By now, you've all seen Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's proclamation that April is Confederate History Month. There has been the front page article, and of course diaries like Adept2u's.
I'm not interested in reacting to the proclamation itself, because others have already said anything I might say. But I must react to seeing people once again referring to the Civil War as "the War of Northern Aggression" or "the second American Revolution". Seeing that always makes my blood boil, because the Civil War was neither of those things.
Here's a quick history recap. The actual Revolutionary War effectively started on April 19th, 1775 when a modest British division of about 700 troops headed toward Lexington, MA to seize and destroy the armory there. Their advance guard were stopped in Concord by a force of about 70 militia men. While it is not known for sure who actually started shooting, the first casualties were some militia men rather than the British.
Meanwhile, the Civil War effectively started on April 12, 1861 when rebel cannons opened fire on Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, SC. The US Army troops within did not fire back. The only casualty was a horse.
So the Revolutionary War started with the government committing an act of aggression against the rebels. The Civil War started with the rebels committing an act of aggression against the government. That difference alone shows the lie told by those who defend this act of treason as simple resistance or self-defense.
And let's also not forget what States Rights was (and still is) a euphemism for. The State "Right" they wanted to defend was the "right" not to have the federal government tell them that Blacks were equal citizens. This proclamation by McDonnell is just a modern day dog whistle for racists.
Perhaps less obvious, but no less racist, is the cry from teabaggers that, "We want our country back!" It was said very well by Jinx here (at a biker's forum, of all things):
Acceptance of diversity does not come easy when the question is: "who are you better than?"
And now the way the cards were dealt 18 months ago has upset a huge segment of the population. They no longer know who they are better than.
...
And they say they want their Country Back.
Well, Bing-fucking-O.
Now we have it. They want to return to a time and place where they at least knew who they were better than.
Bottom line: McDonnell's proclamation is merely another form of the ugly intersection of racism and class warfare that has been openly waged throughout America for well over 150 years. And these treason apologists try to disguise it behind high-minded smoke covers like State's Rights and the Second American Revolution.
Oh yeah, does my blood ever boil when I hear this crap.