If a faction of ultra-conservative Christians have their way about it, South Carolina will soon secede form the nation of the United States of America for the second time in about 160 years. Naturally, this is ab ig joke, but it does bring up an interesting proposition. Just what if it were to happen? Suppose enough extremist right wing idiots actually migrated to the state in sufficient umbers that, in combination with native factions already disposed favoraby to the idea, they took control of the state of South Carolina, and actually seceeded. Or tried to.
I say let ‘em. Who the hell needs them? I mean, can you imagine anything more stupid than this group of clowns forming hteir own state, and convincing enough fools to go along with them to actually do it. After all, though, remember,it is a constitutionally sound pecept. The Tenth Amendment does indeed allow for secession from the Union for due cause, though Mr. Lincol saw fit to disrespect that precept on the grounds that it was not in the best interests of the nation, or of the Southern people, to allow it to go forward. Lincoln might have acted wrongly in this regard, perhaps he should as well have allowed the secession to go forward unhindered and unnoppossed. Does anybody truly believe that if it had,.slavery would still be a fact of life in the South, or anywhere else? I have long been of the opinion that, while slavery may have lasted a few decades longer, it would have eventually faded, and by now would have been long, long gone. Moreover, it’s ending would not have been near as painful, and traumatic, not only for the nation, but for the slaves themselves. After all,in a very real sense, slavery did not truly end until the end of the Jim Crow era, and the gathering momentum of the civil rights movement of the 1950’sand 1960’s. This culminated of course in the passage of such lanmark legislation as the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, under President Johnson. And even this did not end segregationa and racial prejudice, in fact, it is still an ongoing concern to this day.
Pehaps if Mr. Lincoln had left well enough along, this would not be the case, and race relations may have by now been nifinitely better than what they are now. In fact, I would submit that had he not taken the actions that he took, race relations by the 1920’s would possibly be similar to what they are now, in the present. There may not have ever been a Martin Luther King, for there may have never been a need of him. Or perhaps some personnage such as Booker T. Washington or George Washington Carver may have been the pioneering civil rights leader that King was in our era. Perhaps the major contribution of Mr. Washington may have been not so many uses for the peanut, but in influencing the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act. No Civil War, no regional and sectional animosities ongoing thoughout so many generations-no racial bigotry, at least not on the scale that we have lived through the past century.
Yeah, I know, if, if if. But the point is, if these fools in South Carolina do ever possibly get around to seceeding from the Union-or trying to-I say let them. I mean, face it, if that does indeed turn out to be the attitude of the majority of the people of South Carolina, who the fuck needs them anyway?
Then again, it all boils down to minority protections, as usual. Who would look out for the rights of these, for now, American citizens, in the event that day ever comes to pass? We certainly couldn’t trust the extreme right wing Christian Conservative government of South Carolina to treat them fairly. Sure, maybe they would surprise us and treat them with fairness and compassion, but we can’t rely on that proposition. Therefore, quite simply, we can’t allow it to happen.
I guess Mr. Lincoln wasn’t so wrong after all. Sometimes bloodshed is necessary, even admirable, even preferable-even commendable.
Just think of it as a catharsis.
