Confederate Colonel

This past Saturday, my wife and I were part of 116 Bible Believers who walked a five mile stretch of Orange City, Florida. We carried signs proclaiming the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. While the vast majority of the feedback we got was very positive (lots of horns honking, thumbs up, waves, and that sort of thing), it still amazes me that a group of Christians quietly walking along the road carrying signs could prompt someone to give an obscene gesture as they drive by. I can understand the guy who yelled, “He’s just a dead Jew.” That’s his opinion and, presumably, he is trying to “educate” us in the same way that we are trying to educate him. But to display outright hostility as though we were somehow directly attacking him? That, I simply do not understand.

I guess that is just to be expected when that many people are involved. There is bound to be at least one person who feels called to such incivility. I wish I could just ignore that and focus on all the encouragement we got during that afternoon. That kind of refocusing is just something I need to work on.

I wonder if the guy with the middle finger gesture has any idea that he ended up encouraging me with the knowledge that at least he read and paid attention to the message. I pray that before he dies, he will understand the gravity of his action, repent, and be saved.

When I first started the Confederate Colonel forum, it was my intention to stay far away from all discussion of race. I believed that we, as Southerners, had been too closely tied with racial issues already; I did not want to add to that. It wasn’t until I watched the evolution of the forum that I realized that I was being quite naive in hoping to avoid all discussion of race. In no particular order, here are some key points on the topic:

1. If we had our way, The South would be a land where blacks and whites peacefully coexist as friends - either mixing together or staying apart as individuals see fit to do rather than by government enforcement. Blacks have certainly earned their place in Southern heritage, and they would be welcomed as fellow Southerners - not as “black Southerners”, but as Southerners. There is no doubt that our preference would be to simply not discuss racial issues here - because there were none; however, we are not given that option.

2. As much as we would like to see Southern blacks embrace Southern heritage and culture, it is simply not going to happen to any significant degree. That blacks fought in the Confederate Army is beyond question; that this fact is seen as an embarrassment by modern-day blacks is also beyond question. They are ashamed of the dedication, honor, and heroism of their ancestors who fought for their land.

3. The hostility that Southern Culture receives is, for the most part, either directed by blacks or by white liberals who are motivated by a false sense of guilt. There may be some hostility that is exclusively a matter of white Yankees without any racial overtones, but it is a very small portion of the hostility. The vast majority of hostility toward Southern Heritage and Culture can be either directly or indirectly attributed to racial issues.

4. We cannot turn our back and ignore attacks. “Turning the other cheek” is a well established Biblical principle given to us by God, but that is not what we are dealing with here. We will not respond by attacking that which blacks hold dear - but we will defend the honor of our ancestors and the rich cultural heritage which has been passed down to us.

5. I have read convincing, but circumstantial evidence indicating that the motivation for the NAACP’s attacks on the Confederate flag is primarily a fund-raising strategy. About 20 years ago, the NAACP was scandal-ridden, nearly bankrupt, and in desperate need of a “hot button” issue to motivate their contributors. Attacking the Confederate flag was a lot more palatable than something like a program to reduce the high illegitimacy rate of black children, encouraging responsible fatherhood, or encouraging black students to focus on getting a good education. They have apparently forgotten the meaning of their name: “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People”. The logic escapes me.

6. I understand the feelings of blacks regarding the history of slavery - as they see it. I understand that they see the Confederate flag as a symbol of slavery. The South is a nice convenient target as long as one ignores the facts of how those slaves were captured, who captured them, who bought and sold them, who transported them to America, the South’s efforts to peacefully end the practice of slavery, etc. What frustrates me is why some people pretend to be so easily offended and have so little regard for the beliefs and heritage of anyone but themselves.

It saddens me to see that racial strife appears to be a permanent part of Southern culture and heritage. At the same time, it is a relief to know that this is imposed on us by external forces rather than by our own choice. At Confederate Colonel, we welcome any Southern Gentleman or Lady, regardless of skin color. We have no use for “token” blacks to be paraded around to say to the world, “see, we aren’t racist - we have blacks among us.” No, we would welcome those of any race as fellow Southern Gentlemen and Southern Ladies - and hold them to the same high standards as any Southern Gentleman or Lady.

