Prattville Dragoons Commander's Column for April 2017 - AL Division SCV Education Conference

Over 100 people attended the Alabama Division Education Conference on Saturday March 26^th at the Doster Center in Prattville.  We had eight Dragoons in attendance but for those who could not make it, you missed a tremendous educational opportunity.  I would encourage you next year to attend and take advantage of this great local event which will inform and encourage you to advance the Charge. Ronald Kennedy asked, “How do we vindicate the Cause?”  The answer – by destroying Lincoln’s federal empire which is bigger and more intrusive today than ever since Reconstruction.  He asked, are you a citizen or a subject?  Interestingly, he illustrated the continuing subjugation of the South by highlighting the disparity of population and median household income between the North and the South, today 20%.  A higher cost/standard of living and hence income in the North and on the left coast allows people from these more “progressive” regions to internally emigrate from their “blue” states to the South and wield considerable financial and thus political influence in our own communities.  Kennedy recommended irregular political warfare to combat this subjugation, to create a shadow government to lobby elected officials to support Southern heritage causes, start an educational PR campaign and push Southern sovereignty issues by stressing commonality with other conservative groups and finally, targeting local and statewide political seats sympathetic or supportive of the SCV agenda. 

Ronald’s brother Donald followed and recommended a method of “shock and awe” in dealing with Yankees.  The SCV needs to stop preaching to each other and get out in front of the public to take the offense in educating the public as to the truth of Southern history and heritage. He provided examples such as how to turn the conversation from the typical progressive attacks regarding slavery and smaller government, originalist Constitutional theory and, the real reasons for secession and the War.  To defend oneself and indeed take the attack to the Yankee inquirer, you need to know basic facts of Southern history and heritage and these truths will prevail. He provided the example of those who claim the Southern states seceded to preserve and protect their institution of slavery since the states declaration of secession clearly state such (eg. Mississippi).  First shock them with a counterattack asking why they have not considered Massachusetts where slavery was first legalized and existed for 75 years longer than in Mississippi and whose state law served as the example of why segregation was legal in Supreme Court examination of Jim Crow laws.  Follow with the awe of historically accurate facts.  Mississippi secession was promoted by state Democrats who were generally not slave holders.  The wealthy Whig delta plantation owners were opposed to secession but whose support was garnered for secession by including this protective language. Jefferson Davis in his “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” said no issue has been misused more than the issue of slavery. Donald used the illustration that if the War was about slavery it failed as before the WBTS there were approximately 3 million slaves in the South but forty years later there were 8 million bound in the poverty of sharecropping in the South. Patrick Henry uttered his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” but he also said that liberty was first and union was second.  Lincoln was the first U.S. President who said the Union created the states and that the states were not sovereign. “The South was right in 1861 because America was right in 1776,” Donald exclaimed. 

Thomas DiLorenzo who wrote the best-seller “The Real Lincoln” was the final speaker.  He asked how we got so far removed from what our founding fathers envisioned to allow this leviathan federally dominated society we have today. He maintained Lincoln worship is fake news providing the example that in Europe they hold a different opinion of Lincoln and the Confederacy as they impartially study the period.  There is knowledge out there and in the past twenty years and with social media, it is becoming more widely available and understood.  Lincoln’s machine was the originator of fake news as they shut down 300+ newspapers who dared to publish views in opposition to the administration and it’s prosecution of the War and jailed thousands of dissenters.  They even purchased a German language Midwest newspaper in order to disseminate their message of propaganda to that region. If you go to Springfield IL even today you will see the deification of Lincoln with images everywhere. But, the War was about money and power.  Lincoln was reviled in the North as well as the South because he crushed dissent as a dictator.  One Northern newspaper postulated that if Lincoln were to take a dagger to the heart, it may be best for the country’s general welfare.  But after he was assassinated, the Republican party (and Springfield IL) capitalized on his martyrdom and the 1600 mile tour of the country with Lincoln’s corpse was designed and orchestrated to demonize and build a hatred for the South when in actuality, the nation largely rejoiced when news originally came to light of Lincoln’s death. But the Republican parties propaganda machine was hugely successful in promoting the fake news of Lincoln’s nobility and greatness.  And their sits Lincoln in his memorial in Washington DC as testament and our children continue to be indoctrinated by history and civics books today in their formal education about Lincoln’s noble crusade to free the slaves and preserve the Union.