The month of April marks the beginning of the regular season in baseball, my birthday, and - thanks to Virgina's current governor Bob McDonnell - Confederate History Month. Yes, you read that right. Gov. McDonnell is celebrating the South plunging the nation into a war over slaves and states' rights.
WHEREAS, April is the month in which the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America in a four year war between the states for independence that concluded at Appomattox Courthouse; and
WHEREAS, Virginia has long recognized her Confederate history, the numerous civil war battlefields that mark every region of the state, the leaders and individuals in the Army, Navy and at home who fought for their homes and communities and Commonwealth in a time very different than ours today; and [...]
WHEREAS, this defining chapter in Virginia's history should not be forgotten, but instead should be studied, understood and remembered by all Virginians, both in the context of the time in which it took place, but also in the context of the time in which we live, and this study and remembrance takes on particular importance as the Commonwealth prepares to welcome the nation and the world to visit Virginia for the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the Civil War, a four-year period in which the exploration of our history can benefit all;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert McDonnell, do hereby recognize April 2010 as CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH in our COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.
Its been a while since i've taken an American History course and i'm sure the textbooks haven't radically changed all that much (unless the Texas schoolboard has done a near-whitewash of the reasons why the Civil War Broke out, the same way they blanked out Thomas Jefferson for Christian icon John Calvin); I understand why it is required studying in high school, but we never celebrated how a nation nearly tore itself apart and the blood that was shed becasue of fundamental differences.
What's worse is that the main reason why both sides engaged in the first place - the beleif that Southern States had the right to own other human beings for back-breaking labor - according to McDonnell, slavery wasn't the biggest issue that caused a Union to split in two and put the nation through four years of intense combat and bloodshed.
McDonnell said Tuesday that the move was designed to promote tourism in the state, which next year will mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the war. McDonnell said he did not include a reference to slavery because "there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia."
The issue of slavery wasn't merely an issue that led to the Civil War: It was the only thing.
Its the reason why young men, on both sides, fought in the battle of Gettysberg and died.
Its the reason why the Confederacy broke away from the Union.
I would ask what the fuck is wrong with the fuck is wrong with this governor, but that was before I found out two revealing facts about McDonnell:
1. He went to Regent University (aka: Pat Robertson's school of duh), and we all know that school's track record on their former law studensts.
2. His thesis, entitled The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade.
At age 34, two years before his first election and two decades before he would run for governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell submitted a master's thesis to the evangelical school he was attending in Virginia Beach in which he described working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family. He said government policy should favor married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." He described as "illogical" a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples.
So allow me to rephrase my question: Virginia, why the fuck would you elect someone like this!?
7 comments:
To put it bluntly Jonathan there are several segments of the conservative movement that just flat out hate America.
Yup!
As Count sez, and I as said before.
They DO exist, they are out there.
The UNBELIEVABLE, TURD EATING, KNUCKLE DRAGGING gNOpig politicos and their followers.
MrGlennBovineKoldys
I think what it comes down to is that there is a segment of the populace, particularly in former Confederate states, that (a) has been fed an idealized and very us/them polarizing view of their own past; (b) has had that view constantly reinforced by their peers and politics and preferred pundits; and (c) therefore harbors a certain sense of resentment and rejection, as a result, toward the broader sweep of American culture in which they find themselves without fully understanding why.
The narrative is, the mainstream - whether it's the Union Army in the Civil War, or the Obama election in 2008 - rolled wholesale over everything you value. YOU aren't welcome in that larger society. You can't begin to work with it, because it's so DIFFERENT. So all you can do is cling even tighter to the past and hope it will improbably win out one day.
The more that message cycle repeats, the more embedded it becomes in the recipient, and the more visceral and potentially radical its expression becomes. What might have found release just in re-enactment societies and formal Antebellum balls a generation ago now seems to have gone all Tea-Party on us, losing any sense of proportion and decent behavior in the process.
I liked the approach one of the "Countdown" guests tonight suggested. Instead of making these things "Confederate" commemorations, make them "Civil War" commemorations, something that by definition must include representation of both Union and Confederate actors: acknowledge the valor, the triumphs, the tragedies, and the human stories that emanate from BOTH sides of the conflict. And emphasize the resolution, not the separation.
Not that I hold my breath waiting for that to happen. But, as a liberal, optimism comes with my default settings...
I do not want to pain with the wide brush that so many conservatives paint with so I try to make sure to use terms like "some" or "many" thus acknowledging that there are some damn good people in the world who do not agree with me politically.
Some conservatives claim Liberals do not work and are always at the government teat. CoughRushLimbaughcough...yet who is it riding around on the Magical Mystery Tour bitching about having to pay their share of the country they claim to love?
Who wants revolution? Who wants secession? Who still celebrates their ancestors failed attempt at trying to bring down the United States Of America?
Every time I have ever gone to a funeral without fail the person crying and carrying on the most is the person who never came and saw the deceased in the last 20 years of their life. That's the way I see many conservatives. They wrap themselves in the flag, proclaim themselves patriots, cry at Lee Greenwood and tell everyone how mach they love the country yet these are the people who care about the country the least.
Pain=paint
I hear you, Count. It's the most sham faithful who wail the loudest about perceived injustices, for sure. That's as true in this movement to celebrate the Confederacy as in any other sphere.
Did you hear about the conclusion to the Mississippi Prom thing. That was damn shamefull too
But here is enouph earthquakes to even make Ralphy happy
I will see (Monday) if there is interesting info on what this all means and get back too ya. But nearly 2000 earthquakes in such a small area in such a short time span is not normal...
see url
Aloha and Maholo
theroachman
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