A Nation Worlds Apart
France directly borders with Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. In addition, it's only a short puddle jump across the English Channel and a Frenchman is in the United Kingdom. Despite their close proximity, these seven countries speak completely different languages.
Expanding this diversity, from the bottom of Greece to the heights of Norway, Europe is teeming with such cultural, religious, racial, and political diversity it's as if these compacted countries were worlds apart.
The total land mass of Europe is not quite 75% the size of the United States, yet it bears such strong diversity. The respective countries understand that borders, culture, and race, despite the close proximity, are to be respected. This mentality held true during the failed attempt at establishing a European Union in 2005.
Switch Over to America
I can't help but laugh at the sheer disgust that some New Yorkers have in the rednecks of Alabama. They have funny accents, pickup trucks, and love to hunt. This distaste is quite natural. After all, New York is as far from Alabama as Greece is from Britain, or France is from Poland. And in the tobacco fields of North Carolina we don't think too much of the loonies in San Francisco who are as distant from from us as the French are from Moscow.
Americans are living in a land of illusion -- a self-imposed "unity" originally enforced by northern muskets. Don't get me wrong. I love the north, south, east and west. I lived in New York for a time. I also lived in Texas. I love California, the midwest, and the dry heat of Arizona. But, I'm sure a fair amount of the French vacation on the beaches of Greece as well. They're just not seeking a "union" of their respective countries. The point is that we should not be surprised over the great diversity of the respective states of America. Many of them are virtual countries. Just pay a visit to West Virginia.
What truly divides us as a country is that the division we perceive is set over against the illusion of national unity. We are not unified. We never have been, and we never will be. This goes for the South as well as the North. Whenever I'm blessed enough to visit my wife's family in the great state of Mississippi, I'm reminded that for many Southerners, the War between the States was just a few years ago.
In the South, we love the land and community. The South had no real social issues until the invasion of the North and the resulting nightmare of reconstruction. Social issues tend to spawn in densely populated cities. A Southern social issue was what to do about the lack of rain.
Agrarianism and its supporting industries were the tangible foundations of Southern culture. Their decline began after the war. It continues to date as farming is both regulated and "privatized" (in the corporate sense) with real family farming being put out of business. The scientific elite desire total control, and a land filled with farmers is anathema to the totalitarian state. This all began after America's great war. Then, during the early 20th century, the South became a plain, and was not repopulated sizably until the advent of air conditioning.
Mocking the South
New York cannot remake Alabama in its own image, though it certainly tries. How so? Find the articles, essays, films, or political leaders doing such in the South. Show me southern elitists looking down their nose at the liberal establishment of the Northeast. Yet, every time I turn around another Hollywood reel is mocking the South. Think of Will Ferrell's mockery of NASCAR country in "Talladega Nights" or the Jew Cohen's "Borat" which does the same. I refer to Cohen as the Jew because it seems to be a premise behind his perverse comedy. (If that description moves me higher up the list of Morris Dees' designated hatemongers, well, lucky me!)
Southern, and Southwestern, Red States are ridiculed by the enlightened North. It's just "American" (I mean "American" in the Manhattan sense) to despise the South and its Christian heritage. Somehow this gives our fellow countrymen meaning and purpose. We are their bogeyman. Well, so be it. The South never wanted any part of this experiment, remember? We TOLD you it wouldn't work!
In actuality, we are different countries. We are as different as France and Spain though we share the same border. We do not speak a different language, but our accents are distinct and our meanings are polarized. We desire to live free from the imposition of the values and ideas of opposing states. This is what many northern states are fighting. They want no part of the theocratic ideas that pervade the Bible Belt states. But like the War of Northern Aggression, the tendency of power mad statists is to impose their concept of freedom without any acknowledgment of borders. The country is being driven to the same ideological conflicts made apparent in 1861.
We are worlds apart as a country. We are kidding ourselves to think otherwise. Centralization of power after the war, and the reconstruction of the South, did not lead to utopia. It was a deconstruction of America's basic premise: independence. Our unity as a country of individual states should have been established upon God's law, i.e. love of neighbor. But my freedom ends where my neighbors property begins. In this sense, there is not unity. There is only respect for property.
