The Confederate South Tries to Rise Again

There appears a concerted effort in our Southern States to resist any laws or bills being promoted by President Barack Obama at any cost. One lawmaker is on record for saying, defeat the health plan and we will bring President Obama down. Even if these bills or laws will benefit these same Southern states. Such an example will be the stimulus package that most southern state governments grandstanded and publicly refused any government money despite the fact their state are in dire need of cash or they could go under.. Most governments recanted and took the money when their constituents demanded that they do so. Moreover, we have a governor from Texas, a populous state, wanting to secede from the United States. We need to build a tall fence on the Texas border, cut them off and leave them down there with Mexico.

If the Texas governor's madness doesn't have you wondering about the mental instability of the leaders of our southern states, may we remind you of the recent uncivil outburst by South Carolina's Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC). Rep Wilson called President Barack Obama a liar, a first for any President addressing a joint session of Congress, that August body. We believe that all of these "town hall" screaming idiots are for the sole purpose of appealing to the South's ever narrowing base of voters. Yes, the once dormant Confederate South is trying to raise its ugly head. And President Obama, the first Black United States President, is their main target as they try to destroy him at any cost.

Since the election of President Barack Obama, the first U.S. Black president, the rabid racist and die-hard Southerners and their supporters like radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Fox TV commentator David Beck, both spew racist venom without regards to the truth. Beck recently said that President Obama does not like Whites in order to trump up the uninformed White Republicans. Can you imagine Beck saying that former Vice President Dick Cheney or even Bush doesn't like Blacks so publicly? Of course we can't. Beck and his colleagues at Fox seemingly are in lock step with Limbaugh, the master of distortion and race baiting. The Confederate South's leading proponents of hateful speech, lies and distortions are coming from supporters like Glen Beck, Shawn Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Limbaugh who said, "We want President Obama to fail." The former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin (who purports that the health care bill will create death panels for the elderly) and GOP's Black Committee Chairman, Michael Steele, who presides over the Republicans where the Blacks can be counted on one hand has made a complete fool of himself. The insurance industry's orchestrated health-care "town hall meetings" were a vivid reminder of the extent of this group's media reach.

The loud noise coming from these mostly Southern, Republican, and less educated Whites is still small in number. An old adage, "an empty wagon makes a lot of noise," is exactly what these angry boisterous "demonstrators" are doing at these health-care meetings. There appears to be so much acrimony from the speakers and the out of control crowd. Blacks who live in the South have faced and seen this level of hatred on a daily basis. The middle-age and older Blacks are accustom to hearing ugly racist utterances like the White minister who said, "Barack Obama should die." The tactic of disinformation has become a favorite deceptive move by Republicans, including U.S. Congressman Paul Broun, (R-GA) who represents Athens area; he told the House of Representatives that Obama's health-care bill will lead to "death panels" that kill our elderly. Congressman Broun is a family physician who once practiced in Americus, GA. The proposed health-care bill does not mention "death panels" and President Obama has repeatedly denounced the lies and distortions by many Republicans.

Congressman Broun is still a conservative who has never supported Black concerns when he practiced here. Blacks reported to us that he would deal with some Blacks from the exam room door and that he didn't even touch many of them.

Liberal and Progressive Democrats had to watch in horror and disbelief for eight years as President George W. Bush's administration destroyed America as we have known her. What a nightmare those eight years turned out to be. When President Bush left office, the country was teetering on the brink of financial ruins. He left behind two unpaid wars, gave tax breaks to the richest 1% of Americans, and he gave a generous gift to the insurance companies with his Medicare Prescription Plan, also not paid for. Now that a majority of the United States' voters have elected a Black President, the ultra-conservative Republican Confederate crowd wants to overthrow the government. Every decision the Obama administration makes or suggests is criticized and condemned. From the question of President Obama's U.S. citizenship to even his patriotism and love for our country is often questioned by this crowd. The ultra-conservative Confederate crowd will never accept a "highly intelligent" minority for any position of leadership. The recently confirmed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor comes to mind.

Most of the Republicans voted against confirmation of Justice Sotomayor. Racism was a motivating factor since Justice Sotomayor's qualifications were never seriously questioned. Actually, Justice Sotomayor had more court experiences than her colleagues currently on the high court. Under President Bush's eight years, the country lost its respect among our allies and other nations, our poverty rate skyrocketed, the highest since the Great Depression; the nation's education system ranks 26th in the world and our health-care outcomes are less than other industrialized nations. No outrage from the Confederate crowd when Bush was occupying the White House. President Obama inherited their eight-year mess.

There doesn't seem to be any Republicans who can become the voice of reason and civility in their party. If not, the diehard Republican Confederates will bring down the few moderate voices that are left. As Lincoln declared, "a nation divided cannot stand," and that is true in 2009. We should be embarrassed to have members of a major political party that would advocate the failure of their own president, just because of his or her skin color. If we have to fight another civil war to stop the South from rising again, we pray God's mercy on the United States of America.