A call to war!
I recently watched Bill O’Reilly as I often do. I like O’Reilly personally. I believe that he is intelligent and sincere. He does not stand for prevarication or attempts to weasel out of answering hard questions and for that he should be praised. On the other hand, he has a particular set of opinions that make me wonder if at heart he isn’t a liberal or at least inclined that way. And, of course, coming from a lower middle-class Irish background, this would be understandable. The Irish as well as the Jews are a distinctly liberal bunch (except, of course, when it comes to the English). I have written to him from time to time when I thought that he really wasn’t “connecting the dots” with regard to the Obama Administration and Obama himself. He always wants to give the President “the benefit of the doubt” as he himself has often said. All that I am willing to give Obama is “the benefit” of a ten minute head start! I figure that he has already proven what he is and what he wants to do. He doesn’t need people making excuses for him in the name of “fairness”.
During O’Reilly’s “Talking Points” (the first segment of the show which can probably be viewed at O’Reilly’s website) the host commented upon Obama’s remarks about the attack at Fort Hood. O’Reilly, in addressing the attitude about Muslims in general and Hasan in particular, alluded to the fact that decent people have fought for wicked causes in the past but that the soldier’s basic decency had no bearing on the worthiness of the cause for which he fought. As many may know, while O’Reilly is presenting his “Talking Points” there is a screen behind him which illustrates the point or points he is making. And so, as he went on to mention “decent Germans” who fought in World War II, the word “Germany” appeared. Almost immediately, I was astounded to see the world “Confederacy” appear under the word Germany. And, of course, O’Reilly then said what I had dreaded that he would say, that is, something to the effect that decent men also fought for the Confederacy! I was appalled! Here was a direct correlation between Nazi Germany and the Confederacy! I can only assume that O’Reilly is the victim of ignorance, but even so to make such a foul comment is beyond the pale. He cannot be ignorant of men like Robert E. Lee! Does he put Lee in the same category as Erwin Rommel? Rommel was a decent man who chose to ignore the Nazi government and fight “for the Fatherland”. But in the case of the Confederate States of America, no such connection can be made! The Confederacy was not a tyrannous regime ruling a formerly decent nation. The Confederacy WAS that nation!
I was enraged – and I’m STILL enraged! I most strongly urge everyone to spread this far and wide among Southerners and friends of the South so as to make Mr. O’Reilly know and understand that while he’s busy being kind to the communist usurper and his inconstitutional minions in the White House, he has defamed a nation and people whose worthiness far surpasses the feeble remnants of the Republic they tried to maintain when they left the federal empire! There is not one decent person who should not call this man to account for his calumny. Bill O’Reilly has a big idea of himself, but last night he proved that he is nothing more than just one more historically ignorant purveyor of federal propaganda – a hack who owes an apology for his calumny to the men and women who lived and died for the very principles upon which this nation is – or should I say was – based.
In the name of justice and truth, I issue this call to war! Stand up and speak out lest we prove by our apathy to be unworthy of their sacrifice.
Valerie Protopapas
My letter to Mr. O’Reilly:
oreillyatfoxnews.com
Dear Mr. O’Reilly:
The other night I was appalled to see you make a direct correlation between Nazi Germany and the Confederate States of America. Of course, you are not entirely to blame for this grievous error. You are, after all, just one more victim of federal propaganda which began even before the War of Secession (it was not a “civil war”).
Obviously, I have not the time nor you the desire for me to give you even a small amount of the information you would need to form an educated opinion in this matter, but just to help at least pique your curiosity, I will present two items for your consideration.
The first is an historical fact: the South did not fight for slavery although that was a very important issue – just not for the reasons people believe. However, if slavery had been the issue, then Lincoln’s offer to the Southern states to immediately pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution – entitled the “Corwin Amendment” – would have kept the South in the Union. Why? Because the Corwin Amendment protected slavery directly and in perpetuity within the Constitution, forbidding any future efforts to change that situation! So, you see, the South had no need to secede if all it wished to do was maintain the institution of slavery.
The second matter is a quote which clearly illustrates just why the South did go to war. In a personal conversation with author Walter Donald Kennedy, Professor Jay Hoar of Maine stated: “The worst fears of those Boys in Gray are now a fact of American life – a Federal government completely out of control.” Now, Professor Hoar is from Maine, not Mississippi; he has no sectional axe to grind. But he certainly understands and elucidates the over-arching reason for the secession of the Southern states – the fear of an increasingly powerful federal government and its symbiotic relationship with Northern commercial interests (fascism). The fact is that the South paid over 75% of the taxes into the federal coffers as the result of confiscatory tariffs – while the North received the benefit of that money (sound familiar?). With immigration increasing the population of the North and the new states in the Mid-West and West being allied with the old Northeast (to their commercial benefit), the South was fast becoming a permanent minority as well as a “cash cow” for a nation that as long ago as the Mexican War had gone from being a “republic” to an “empire”. The South politically ascribed to Madison and Calhoun; the North to Hamilton and Clay; these two governing principles were totally incompatible and the Southern states determined to return to the Founding Principles through the process of secession and confederation as guaranteed them in the Constitution.
When you compare the Confederacy with a rogue state like Nazi Germany, you not only do a terrible disservice to patriots and heroes like Robert E. Lee, but you expose your own ignorance and thus lessen your impact on the present political, economic and cultural state of affairs.
Finally, a warning: you will not find the pertinent facts in what passes for “history” today. You are going to have to go to sources that today’s “scholars” label “unreliable”, “suspicious” and “dishonest”. But it is they who are unreliable, suspicious and dishonest, not those who are trying to overcome over 150 years of “the Big Lie”. However, if you are really interested in the facts, they are out there – and I strongly suggest that you educate yourself before making any more outrageous and atrocious comments such as this.
Ignorance can be cured, but deliberate ignorance is the path to slavery.
Valerie Protopapas
Huntington Station, New York
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