Yesterday's diary by a Daily Kos front-pager has churned up some icky sediment at the bottom of the Great Orange Bayou. For those who haven't read it, the writer reviews a book that proposes that it's time for the North to jettison the Southern states so that the newly reformatted America can get on with its business, unencumbered by those who are holding us back.
Evidently, this possibility evoked some real passion on the part of the majority of the commenting Kossacks, who have apparently been harboring a lot of pent-up anti-South hostility, judging by their remarks. If only such passion could be directed towards the upcoming elections... but I digress.
We bristle at the thought that American citizens are being systematically stripped of their fundamental right to vote, yet there are some among us who view with delight the prospect of millions of Americans being stripped of their citizenship in a geographic cleansing to create the sort of America they'd prefer.
We bristle at Romney's secretly-recorded remarks writing off the 47%, but it's different when the commenting Kossacks are drawing the lines and deciding who's in their inner circle, and who will be written off. Those lines of secession are based on dog-whistled stereotypes about Southerners that play into elitist perceptions about their moral and economic superiority.
We bristle at the pronouncements of witless Teabaggers threatening that they're going to dig in their heels and "take their country back", but when Kossacks make the same threats, they're getting a high five from some here. The only debate is over the logistics of how the brilliant plan should be implemented.
I lived in the North for 54 years, in the South for the past 5 years. I'm planning to retire in the South, so when someone's seriously advocating jettisoning my current and future home states from my homeland, I'm going to take it personally.
Like many of you Kossacks, I'm the descendant of immigrants, some of whom came here at great personal risk. Like them, my love for America - with all of its delights and all of its woes - is unwavering. Like them, I have been a lifelong Democrat and Progressive. Like them, I believe that we're all in this together, and that only together can we reach our potential as a country and a people.
I've had the good fortune to live, study, work, vacation and travel within 45 of the 50 states (still to go: Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, and South Dakota), where I've met many wonderful Americans from all walks of life. I've onlye encountered a handful of people who match the hateful stereotypes reviled in the secession diary.
Most people I've met are a lot like me: working hard, caring for their loved ones, pursuing their dreams, giving back when they can, and making the most of their energies and talents. So the idea that anyone would propose ridding themselves of the entire South, casting millions of people - many of them fellow Progressives - out of the country, is appalling to me. The fact that dozens of Kossacks are atwitter about the possibility makes me physically ill.
There's a smarmy sense of entitlement that some here who purportedly believe that the time for the hard work of being an enormous country of diverse people has come to an end. It was a failed experiment. Let's wrap it up. Those [insert degrading stereotypical adjectives here] Southerners need to be cut loose, now. They're just dragging us down. Like Bain closing a factory and laying off all the workers, it's nothing personal, just business.
With all the challenges facing us - not the least of which is the possibility of a Romney presidency which would destroy the gains of the past few decades, leaving millions of people facing poverty, joblessness, foreclosure, loss of medical benefits, and even loss of life - you'd think that this would be the time to stand together, not to throw our fellow citizens under the bus. With the gains already made in advancing Democratic candidates and causes in the South, you'd think we would build on our successes. Instead, some would quit, throw in the towel, and pat themselves on the back for their clever fix to the complexities of being a still young and evolving country.
As a Kossack in Texas, I'm way past tired of the "state-hate" we see here. Whenever a natural disaster is looming, we have to ensure otherwise intelligent people telling us it's "God's will" because we're a Red State, we espouse hateful views, we're inbred rednecks, or some other bullshit. This whole "Red State-Blue State" crap has outlived whatever usefulness it might have had. Same thing for "flyover states". Real people of all political persuasions live in those states. Progressives live in those states, working to elect more and better Democrats.
Americans are a mobile people, and over the generations, we have spread across this land and settled in some unexpected places. I found myself in the South as a trailing spouse when my husband relocated. I have friends, relatives, business colleagues, customers, and loved ones here. Chances are, you do too. Heaven forbid, your future circumstances may include relocation here for education, for work, for military service, for a family crisis, even for love. When you arrive, you'll find, as I did, that the South is a vast and diverse place in every way you can imagine, and many ways you can't imagine.
So, to those who are chomping at the bit for us to secede because of our rookie mistake of living in the wrong part of "your" country, remember: we're more than just push-pins on a map. We're real Americans. Just like you. We work, we pay taxes, we raise families, we contribute to our communities, and we vote. We belong here, and we're not going anywhere. But thanks for letting us know how you feel. At least we won't harbor any illusions.