Discrediting and Disgracing Dixie



By: Joe Murray, The Bulletin
02/23/2007

To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots," opined Alexander
Solzhenitzyn. With close to five decades passing since the Woodstock warriors
overran America’s societal institutions and declared a war against tradition,
it appears the flower power foot soldiers had Solzhenitzyn in mind when they did
to American history what Sherman did to Atlanta.

A nation, though, is a funny thing. It takes centuries of blood, sweat and sacrifice
to build and nurture a nation. It takes years of pruning, fertilizing and care
for a nation to grow and its people to blossom. It takes, however, only minutes
to detach a people from their national roots and, as Solzhenitzyn wrote, a people
without roots constitute a nation that is dead.

In the last 60 years, America has been ensnared in a culture war that is attempting
to redefine who she is as a country. All that defines her – her heroes, literature,
music, customs, language, tall tales and national identity – have become the principal
targets of a scorched earth policy seeking to erase her national memory and dispose
of the traditional morality that has served as her compass for over two centuries.

Who is waging this war? What are the stakes? Can America be redeemed and are the
days of Ozzie & Harriet forever lost to the Desperate Housewives of Wisteria
Lane?

First, this war, not unlike the Cold War, is a war of ideologies. It’s a war in
which two competing worldviews, as different as night and day, are fighting for
the hearts and minds of the American people. There can be no peaceful coexistence,
no Shanghai Communiqué. There will be a loser, and to the winner will go
the cultural spoils.

If, as Solzhenitzyn explains, severing the people’s roots destroys a nation, those
doing the uprooting must zero in on American history, for if people believe their
nation’s past is corrupt and inhumane, they are less likely to support the traditional
order that birthed such a history.

A nation without a history is a nation that is lost in the wilderness. As explained
by John Jay in "Federalist 2," history is important because it connects
what would otherwise be a disconnected people.

"Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united
people – a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language,
professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very
similar in manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts,
fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established
their general liberty and independence," wrote Jay. But is the America of
today home to a people that are united in their heroes, heritage and history?
Hardly not.

Many of today’s educational elite have issued indictments against a number of
America’s most influential figures. One of the first American heroes to be indicted
was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s crimes against the new moral order was hypocrisy
and slavery, for the man who penned "all men are created equal" owned
slaves and had an affair with Sally Hemmings.

Indicted along with Jefferson are George Washington and James Madison for their
part in advancing the institution of slavery. The fact that these men laid the
groundwork for a society that would not only fight a war to abolish slavery and
offer endless opportunity to the newly freed slaves, but would lead the world
in the fight against slavery, is not a defense and deemed too little, too late.
The indictments coming down from this new moral court don’t stop at water’s edge,
for Christopher Columbus may have discovered the New World, but he is guilty of
genocide and exploitation.

But as many intellectuals and educators thumb through history books highlighting
the negative and forsaking the positive, there is one bone that sticks in the
throat of the rising moral order – the South, for the peoples of the South constitute
the remaining outpost in this culture war.

Walking in the footsteps of the British and French at Versailles, those advancing
the new moral order seek to not only punish the South, but also rob Southerners
of their rightful heritage. The fact that the South was defeated, was set back
decades by the terroristic actions of Yankee troops and left to rebuild on the
rubble left by Sherman and Sheridan means nothing to those waging this new culture
war.

Just as Grant told Sheridan to transform the Shenandoah Valley, the "breadbasket"
of the Confederacy, to a wasteland where "crows flying over it for the balance
of this season will have to carry their own provender," the leftists in this
culture war seek to due the same thing to the memories of Southerners.

One way in which this task is being accomplished is by the systematic shaming
of the South. Earlier this week, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
was stumping in South Carolina and used that opportunity to chastise those who
dare to honor the fallen soldiers of the Confederacy.

South Carolina, after a long statewide battle and ongoing NAACP boycott, decided
to move the Confederate flag from atop the statehouse dome to a remote location
on the statehouse grounds. This, however, was not enough to appease the gods of
political correctness.

In responding to questions concerning South Carolina’s display of the Confederate
flag, Clinton responded, "I personally would like to see it removed from
the statehouse grounds."

Clinton defended her position by explaining, "I think about how many South
Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag
and I believe that we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know
that most people in South Carolina do every single day."

Let’s step back for a moment, for whether she knows it or not, Hillary just gave
America a peek into her psyche.

If we look at Hillary’s words, she is basically saying that the Confederate flag
disgraces those South Carolinians that have served or are serving in the military
under the Stars & Stripes. As for the soldiers who served South Carolina under
the Stars & Bars? To Hillary, these folks are heretics, not heroes.

Hillary just doesn’t get it. Whether she likes it or not, those who fought on
the side of the Confederacy, who were both black and white, were Americans. They
were sons, husbands, brothers, friends and countrymen. They were young soldiers
who responded to their call of duty rather than run from it.

Instead of recognizing the service of these soldiers, Hillary seeks to shame Southerners
to the point that they turn their backs on the very people who covered theirs.
This is the cleansing of a culture and this is an attempt to quell the Southern
resistance to America’s rising moral order, for if the South falls, so goes the
rest of the country.

In 1984, George Orwell wrote, "Who controls the past controls the future.
Who controls the present controls the past." If control of the present is
left in the hands of those who detest America, the fate that is befalling Dixie
will soon befall all heroes held in high esteem by the traditional order.

Wait, it already has.

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