Rebel Flag .!
www.christianexodus.com
Christian Exodus Forum Index » The Solution » Independence
Author Message
celticlassie54
Post subject: Rebel Flag Posted: Jul 28, 2004 - 11:16 AM
Site Admin
Joined: Jun 01, 2004
Posts: 2477
Location: Arkansas
This letter was in the 7/27 issue of Souther Heritage News and Views, put out by Chuck Demastus. dema...@aol.com What caused me to sit up and take notice was that this is not written by an American, but a Belgian, who "has no dog in this fight".
From: temmerm...@pandora.be
To: dadd...@hattiesb.gannett.com
Dear Mr Adderton,
Truly it is a relief to see some common sense displayed in the ongoing debate over the Confederate (battle) flag. Seen from this distance (in both time and space, because I am a European) the never-ending tug of war over the Confederate flag is a source of amazement. Have you ever stopped to wonder why, of all the 19th century conflicts, only the war between North and South in America continues to generate controversy, headlines, and to spawn literature and re-enactor associations? There are no Sons of Napoleonic Veterans, and hardly anyone remembers the Franco-Prussian conflict, though these wars had far-reaching consequences for Europe and the rest of the world, America included. The long, tedious struggle for equality for blacks, as well as the current hostility to Confederate symbols and anything and anyone Southern, which your article referred to, is connected to this remarkable fact.
The link between them is that the historically unique American experiment in republican, limited self-government by states forming a voluntary union which began in 1776, ended in 1861 when a ruthless megalomaniac bent on saddling America with a strong centralised government, high taxes, a military-industrial complex and the ambitions of empire ascended to the Presidency, and waged war on the Southern half of the country which had hitherto thwarted the schemes of the Whigs Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay. That war was then without precedent in that it attacked military and civilian targets alike without discrimination, the invasion of the South causing over 600,000 deaths and destroying 40% of the national economy. Rejecting all domestic and foreign peace overtures, four years of overwhelming force succeeded in subjugating a smaller nation, leaving an indelible legacy of atrocity, occupation, abuse, exploitation, and subsequent racial hatred.
The Great Emancipator cleverly used the cloak of “freeing the slaves” to sell his agenda both in the North and abroad, though certainly not all were fooled at the time: Charles Dickens, for one, saw that the true reason for the “Civil War” - which neither you nor I learned in school - was in fact the tariff, paid for by the South for the North’s benefit. That it took over a century for blacks to gain the equality which is their birthright is an ironic and unforgivable legacy not of slavery (which, being untenable and uneconomic, was on its way out – witness the many instances of compensated emancipation in other societies in the first half of the 19th century) but of Reconstruction, a misnomer for the brutal military occupation, political subjugation and economic exploitation of the devasted and conquered territories of the South. One of the instruments of this subjugation was the political abuse of illiterate freed black slaves in what amounted to mock parliaments that laid the basis for much of the immorality of racial discrimination against blacks which was the aftermath of war in the disenfranchised South. Remember that, decades before the war and in the midst of the slavery period, Alexis de Toqueville remarked that “race relations seem better in the South than in the North”. His observations are beyond reproach, and beyond the reach of modern-day political correctness.
Sadly, what is almost just as disturbing as the needlessly long road toward equality for blacks is that this adequately documented history is not even being taught in America’s schools. The lie that “the Union came before the States” (the States created the Union), the myth that Lincoln freed the slaves (the Emancipation Declaration was a mere politico-military expedient without social aims), the fable that the Civil War was fought over the liberation of blacks (it was fought over the tax revenue, the issue of political overrepresentation of whites in the South via the presence of blacks which counted for 3/5ths of a “white” vote, and the issue of “internal improvements” meaning government subsidies for corrupt big business) all go virtually unchallenged in schools and the media today. Yet these facts are known to me. They are readily available to all who can read.
