Southerners and Economic Interest - 1860-2004

[RPM]

IIRC, only ~20% of Southerners owned slaves, and only 5% of the total population held large quantities of slaves. In addition, non-slave owners were forced to ride posse for fugitive slave patrol as well as suffer the consequences of having to compete economically against slave labor. Yet, they drank the Confederate Kool-ade, seceded from the Union and took up arms against the union for the right to what? Own - or more often dream of owning - a slave (and don't give me any bullshit about "Northern Aggression" - the guys in Grey leveled ridiculous threats of secession if a certain president was lawfully elected and then went on and fired the first shot of the war).

Fast forward almost 150 years and you have many descendants of these same folks supporting aggression in Iraq, near-slave labor countries depriving them of their jobs all so that the 5% of the population that they can never dream of being as wealthy as can make more money.

The way I see it, the folks in the South haven't learned a damn thing about who the real enemy is. Despite professing a love of "their history", many of them forget the legacy of indentured servitude, not realizing that, but for the availability of cheap blacks, poor whites would have been the slaves. Not realizing that today, they make themselves indentured servants of MBNA....

It is bizarre to me that in all this time, despite being the most impoverished section of our country, many of the folks in the south haven't realized that the issue here is not race, but economic standing.

But I guess as long as one has Jeebus and a Black man to keep down, poverty is not so bad.

[jus_the_facts]

1. racism and ignorance is NOT just a *southern thing*

...but I guess as long as one has the SOUTH to blame for all the country's woes... :nopity: :eyes:

[RPM]

2. not for everything - but certainly for being Red as long as i can remember

Point is - there is a disconnect between economic interest and voting there, now and then.

Would you care to comment on that - or do you have nothing but flip remarks?

[jus_the_facts]

3. Louisiana voted BLUE in '92 AND '96......

.....NOT RED...hmmmm guess you don't REMEMBER very far back....my state voted BLUE when it was..."the economy...stupid!" :eyes:

[salin]

4. explain Huey Long

Ann Richards and a slew of other populist southern elected officials between the points in time of history to which you refer.

Oversimplification and pure slap at the south always rankles this northerner in a red state.

[jus_the_facts]

5. THANK YOU......indeed..."EVERY Man a King!

....we sure could use another KINGFISH in these dark times!! :hi: