy was on the wrong side of history.
This statement >>>> that it wasn't for slavery but for the south'd honor & liberty... Is unadulterated bullshit. Concern for the liberty of a state but not the liberty of its citizens? That is a pathetic statement.
Just own it. The civil war was about states liberty to own free labor slaves. And it continues to this day but we call it "free trade" and everyone's a wage slave.
Such a shit article. My my how the slaves wept when parted from their enslavers. Tugs at my heart... Not one bit.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)"Free Speech Zones"
Ubiquitous unwarranted surveillance
No habeus corpus
Sanctioned assassination of Enemies of the State with no due process
No Fly Lists
We are not "more free." The OP is mistaken.