The reasons why the Confederacy continues to attract adherents at home and abroad, continues to generate controversy, and continues to inspire debate, is the fight for historical truth, and the honest yet virtually hopeless desire of many to, one day, return to limited, responsible, republican, liberty-respecting government for all, because no one but the looney fringe is interested in discriminating on the basis of colour. The days of slavery are gone for ever and good riddance – precisely the sentiment expressed, by the way, in the diary of a Southern lady during the Civil War itself - please read Mary Chesnut’s “A Diary from Dixie”.
The fight you referred to in your article is not over a piece of red cloth. Symbols are important, but less so than the things they stand for. The fight is not about whether or not the Confederate flag today stands for supporters of slavery or denial of the rights of blacks – that is just preposterous. If black students react this way, it is because of a lack of education. Teach them about race relations in the North as late as 1868. The fight is about the South’s right to have its history recognised, its struggle for independence from a centralised, tax-minded, empire-bent government recognised. The Confederacy lost that struggle. That is evident when you watch the news today, for America has become everything the South fought against, to the dismay of many, on both sides of the Atlantic, who love the promise of that unique experiment that was extinguished forever at Appomatox in 1865. America, and the world, is the poorer for it.
Best regards,
Johan Temmerman
Oudenaarde, Belgium
Link to article Mr. Temmerman was referring to - http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12419041&BRD=2038&PAG=461&dept_id=333461&rfi=6
_________________
"Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty."
-- Samuel Adams, 1776
Yes_to_Dixie
Post subject: Posted: Aug 03, 2004 - 12:41 PM
Joined: Jun 06, 2004
Posts: 96
Status: Offline
Good article. There's a young columnist over at dixieinternet named Reinout Temmerman. I am assuming he is Johan's son.
_________________
''All that the South has ever desired was that the Union as established by our fathers should be preserved, and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.'' -Robert E. Lee 1866
thomasfwilliams
Post subject: Posted: Mar 16, 2005 - 11:28 AM
Joined: Jun 08, 2004
Posts: 3
Location: Cairo, Georgia
Status: Offline
I wish to say I would like Christian Exodus as an organization to design a flag which includes everyone. The history as laid out by the author of the letter is correct and unassailable. But, as a Christian organization we should reach out to all Christians and not alienate them through the use of something which symbolizes the degradation of their ethnicity. We are looking for a fresh start in the world, a new beginning to get a representative republic which functions correctly; let's start with a new symbol for this movement, not a retread of past differences.
bettered
Post subject: Posted: Mar 16, 2005 - 03:35 PM
Joined: Aug 28, 2004
Posts: 651
Location: SC (Greenville County)
Status: Offline
Instead of responding to posts that are 6 to 8 months old Thomas, and with respect, you should check out the suggestions in the heading "Submit your Graphics."
The website has had a tumultuous start, inundated with opinions of every stripe imaginable. Most of that has now been put to rest, and we have become much more mutually supportive and committed to the goals as laid out in the Position Statement and Plan of Action, absent a lot of useless noise, pun intended.
Please continue reading.
ChristianPatriot
Post subject: Posted: Aug 02, 2005 - 11:58 PM
Joined: Aug 01, 2005
Posts: 83
Status: Offline
Please don't refer to the Confederate flag as the 'rebel' flag. We were not the rebels, THEY were.
nitro
Post subject: Posted: Dec 29, 2005 - 09:02 PM
Joined: Dec 29, 2005
Posts: 65
Status: Online!
Well Well Well
The rebel flag debate. Where can I start? The deaths? The lies? The stigma? The future? Lay down the dixie in ole SC you say? Lay down your beleif? What it offends due to the lies? May God bless the St Andrews cross and the stars of statehood in this important journey.One day I hope to see our Dixie flag flying over a federaliized nation over christian states, but until I do, I will work for the goal at hand and to assemble under our christian flag with the knowledge that when like minded christians truely govern themselves they can have that utopia that flows with milk and honey.Our past proves that we as americans don't deserve to be the most blessed nation in the world.May God forgive Sodum and return Adam to the garden unless he judges America.
May you be strong on your journey and keep God close as we travel through realization of what God will do to honor our commitment.
and to comment on the post of not using the rebel flag:
As for this South Carolinian, we shall "never take it down"
.