Thoughts About “Charlottesville”

Apostolic Insiders!

The radical left is becoming more and more unhinged! President Trump can say over and over again that “racism is evil,” but they continue to label him as a racist! Why? Because he won’t agree with the left that they can attack and pommel anyone who does not agree with them! Notice, it was when President Trump pointed out that there are “good people on both sides” of the Charlottesville catastrophe that he was attacked. God bless that man for standing up for truth. Yes, there were and are good people on both sides. And he was not saying there are “good Nazis” or “good white supremacists.” That is a lie! He was saying there are good people who simply believe that the historic South (the Confederate States) had much good to offer, as I will point out below. Of course, these “good people” were and are against slavery and were and are in favor of equality of all races! And President Trump believes that as well. But when President Trump calls the evil of racism evil, whether it is black against white, white against black, purple against orange, or whatever. And they call him racist! Only if you ignore the evils being perpetrated by the left will you be exempt from the label of “racist.” But thanks be to God our president is condemning evil on both sides, as all people of good will should!

Now to the issue of those of us who truly love Southern culture (minus slavery or any maltreatment of anyone on the basis of race!). Because President Trump acknowledges there are people who love the confederacy and Southern tradition because of its rich traditions of faith, states’ rights, an objective moral order (which is why slavery was on its way out before the Civil War and, some believe, did not need hundreds of thousands slaughtered for it to have been eliminated), and a “freedom” envisaged by the founding fathers that has been eliminated because of the usurping of authority by the Federal Government that would not have happened if “confederate” principles had won the day. Now, we have the murder of over 55 million innocent pre-born children (a much great evil than was slavery, folks), homosexual “marriage” (that is not marriage at all in reality), experimentation on pre-born human beings (embryonic stem cell “research”), cloning, the killing of innocent elderly and all manner of infirm by way of euthanasia and now “physician- assisted” suicide, which is actually murder, and now the legalized mutilation of confused and hurting people who need help euphemistically called “transgender” surgeries, and more. All of this has been forced upon the American people by the all-powerful federal government. This could never have happened (or would have been much more difficult to have happened, and most likely would not have happened) under a confederacy (or, actually, just under the Constitution of the United States of America as it is written!) where the true authority of the state remained with the people. We forget that the American people originally rejected all of these moral evils, but have been slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) coerced and propagandized until the people are largely unable to act, or even think, for themselves apart from the coercive power and propaganda of the federal government.

Why am I saying this to you guys? I am saying this because I am seeing good Christians, or even Catholic Christians, being deceived by our now “all-powerful” (not really, but seemingly) government. For example, how many among the mindless mob tearing down statues of Robert E. Lee know that he was an abolitionist? In fact, Robert E. Lee’s father, “Light Horse Harry Lee,” a hero of the Revolutionary War, who later became a member of Virginia’s House of Burgesses, and a three-term Governor of Virginia (back when the term was one year), when he was a member of Virginia’s House of Burgesses, proposed in his first bill “to lay so heavy a duty on the importation of slaves as to put an end to that iniquitous and disgraceful traffic within the colony of Virginia.” He also stated that Africans were “equally entitled to liberty and freedom by the great law of nature.” (see http://www.stratfordhall.org/meet-the-lee-family/richard-henry-1733-1794/ )

Light Horse Harry’s son, Robert E. Lee, was also an abolitionist, but he believed slavery had to be ended by the course of divine Providence and the influence of Christianity that would see to its end. He did not believe it should be eliminated by the force of war. The cost would be too high in bloodshed. Moreover, there were more issues involved than just slavery. The North willed to usurp the Constitution and create what would eventually become what is closer to a totalitarian state than the state envisaged by the Constitution in the process. And that is what is happening, and some say it really already has happened, with the evils I mentioned above forced upon the American people. But today, you are not even allowed to discuss the possibility that Lee may well have been right. You are simply labelled a “racist!”

Of course, I acknowledge as did Robert E. Lee, that slavery is evil! And so does President Trump! But the Civil War was also evil where more Americans died than all other wars combined in our history. There have been about 644,000 Americans killed in wars outside of the Civil War, while there were ca. 750,000 killed in the Civil War (see http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17604991 ). This number is higher than the previously thought 620,000, by the way, because of relatively recent and more thorough research. This is an enormous number. And if you add to those numbers the number who died after the War was over through the brutality of the North against the South, the number is even higher. In fact, the rape and pillaging that occurred against the South was beyond description.

For example, the famous “march to the sea” of General Sherman’s Northern troops in 1864 (during the War, of course) represented a brutality Gen. Hood, the retreating Southern General said in the course of letters back and forth between him and General Sherman that are still extant, described as such: “The unprecedented measure you propose transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of war.” Gen. Hood appealed to the law of God and the dignity of human nature to attempt to bring about some semblance of mercy on the part of the North. Sherman’s response was chilling, “If we must be enemies, let us be men, and fight it out as we propose to do, and not deal with such hypocritical appeals to God and humanity… God will judge us in due time.” Sherman would later say to Atlanta’s leaders, “War is cruelty and you cannot refine it… But my dear sirs, when peace comes, you may call on me for anything. Then I will share with you the last cracker.” This was Sherman’s way of justifying any outrage whatsoever in war. And this led to unspeakable horrors (see http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2014/08/31/The-burning-of-Atlanta-seared-into-America-s-memory/stories/201408310090 and http://atlantaforward.blog.ajc.com/2014/06/13/was-sherman-a-war-criminal/ ).