The Law of Love
The horror of American history is not slavery or segregation. It's not the Depression or the War Between the States. The horror of any society is when it replaces God's law with man's law. I'm not commanded to "like" or "live" with everybody. But, I am commanded to "love" everybody. Love, however, should never be equated with liking someone. The dusty Old Testament puts it this way:
What is truly miraculous is when a people, despite their cultural, racial, and religious differences, can treat one another lawfully. They don't steal, defraud, kill, or mistreat one another. They respect their borders and do not impose their ideals upon another. However, this doesn't mean we have to be "unified" as some massive nation. How are we then any different than the old Soviet Union? You cannot impose unity. Life is meant to be lived locally, and unity finds itself in commonality. I find no commonality with the liberal establishment and the states they dominate.
Early America was a better America. It was not without its faults, but it had the primary pillars in place that were conducive to the betterment of the human condition. National unity, or should we say "centralization", is a pipe dream. I cannot live in covenant with certain aspects of the U.S. anymore than I can with someone in France. But isn't that the plan? Some sort of world union? A United States of the World? Heck, why stop at America's national unity? If that's a good idea, then a world unity is a better idea. I guess that's what they mean by being "progressive."
The American experiment was hijacked by Lincoln and the centralists. Whereas once General Robert E. Lee referred to his state of Virginia as his "country," U.S. Generals are now in Iraq defending theirs -- the 50 states. This is an illusion. This is an imposed unity by the barrell of a gun. What liberals are screaming about now regarding an American military-based imperialism that is forcing an American democracy on a sovereign nation is the reason why Southerners remember the Civil War 141 years later. American imperialism began when the blue uniforms crossed the Mason-Dixon.
I can't say how the future will play out, but the polarization of America is irreversible. Protection against such things as opposing values and illegal immigration may necessitate a different type of border protection -- the border that's closest to you.
My prayer is that America will come to its senses and work to decentralize itself. I realize that would mean a conversion in both Washington, D.C. and Wall Street. It is still a worthy goal, and a great many Southerners have educated their children along those lines. The question is, when will the folks from the northern "countries" wake up to it?
Expanding this diversity, from the bottom of Greece to the heights of Norway, Europe is teeming with such cultural, religious, racial, and political diversity it's as if these compacted countries were worlds apart.
The total land mass of Europe is not quite 75% the size of the United States, yet it bears such strong diversity. The respective countries understand that borders, culture, and race, despite the close proximity, are to be respected. This mentality held true during the failed attempt at establishing a European Union in 2005.
Switch Over to America
I can't help but laugh at the sheer disgust that some New Yorkers have in the rednecks of Alabama. They have funny accents, pickup trucks, and love to hunt. This distaste is quite natural. After all, New York is as far from Alabama as Greece is from Britain, or France is from Poland. And in the tobacco fields of North Carolina we don't think too much of the loonies in San Francisco who are as distant from from us as the French are from Moscow.
Americans are living in a land of illusion -- a self-imposed "unity" originally enforced by northern muskets. Don't get me wrong. I love the north, south, east and west. I lived in New York for a time. I also lived in Texas. I love California, the midwest, and the dry heat of Arizona. But, I'm sure a fair amount of the French vacation on the beaches of Greece as well. They're just not seeking a "union" of their respective countries. The point is that we should not be surprised over the great diversity of the respective states of America. Many of them are virtual countries. Just pay a visit to West Virginia.
What truly divides us as a country is that the division we perceive is set over against the illusion of national unity. We are not unified. We never have been, and we never will be. This goes for the South as well as the North. Whenever I'm blessed enough to visit my wife's family in the great state of Mississippi, I'm reminded that for many Southerners, the War between the States was just a few years ago.
In the South, we love the land and community. The South had no real social issues until the invasion of the North and the resulting nightmare of reconstruction. Social issues tend to spawn in densely populated cities. A Southern social issue was what to do about the lack of rain.
Agrarianism and its supporting industries were the tangible foundations of Southern culture. Their decline began after the war. It continues to date as farming is both regulated and "privatized" (in the corporate sense) with real family farming being put out of business. The scientific elite desire total control, and a land filled with farmers is anathema to the totalitarian state. This all began after America's great war. Then, during the early 20th century, the South became a plain, and was not repopulated sizably until the advent of air conditioning.
Mocking the South
New York cannot remake Alabama in its own image, though it certainly tries. How so? Find the articles, essays, films, or political leaders doing such in the South. Show me southern elitists looking down their nose at the liberal establishment of the Northeast. Yet, every time I turn around another Hollywood reel is mocking the South. Think of Will Ferrell's mockery of NASCAR country in "Talladega Nights" or the Jew Cohen's "Borat" which does the same. I refer to Cohen as the Jew because it seems to be a premise behind his perverse comedy. (If that description moves me higher up the list of Morris Dees' designated hatemongers, well, lucky me!)