Sometimes we just need to be reminded of the proper position of a Southern Gentleman, so I am using this post as a reminder - to me most of all. It is far too easy to let the constant attacks that we receive become a festering sore and then lash out in anger. We strive to be Gentlemen here, and that means showing restraint in the face of adversity. All too often we fail; but then we get back up, admit our mistakes, and get on with life while striving to live up to the high standards we have set. Let’s remember that our focus here is on the Southern Gentleman and the Southern Lady - not on those who are hostile to those noble ideals.

Social and political forces are now lining up in a “perfect storm” against all we stand for. Let no one point to the Confederate Colonel forum and website and have reason to say we are not Gentlemen.

What does your heritage mean to you? Do you see it as a part of what makes you who you are, or is it just irrelevant history? I thought about this while watching an old episode of The Waltons. It was about a Jewish family who had escaped to America from Hitler’s Germany. Out of fear, they hid their Jewish heritage until it was almost completely removed from their lives. The story, as you can imagine, revolved around rediscovering their heritage and taking pride in it.

Our heritage makes us who we are - or it does if we allow it to. By the same token, we are free to shed a negative heritage. In the SCV camp that I used to belong to, we had a true Southerner-at-heart who had a very thick yankee accent. He had rejected his yankee upbringing and adopted The South as his own. Just as an adopted child becomes a full member of his new family, he overcame his yankee heritage became a Southerner by adoption.

This is from a junk email that I received recently. It reminds me of a “What’s wrong with this picture” puzzle:

Here’s the magazine that they were trying to get me to buy:

Frankly, I don’t see much of anything “Southern” about it at all. It brings to mind a very appropriate quote:

Every time I look at Atlanta I see what a quarter of a million Confederate soldiers died to prevent.
John Shelton Reed

Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with entertaining guests with your finest china and silverware - it shows a respect for your guests and graciousness in the finest Southern tradition. But, “The Cocktail Hour” in the Bible Belt? “Classic style in New York”? I have no problem with Northerners living and entertaining in Northern style; in fact I’m glad to see them do so - it serves to set them apart from Southerners. I have a real problem with taking Northern ways of doing things and trying to convince people that it is a better way for The South. This kind of “Pseudo-Southern” style is as repulsive as a Hollywood fake Southern accent. I love to hear a genuine sweet Southern accent. I wish I had one, but I certainly won’t try to fake it. Someone who is not from The South would probably insist that I have a Southern accent, but any true Southerner knows better. I simply have no accent to speak of - a sad side effect of spending my early years in South Florida.

Back to the topic at hand: Let’s make sure that we don’t fall for the “Pseudo-Southern” anything - including the Southern=Redneck mentality that has been beaten into much of The South. That is a loser mentality - something that is clearly NOT Southern.

Since the focus of Confederate Colonel is The Southern Gentleman, it’s appropriate to try to define what that means. Before we start with that though, it’s good to point out that the title of “Southern Gentleman” should be thought of as a goal, and not a destination. I suspect that even Robert E. Lee would have seen room for improvement in his own life. It’s kind of like growing up - even though I’m in my 50’s, I still see myself growing and maturing. We never really “arrive” at that destination.

Here is what I found in the book, 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About The South:

Daniel Hindley was a Harvard-trained lawyer from Alabama who wrote on the subject in 1860. He described the Southern Gentleman as having “a natural dignity of manner” and “the utmost self-possession - that much coveted savoir faire, which causes a man to appear perfectly at home, whether it be in a hut or a palace.” He is “remarkably easy and natural, never haughty in appearance, or loud of voice - even when angry rarely raising his voice above the ordinary tone of gentlemanly conversation.”

I like that part about “in a hut or a palace”. It makes the point that being a Southern Gentleman has nothing to do with wealth. Any Southerner who has paid any attention to such things has met men with dirt and grease under their fingernails and grease-stained cloths, who are truly Southern Gentlemen. At the same time, there are plenty of “wannabes” who think that having money somehow qualifies one as a Southern Gentleman. The only association between Southern Gentleman and wealth is that the qualities that make one a Southern Gentleman are the same qualities of responsibility, duty, and the absolute drive to do what is right, that is valued in any society. In most situations, that translates into a higher salary or other financial compensation.

An article in Sunday’s New York Times points out the demographic changes that are taking place in America and how that changes the political landscape. Here are a couple of quotes from that article:

“If Tuesday’s election were confined to white America, polls show, Senator Barack Obama would lose.”