Sherman declared he had to make “young and old, rich and poor” feel the pains of war in order to end it sooner. In other words, the end justifies the means. The North definitely had an advantage here, because great men like Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. Robert E. Lee would never allow such evils. But so it goes. Sometimes evil prevails, but only for a season. Ultimately evil collapses upon itself. Unfortunately, we are seeing that happen now in our country.

What we have now is a mob mentality that seeks to crush anyone who disagrees with the mob. They just label you “racist” and then they can do to you whatever they please. Our President is attempting to stand up against the mob, but weak men in his own party like Paul Ryan, John McCain, etc., are either blind or just plain cowards. My sense is most are just plain cowards. They know the President is right. They know he condemned all manner of bigotry and violence, in all of his post-Charlottesville speeches, but they are just afraid to stand up against the mob. Thank God we have our own Mr. Smith, a la Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (starring James Stewart, if you haven’t seen it, you need to!), in the White House. Time will tell if the mindless and immoral mob wins or if sanity prevails.

And one more thought here about “the South” and the confederacy. Ben Stein wrote an excellent article highlighting crucial and foundational historical facts crucial to understand if we are going to understand the Civil War. He wrote it for “the American Spectator.” You can find it here: https://spectator.org/whose-side-is-he-on/ , but I will cut and paste it here:

1. “I wonder how many of the counter-protesters at the Charlottesville event even had any idea who Robert E. Lee was. He was a major hero of the Mexican-American War. He fought for the Confederacy against the Union, but at the time he did it, it was not illegal. Slavery was — while 100 percent evil — completely protected by law as of 1861. When Lee went to work to defend his native Virginia, he was not violating any law.

In fact, at no time did the Supreme Court rule that secession was unconstitutional. To the contrary, when the Supreme Court moved towards declaring secession lawful, President Lincoln, in violation of every lawful principle, threatened to have Roger Taney, the Chief Justice, arrested and jailed. He had already used federal troops to arrest much of the Maryland state legislature to keep Maryland from seceding. Again, this was an unequivocal violation of the Constitution. And when a court ordered the legislators released under habeas corpus, Lincoln simply ignored the order.

When the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered at Appomattox Court House in the spring of 1865, some officers of Lee’s Army suggested an ongoing guerrilla campaign against the Union. Lee absolutely vetoed the idea, saying that enough blood had been shed and that it was time to bind up the wounds of war.

I wonder how many of the counter-protesters who threw containers of urine and bottles and sticks at the protesters who actually had a license to demonstrate knew anything about Lee the peacemaker or about Lincoln, the lawbreaker. I wonder how many Americans of any age know that the immense majority of Southerners owned no slaves and that they laid down their lives to protect not slavery, but an invasion by Northerners who by the laws of the day simply had no clear legal right to be in North Carolina or Virginia at arms.

2. I watched with astonishment the demolition of the statue of a Confederate soldier in Durham. No police at hand at all to stop the destruction of public property. No vote by any government body to remove the statue. Just a mob of “students” and a complete absence of police or law enforcement at all. This was mob rule. Pure, simple, and terrifying. Why even bother to have police at all if this is the way the law is protected?

3. I see that, as of late Tuesday night, the media is going berserk with rage about President Trump saying there were lawbreakers on both sides in C-ville. But clearly, Mr. Trump was right. The pro-statue people were strange looking, but they had a permit and they had the First Amendment. The ones who attacked them with clubs were the instigators.

Yes, of course I hate anyone who even hints at sympathy for the Nazis. The monstrous evil of those demons is unmatched. But they have the right to speak when not inciting violence and when not committing violence. Otherwise, the Constitution is trash.

For Trump to point out that while the KKK and the Nazis are nauseating, they have free speech rights, is not only correct, but actually brave of him. To take on the MSM and say the Constitution is above the networks and the major newspapers makes him a hero. The same day that this story appeared, I got a USPS letter saying — in a childish type written note on a torn sheet of lined paper, “Ben Stein–Economist, Lawyer, Actor, Commentator–Most of all F–king Jew.” I’d rather get those every hour of every day than lose one iota of the First Amendment. I appreciate that Trump, who is tortured every day by a hate-filled free press, still defends free speech. His endurance is exemplary.

As Mr. Trump said, the day in C-ville was agonizing. But for those who stood up for free speech, it was a glorious day.

For the apparent murderer by car, it will be judgment day.

More to come, but for now, good for Donald Trump for taking the hard way out, and, I suspect, the far harder and more courageous way into a new media civil war. The Constitution or the MSM. Which side are you on, brother? Which side are you on?”

Hey Apostolic Insiders! I believe Ben Stein is right. There is so much propaganda out there that people believe it is astonishing.

I would also add this:

How many people know that “the Emancipation Proclamation” of Abraham Lincoln only freed slaves in the South where he had no legal jurisdiction to free anybody. It was a farce. He did not free the slaves in the four Northern states who still had legal slavery (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia, which, by the way, was admitted into the Union as a slave state, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, in June of 1863, after the so-called “Emancipation Proclamation” of January of 1863!) where he actually did have authority to free the slaves! 

How many people know that Lincoln said if he had to choose between preserving the Union and freeing the slaves he would have chosen preserving the Union!

Why do I say all of this? Because it is incumbent upon us to be informed. We have to know the truth of history in order to keep ourselves from being just another in the mindless mob. And I also believe we Catholics have got to stand up for the truth because if we allow good people, like our President, to be labelled “racist” and then attacked in all manner of ways, when they, and he, are not, it is only a matter of time before we Catholics are labelled as well!

Who will stand for truth, folks?