Ok folks. Enough is enough. See my twitter timeline, or this blog – and you will see what I think of the 2 party Republic we have. It is set up, INTENTIONALLY, to get under your skin and make you choose sides in an American vs American fight… Do NOT let them have control over you. The United States of America has ALWAYS risen above whatever that fight was. I am concerned that maybe people really do wanna fight with more than words. Well, folks, the pen is STILL mightier than the sword. This post began after seeing and hearing our President praise Robert E Lee, and the backlash on twitter. Please, I implore you, stop fighting for a minute and read this, please?
I will preface my comments with a few thoughts. Slavery was awful – we are still struggling over its end results. I’m not here to defend Lee, nor am I defending Trump. This is an attempt to shine a light on our fractured thoughts. But slavery wasn’t the ONLY reason for the war.
We should study that war in depth. There were MANY reasons for it – economic inequality (sound familiar?), unreasonable men on both sides who would not compromise, the struggle for just how much power the federal govt would have vs states rights, and many more.
To this day, southern states are viewed differently. Where one is from will have an impact on how he/she views that war. But that’s ok! It creates dialogue – if the right people are talking. I cringe when I hear the war was caused by 1 factor. War is NEVER over 1 issue…
Americans want to give a tidy, right vs wrong, “slavery vs freedom” stamp on it in the north. In the south, it is all about “states rights” with no mention of slavery. Truth is, neither side has it right. The north did hold the moral high ground – for sure. BUT…
Consider, only about 25% of southern men owned slaves – and about 90% of that 25% did NOT fight in the war.
https://theconversation.com/american-slavery-separating-fact-from-myth-79620
Rather, poor southerners were the ones picked to fight – similar to Vietnam draftees. Ultimately, we need to STOP throwing rocks at each other; and gain the wisdom to prevent it from happening again. But, please just stop trying to teach calculus through addition and subtraction. It is more complicated than that. The men who had power in the war were complicated too – from Lincoln to Lee.
Lincoln, the great Emancipator, thought African Americans were inferior, though he considered slavery immoral, and would not have freed the southern slaves had he been winning the war.l
https://www.history.com/news/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-lincoln-slavery-and-emancipation
Lee, on the other hand, thought slavery morally wrong and did not fight to “save the institution” as people like to believe. He was complicated also. But make no mistake, Lee considered himself a Virginian first, American second… Modern Texas has that same spirit. He turned down full control of the northern army once Virginia seceded. His decision is the genesis of the “states rights” movement.
“In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution is a moral & political evil in any country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages.” Robert E. Lee
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lee-resigns-from-u-s-army
Anyhow, the point I am trying to make is that they were all flawed men, and each one did things they shouldnt have, but they also had heroic acts of bravery. But we can fix their errors in this generation if we choose to. If you really want to honor Lee – feel free. Just know he was a traitor who lost his house to Arlington Cemetery.
If you want to praise and honor Lincoln, be my guest. He did a lot of wonderful things. Just don’t overlook his prejudice and willingness to use the south’s slaves as a military weapon, and suspended habeas corpus. Just stop. Stop. STOP! Enough is enough. LEARN, dont criticize – and don’t allow yourself to be dragged into an American vs American fight. If you really want a scapegoat, stay away from the generals (on both sides), as well as Lincoln. Find someone like John Calhoun. The opposite of progress is Congress. Never forget that it was Congress, not generals who voted to secede. After that, the die was cast, and the rest became players in a tragedy.
http://www.historynet.com/john-c-calhoun-he-started-the-civil-war.htm
I feel quite certain we will have an enemy to fight soon enough. It will take all of us to make it work.
I want to end this with 3 tweets I sent out earlier. The scars, pain, and evil that caused the Civil War got two, really 3 if JFK is counted, good men killed… I dont have any answers folks. But I do see an ugly future if we don’t wake up.
https://twitter.com/redclayJ/status/1050958225460420609
“What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr’s cause has ever been stilled by an assassin’s bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. (…) It is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.”
Robert Kennedy