“When Ronald Reagan won re-election in 1984, whites made up 86 percent of the electorate; by 2004, they had dropped to 77 percent.”

“… when combined with (Obama’s) two-to-one edge among Hispanics and his 10-to-1 edge among blacks, it has given him a national election-eve lead.”

From an article by Patrick Buchanan, we get the following:

“In 1960, when JFK defeated Nixon, America was a nation of 160 million, 90 percent white and 10 percent black, with a few million Hispanics and Asians sprinkled among us.”

“… as one studies the latest projections of the Census Bureau, the America of our grandchildren will be another country altogether, a nation unrecognizable to our parents, a giant Brazil of the North.

In 2050, there will be three times as many people living here as in 1960 – 420 million. White Americans will be a minority, 49 percent, and falling. Hispanics in the United States, over 100 million, will be equal to the entire population of Mexico today. Our Asian population will be almost as large as our African-American population today.

By countries of origin, America will be a Third World nation. Our cities will look like Los Angeles today. Los Angeles and the cities of Texas, Arizona and California will look like Mexico City.”

The question, then, is what is the future of Southern Culture? Will The Old South be trampled into the ground and forgotten - or demonized to the point of complete revulsion? Will the idea of the Southern Gentleman and Southern Lady be dismissed as a laughable anachronism? Will the Southern hallmarks of honor and polite behavior be seen as hopelessly naive concepts?

America - like every other nation - is comprised of the sum total of her people and defined by the dominant culture. The Yankee culture (or lack of culture) that dominated following the War for Southern Independence contained the seeds of its own destruction, but since it was the dominant culture, Southern Culture was also doomed to be dragged down with it. The radical egalitarian ideas of the Northeastern Leftists applied that same egalitarianism to cultures. They refused to believe that one culture could be superior to any other culture - and that guaranteed the eventual destruction of America.

The primary objective of Confederate Colonel is to promote and encourage the code of the Southern Gentleman and Southern Lady as guidelines for daily living. If we maintain the culture of The Old South in our daily lives and in our families, then Southern Culture will survive. It will not only survive, it will be recognized for what it is - the shining beacon of light in a dark and depraved world. The roots of Southern culture are derived from Biblical principles, which is why much of The South is also known as The Bible Belt. It is the duty of every true Southerner - including those who are Southerners by choice but not by birth - to embrace, promote, and nurture our great legacy of Southern Culture.

As we look at what American voters are given as choices for high public office by the two major parties, the obvious question arises: “Is this the best we have to offer?”

Political leadership is a direct reflection of the people. Political leadership follows the people - it does not lead. Politicians get into political office by offering the people what they want. That’s a nice way of saying that the system requires political pandering. To look at it another way, change is not accomplished by political leadership. Change is accomplished by first changing the people - who then select their leadership according to their changed beliefs.

Following this model then, Southern Nationalism at this point is putting the cart before the horse. Before political change is even considered, we must first lay the groundwork by working to change the culture of the people. Is it possible to make sufficient change in the mass culture so that Southern Nationalism is politically viable? I seriously doubt it. Demographic and political trends are strongly against it.

So, if Southern Nationalism as a political movement is not viable, and shifting the culture so that it would be viable is highly unlikely, then what’s the point of working on it at all? I would answer that by asking, “What’s the point of doing right? What’s the point of raising children to do good? What’s the point of teaching the truth?”

There are things in life that we do simply because they are the right thing to do and because doing so makes life better. Promoting and encouraging Southern Culture and the code of the Southern Gentleman and Southern Lady do exactly that - and that is why we are here.

ConfederateColonel

This is from an on-going discussion about the concept of Southern Nationalism. Our focus must be on Southern Culture - not some futile effort at creating a “Southern homeland”. These are my 10 key points:

1. The primary objective is to restore the ideals of Southern Culture as being a very desirable way of life, and to establish the general belief that Southern Gentlemen and Southern Ladies are real people - not just movie characters.

2. Southern Culture is defined as the best of the antebellum period of The South and is exemplified by the legendary character of Robert E. Lee.

3. Southern Culture (or any culture, for that matter) is an individual matter and applies to the individual, the family, and private organizations such as churches, clubs, and privately organized groups of individuals.

4. Southern Culture is not a government matter. It cannot be established or enforced by government. It moves from the bottom up, and not from the top down. Culture moves the government - government does not move the culture (or at least, it should not).

