What really pisses me off about people--even ones here in WI--is when they talk about the Confederate flag and all the Civil War stuff around a century and a half ago--as part of their heritage. One's heritage implies a yearning to go back to this time and place where you're jealous of the people from that era who experienced everything that you want to.

Racial slurs have filled the air in this country like torrential rain since America was discovered. But in 2009 and ever since then, there's been more overt signs (sometimes actual signs) this new Confederacy we're seeing was on the rise. The Teabillies often had the message "I want my country back". I suspected this was referring to how it was when these devout churchgoers could buy and sell human beings and use them for very cheap labor. It was also the backward swinging of the political pendulum because we had a newly elected president with pigmentation. In other words, backlash.

Then came a tsunami of police shootings and choking of unarmed black men. A couple more dragged behind (what else?) pickup trucks made the headlines too. It would seem now that the racists/anti-Semites/homo- and transphobes have a new leader and the freedom to do what they want to their non-white and other minority neighbors. But this leader isn't just some ordinary Grand Dragon. He lives in the White House and 63 million "Americans" voted for him to lead this nation.

How do we get the people I've described to evolve with us? Many learned to hate from their parents, media people, and even religious figures. It's easier to learn something than to unlearn something. These Teabillies need de-programming, but they won't come willingly.