“Old Confederate” South

The Field Of American History Under Vast Attack By Politicians With Evil Motives!

Ronald Leave a comment

This author and blogger has been a scholar of American history for the past half century, since 1972.

My life has been one of research, writing, publishing, giving interviews, and teaching college and university students the facts, the reality, the truth of American history, in all of its glory but also of its travails and shortcomings.

As any scholar in any field, the essential point is to expand the truth, the knowledge, and the reality of the American past, with no allowance for censorship or interference with what books are promoted in the quest for the truth of the American past.

Sadly, American history was badly distorted until the 1960s, with the “Lost Cause” of the Confederate South being permitted to dominate curriculums at all levels of American education, from elementary level through middle school, high school, and even at universities.

The distortion of the truth about the American past was a crime, finally overcome, and transforming the understanding of America’s past for the generations since the rise of the civil rights movement.

The liberation of knowledge meant not only the reality of the African American past, but also that of Hispanic-Latino history, women’s history, labor history, environmental history, and the role of gender and sexuality, have all become part of the total story of America.

The goal has been to liberate America from a white Christian domination of knowledge, which even left people of other religious faiths, as ignored, until recent decades.

We as a society cannot permit the myths of the past to become predominant again, and to disease the minds of the young, so as to promote prejudice, discrimination, and narrowmindedness!

That would be the prescription for the return of the criminal lies and deceit that affected understanding of American History from the era of the Civil War in the 1860s through the next century!

We are faced with the evil motives of politicians in the Republican Party to revive the past mythology!

I, for one, will NOT allow myself to promote and promulgate anything other than the truth, the facts, the reality of the American past, as I move forward into the future, still dedicated to inspiring students about the total, valid story of the American past!

Reality: Most Anti Abortion States Were Slave States Before 1865!

Ronald 1 Comment

It is sad but not at all surprising that when one looks at the map of states that have declared war on women’s rights, and specifically on abortion rights, all but three such states are from the “Old South”, the “Confederate South”, and the “Border South” of the American Civil War period!

The states that went to war to continue the ugly institution of slavery now are “enslaving” women and denying them the right to control their own reproductive rights, forcing even those who are victims of rape or incest, or whose lives are endangered, to follow through on their pregnancy and deny them medical and hospital services!

This is done in the name of “religious” indoctrination which should NOT be a factor in human rights in America!

But remember, many elements of organized Christianity endorsed and supported slavery all the way through the Civil War, and also backed Jim Crow segregation for the next hundred years, and even resisted the Civil Rights Movement, and stealthily supported the Ku Klux Klan in many cases!

Looking at the map, and seeing only Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina not restricting abortion rights, but all other “Old South” states and border states Kentucky and Missouri in that infamous group of denying human rights, along with Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Idaho, makes one ready to do everything possible to restore women’s rights to determine their own futures!

History Tells Us Many States Are Not Protective Of Their Population: Reason Why We Need Federal Government!

Ronald 2 Comments

Conservatives and libertarians love to promote the propaganda that “states rights” are the best government, and that state governments are there for their population’s needs.

History tells us otherwise, clear and simple.

“States rights” promoted 76 years of slavery under the Constitution, until it was ended by the Union winning the Civil War over the Confederacy.

“States rights” promoted segregation of the races for nearly a century after the Civil War until the 1960s.

“States rights” promoted laws against marriage, including blacks and whites, and gays and lesbians.

“States rights” promoted vigilante justice, including lynchings, chain gangs, and overly harsh criminal justice laws.

“States rights” promoted men having dominance over their wives in marriages, and resulting abuses toward women.

“States rights” promoted inferior education, including denial of historical facts, and of science, favoring religious ideas over facts.

“States rights” promoted violations of voting rights, with the intent of ruling white upper classes controlling who could vote.

“States rights” promoted denial of health care to people, while insisting on all fetuses being taken to birth against a woman’s wishes.

“States rights” promoted resistance to the Bill of Rights, and to federal government political, social, and economic reforms that made America pursue the goals of democracy, equality, and justice.

Those states that have regularly promoted “states rights” have been the most backward, the most discriminatory, the most regressive. the poorest, and have depended on the more advanced and open minded states for their economic existence.

It is the “Red” states, those in the old Confederate South, and in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain West, where we see the worship of “states rights”, as long as the elite political and religious hierarchy keep control over their populations, and keep them ignorant and under mind control.

History tells us that these states are not protective of the needs of their population, the reason we need a strong, assertive federal government, ready to step in, and having bettered life for people who are seemingly unaware how they have been manipulated by corrupt state governments.

An African American Vs. A Mormon: The Quandary For The “Old Confederate” South

Ronald Leave a comment

Mitt Romney was dealt a walloping defeat last night in both Alabama and Mississippi, gaining only about 30 percent of the vote against his two competitors–winner Rick Santorum and runner up Newt Gingrich.

With all that, Romney still has twice the delegates of Santorum and three times the delegates of Gingrich, and is still seen as the likely nominee, although it may end up as a battle at the August Tampa Republican National Convention.

The problem is that Romney is perceived, particularly in the South, as not conservative enough, and overwhelming numbers of conservatives, Tea Party activists, and Evangelical Christians do not like, and were unwilling to support him. Romney has lost not just Alabama and Mississippi and Tennessee to Santorum, but also South Carolina and Georgia to Gingrich. The only “Old Confederate” Southern states he has won are Florida, which is unique in many respects, and Virginia, where he had only the competition of Ron Paul. Romney is not expected to win North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, or Texas, when those states vote in their primaries.

So the question arises: Can Mitt Romney, if he is the Republican nominee for President, carry the “Old Confederate” South? Will the conservatives, Tea Party, and Evangelical Christians get out there and organize and vote for him over Barack Obama?

Truthfully, low voter turnout, due to lack of enthusiasm, COULD cost Romney the election, if African Americans and Hispanics and Latinos come out in large numbers to vote, and are not prevented from voting by new voter ID laws.

These Republican groups will also have on their mind the reality that Mitt Romney is a Mormon, seen as a cult and non Christian by many Bible Belt types.

Is that worse than being an African American? In this unusual circumstance, an African American vs. a Mormon, an extremely unusual circumstance, who can honestly say what would happen?

The suspicion is that Obama could hold on in the states he won last time–Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, but also would have a shot at winning Georgia and even Texas, if there is a low GOP voter turnout, and if Hispanics and Latinos, growing numbers in both states, vote in high percentages for Obama, again without prevention by Voter ID laws designed to cut their vote, as well as that of African Americans.

No matter how much other Southern states may feel that the Mormon Church is unacceptable, to believe that Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas would vote for an African American, would require one to hallucinate!

The good thing is that the five states Obama could win have 111 electoral votes, while the other six states certain to vote Republican have only 49 electoral votes!

Were Obama to win more than two thirds of the electoral votes of the “Old Confederate” South, that would be an amazing development and would insure, all by itself, that Obama would win an overwhelming electoral vote victory in November 2012!