Sorry to break it to you, Gentle Reader, but somebody had to. For all the orthodox history saying that the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox, they have in fact continued fighting for segregation, class stratification, and other key Confederate values.

The most obvious example was the large number of Jim Crow laws imposed upon black Americans after the South “surrendered”. Pretty much slavery without the costs of feeding, housing, and clothing the oppressed black workers and their families. Apartheid, American style.

Then came the Civil Rights Movement. We made some progress then, no doubt about it. But starting in the 1980’s, the NeoConfederates have slowly and systematically worked to restore their white-supremacist system, and in fact spread it to other, non-Confederate states.

Undoing affirmative action? Check.
Rolling back voting rights for Persons of Color? Check.
Lower wages paid to black workers than whites? Check.

All of this indicates a non-coincidental trend. It is a deliberate effort to re-fight the Civil War, albeit without obvious military force. And it is succeeding. Here’s one tiny example:

Once upon a time in the Oughts, your humble correspondent had a girlfriend from a foreign country, and she traveled to America to visit, meet the family, see the sights, and so on. She really wanted to see the South, and so we spent some time there. During that sojourn, we stopped at one of Georgia’s state universities to look at dinosaur bones, and wandered into a historical exhibit about the “War of Northern Aggression” (indeed, it was thus labeled) and how bad it was for the formerly-contented slaves. This in an accredited, state-chartered university.

That was a shocker. A government-funded institution teaching and spreading lies about the Civil War. She was shocked, and so was B & C.

Since that incident knocked the scales off the eyeballs, it has become ever more apparent that the Reagan Revolution included a strong racist, neo-Secessionist component. But instead of leaving the Union, the South has decided to take the over the whole damned country.

We are still at war with the forces of racist evil, friends. And we are losing.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky