Category Archives: Politics

Culture, Politics, Reason, Social Justice, Society, Violence

Silence the Fireworks, Raise our Voices

If we were great, our politicians would put country over party; if we were great, we would have a healthy opposition demanding electoral reform; if we were great, we would have healthcare for all and not let people die simply because they don’t have enough money; if we were great, the wealthy would not have such an inordinate influence on our politics; if we were great, over 30,000 people wouldn’t die from guns each year; and if we were great, we would not have a white supremacist and habitual dissembler as president.  Ross Rosenfeld, No Reason to Light Fireworks this 4th of July, The Hill

More info, maps and charts at gunviolencearchive.org

Like Ross Rosenfeld, I’m not looking forward to Independence Day this year. It’s always a mixed bag anyway, the sulfurous clouds of ceaseless and mostly senseless backyard fireworks clogging the air, and sounding unnervingly like the barrages of mass shooting gunfire that have killed nearly 160 people in the U.S. this year alone.

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Compassion, Humanity, Politics, Race, Social Justice, Society

Why the Confederate Cause Should Never Be Celebrated

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea (of “equality of the races”) ; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. – “Corner Stone” Speech, by Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy – Savannah, Georgia – March 21, 1861

Not an American portrait of which to be proud – Click   for NPR story

Whether you believe the cause of the American Civil War was slavery, or economics or the economics of slavery, the Civil War comprises a period in American history that must always be remembered but never celebrated.  While there may have been  people of   integrity fighting for southern independence, the ultimate goal of that independence was neither noble nor of moral integrity.   The words of Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, should leave no doubt as to the purpose of the Confederacy, which had nothing to do with heritage and everything to with white supremacy.

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