Southern, and Southwestern, Red States are ridiculed by the enlightened North. It's just "American" (I mean "American" in the Manhattan sense) to despise the South and its Christian heritage. Somehow this gives our fellow countrymen meaning and purpose. We are their bogeyman. Well, so be it. The South never wanted any part of this experiment, remember? We TOLD you it wouldn't work!
In actuality, we are different countries. We are as different as France and Spain though we share the same border. We do not speak a different language, but our accents are distinct and our meanings are polarized. We desire to live free from the imposition of the values and ideas of opposing states. This is what many northern states are fighting. They want no part of the theocratic ideas that pervade the Bible Belt states. But like the War of Northern Aggression, the tendency of power mad statists is to impose their concept of freedom without any acknowledgment of borders. The country is being driven to the same ideological conflicts made apparent in 1861.
We are worlds apart as a country. We are kidding ourselves to think otherwise. Centralization of power after the war, and the reconstruction of the South, did not lead to utopia. It was a deconstruction of America's basic premise: independence. Our unity as a country of individual states should have been established upon God's law, i.e. love of neighbor. But my freedom ends where my neighbors property begins. In this sense, there is not unity. There is only respect for property.
The Law of Love
The horror of American history is not slavery or segregation. It's not the Depression or the War Between the States. The horror of any society is when it replaces God's law with man's law. I'm not commanded to "like" or "live" with everybody. But, I am commanded to "love" everybody. Love, however, should never be equated with liking someone. The dusty Old Testament puts it this way:
If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forebear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. Exodus 23:4-5This is what the Bible means by loving one's enemies, as our Lord says:
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, or persecute you. Matthew 5:44If your enemy requires help with his ox, then you must help him. However, he's still your enemy, and these commandments say nothing about how to "feel" about your enemies. After all, they are your enemy. What God demands is love, and love is not a good feeling. Love is demonstrated in law-keeping. Luke 10:27 declares, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and they neighbour as thyself." How do we love God in this manner? Simple:
If ye love Me, keep My commandments. John 14:15We love God by keeping His commandments. How then do we love our neighbor? Simple. We keep God's commandments towards him. If his animal is caught in a hole, help him get it out; but you're not required to get together for a barbecue. That is not commanded. Liberals, however, want you to feel good about each other. They want to remove the animosity and the hate. They set up anti-hate institutions to insure it. They perpetually deny the human condition -- that there will be enemies that live close enough that you'll come in contact with their animals. Enemies are an inescapable concept.
What is truly miraculous is when a people, despite their cultural, racial, and religious differences, can treat one another lawfully. They don't steal, defraud, kill, or mistreat one another. They respect their borders and do not impose their ideals upon another. However, this doesn't mean we have to be "unified" as some massive nation. How are we then any different than the old Soviet Union? You cannot impose unity. Life is meant to be lived locally, and unity finds itself in commonality. I find no commonality with the liberal establishment and the states they dominate.
Early America was a better America. It was not without its faults, but it had the primary pillars in place that were conducive to the betterment of the human condition. National unity, or should we say "centralization", is a pipe dream. I cannot live in covenant with certain aspects of the U.S. anymore than I can with someone in France. But isn't that the plan? Some sort of world union? A United States of the World? Heck, why stop at America's national unity? If that's a good idea, then a world unity is a better idea. I guess that's what they mean by being "progressive."
The American experiment was hijacked by Lincoln and the centralists. Whereas once General Robert E. Lee referred to his state of Virginia as his "country," U.S. Generals are now in Iraq defending theirs -- the 50 states. This is an illusion. This is an imposed unity by the barrell of a gun. What liberals are screaming about now regarding an American military-based imperialism that is forcing an American democracy on a sovereign nation is the reason why Southerners remember the Civil War 141 years later. American imperialism began when the blue uniforms crossed the Mason-Dixon.
I can't say how the future will play out, but the polarization of America is irreversible. Protection against such things as opposing values and illegal immigration may necessitate a different type of border protection -- the border that's closest to you.
My prayer is that America will come to its senses and work to decentralize itself. I realize that would mean a conversion in both Washington, D.C. and Wall Street. It is still a worthy goal, and a great many Southerners have educated their children along those lines. The question is, when will the folks from the northern "countries" wake up to it?