5. Politics and government, in the current system in the federalized 50 states, have gone far beyond the conditions that the Founding Fathers established in which government served and was controlled by the people. Our ability to control and shape our government is largely an illusion - something that is useful to those in power to keep the people believing that they are really in control, when in fact they are not.

6. The demographics of the Southern states has shifted so radically, and the government indoctrination system (public schools) has been so effective that there is very little support among the general population for any political change identified as “Southern” or “Confederate”. In fact, there would be very strong opposition to any proposed change.

7. Promoting and encouraging Southern Culture is a realistic objective that is being accomplished right now, one person at a time.

8. Working for political change to restore a Southern homeland has no realistic chance of happening. Even if all other points were dismissed, this point alone would mean that working toward a Southern political system is a waste of effort and resources.

9. If restoring The South as a political entity were possible, it would have happened during the 1930’s when the “Lost Cause Movement” was at its peak. It was a powerful cultural movement, but nothing significant happened politically toward establishing a new Southern nation. If it didn’t happen at the peak opportunity, it won’t happen now when The South has been thoroughly demonized by the rest of society.

10. Finally, working toward a political objective means that a “different set of rules” applies. Those forces opposed to Southern Nationalism would target Southern Culture and push a century of anti-Southern propaganda into high gear. Where Southern Culture is currently pretty much ignored and “under the radar”, bringing politics into the picture would turn our culture into a prime target. A good analogy is what happens when a relatively-unknown political figure is suddenly thrust upon the national political scene. The scrutiny is intense, the lies are created and embellished, the hostile propaganda is kicked into high gear. Without the influence of politics, we have a chance at restoring Southern Culture to its rightful place of honor. If “Southern” becomes a political issue, the forces arrayed against it would be overwhelming.

The following is taken from an article in the April 21, 1997 edition of National Review (LINK). It does an excellent job of explaining the on-going attacks on The Old South.

---

IN 1906, Varina Howell Davis, widow of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, died in New York. She had moved there for financial reasons after her husband’s death in 1889. Needing to earn her living but reluctant to embarrass her fellow Mississippians by doing it in their midst, she accepted an offer from her cousin’s husband, Joseph Pulitzer, to review books for his paper.

Now that New York Gov. George Pataki has ripped the Georgia state flag from the Albany capitol, it is instructive to learn how an earlier New York responded to the passing of the First Lady of the Confederacy.

Her funeral, described in Gerry Van der Heuvel’s excellent biography, stopped traffic:

New York honored Varina without any prompting. . . . The mayor sent an escort of mounted police to accompany her body to the station, where it was placed aboard a special train [to Richmond]. The casket was draped in the Confederate flag. A military band marched before the hearse playing “Dixie,” “Maryland, My Maryland,” and “The Bonnie Blue Flag.” . . . General Frederick Grant, son of the Union general-in-chief, ordered a company of artillery from Governors Island to escort the cortcge. This was the first time in history federal troops had accorded this honor to a woman.

It is a commentary on our times that this passage could serve as a checklist of all the things that are now in the process of being banned.

Attitudes were different in 1906. Back then, the North held the Old Confederacy in high esteem. The halcyon days of Southern good repute had begun almost immediately after the Civil War. The image-makers were Union veterans, whose stories of Confederate valor spread respect for the former enemy at a time when Americans invested the good loser with nobility and the martial grand gesture stirred every schoolboy’s heart.

By the end of the nineteenth century memories were fading and veterans were dying off, but the South won the country’s admiration again in 1898 when war with Spain broke out. Southerners enlisted in droves, earning ardent tributes to their patriotism. The spirit of 1898, when Northern and Southern men fought side by side under the American flag for the first time since the Mexican War, lingered into the twentieth century and explains the send-off New York gave Varina Davis.

---

I highly recommend reading the entire article.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Newton’s Third Law of Motion is something that every high school student has been taught. While it applies to physics, it is also applicable to cultural issues. We see this each time the NAACP and its political sycophants manage to ban the display of the Confederate Flag. While students may be prohibited from any display of The Flag on school grounds, we see The Flag appearing in numerous other places. Southern culture and Southern symbols cannot be destroyed or legislated out of existence by obsequious politicians.

In the Southern Cultural War, we need to modify Newton’s law by changing the word “equal”. It is our duty to make sure that for every action that the anti-Southerners take, they experience a Greater reaction.