A Modest Proposal for Peace and Reconciliation
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.
Life is but a dream.
In these times of real change, new conditions require new ideas. The crude, outdated processes of American electoral politics have left the nation with an impossible situation. John McCain will be the nominee of the Republican Party for President, yet he cannot afford to be elected. If he is elected he will go down in history as the man who profited from the ineradicable racism of America and as the last die-hard defender of white male oppression and privilege.
How save the Republican’s best leader and the nation from this unacceptable result? The solution should be obvious in this time of change and diversity. Barack Obama must make McCain his running mate.
As everyone knows, the two parties are actually branches of the same party. They agree on everything and serve the same interests, with slight variation. All Americans, except for a few extremists, agree on what is important—global democracy, diversity, welfare, the War on Terror, reparations for oppressed groups, and America as a land open to all believers in our founding principle that “All Persons are Created Equal.” This move by Obama will avoid the necessity for an election, for elections are terribly divisive. An election now would allow the dangerous minority of white supremacist hate groups to spew out their evil propaganda. Unfortunately, we do not yet have adequate punishment for hate speech.
The advantages of an Obama–McCain ticket elected by acclamation, are many. McCain’s acceptance of second place will be a long-overdue and much admired symbolic gesture of repentance for centuries of white male oppression of women and people of color. Thus McCain will go down in history as an heroic figure pointing out the way to the glorious future rather than as the symbol of the last gasp of an evil reactionary cause.
On the other hand, if Obama offers McCain this opportunity for homage to the future, he will be acknowledging graciously American society’s contrition and determination to continue to repair the oppressions of the past. For Obama to choose anyone else as his second will not be acceptable for other reasons as well. To name Senator Webb or Senator Clinton will merely perpetuate divisiveness and white privilege. Especially since, in this era of true change, we no longer want leaders whose minds may have been distorted by the experience of actually working for a living outside the government and among backward real Americans.
Entries(RSS)
Oh, that is too funny... in a wicked kind of way.
By the way, the song has four "merrily's".
Dr Wilson,
Would it not also be a good idea for McCain and Obama to marry each other before the acclamation ? Thus "taking all the cards of division off the table."' ????
Rob
Would have to repeal the laws on bigamy in Arizona and Illinois, at least. But this would be a step for our future progress, allowing for diversity of "family" and "lifestyles." Only the most recalcitrant yahoos could offer any cogent objections.
Rob,
On reflection, no obscurantist state laws would need to be repealed. We could get the ACLU to rush a test case from either of the "home" states of the candidates, accelerating the matter to the Supreme Court for adjudication. Doutbless, even Alido and Scalia could be persuaded that it's all for the best that these antique restrictions on marriage should be set aside in all the states.
David,
Yes, I see the path ahead for reconciliation in allowing civil unions in order to by-pass the bigamy and polygamy restrictions. For instance, since John and Obama are married, they could apply for a civil union license thus having at the same time a legal spouse and a legal "partner" provided their spouses were supportive, which I can only imagine they would be in exchange for the East Wing of the White House. These limited liabilty partnerships and pre-nuptial agreements are certainly a thing of the future provided we can eleminate the tax exemptions for uncharitable organizations like Churches, relief kitchens and non- pofit hospitals, who want to oppose these expansions of freedom and liberty under the disguise of morality, the poor and disease.
Dr. Wilson:
Your words:
"Especially since, in this era of true change, we no longer want leaders whose minds may have been distorted by the experience of actually working for a living outside the government and among backward real Americans."
My observations of pupils and students over the last few years indicate that "backward real Americans" are becoming quite scarce, with particular emphasis on the "real." Madison Avenue and Hollywood are modeling such that Americans, especially the young, are making of themselves hollow caricatures with no real essence. Donald Davidson's "A Mirror for Artists" in I'll Take My Stand speaks of the estrangement of the artist from nature and life itself in the progressive/industrial age. It would seem that said estrangement is not only the plight of the artist but of us common folks as well.
The two candidates, especially Obama, are the ultimate caricatures, very one dimensional. We thus have a mass of cardboard figures genuflecting to cardboard figures made in their image.
Mr. Peters, I fear it is too true, too true.
Good one. McCain will likely walk away with the election (if he doesn't auger in again) and then we'll be treated to yet another world-wide round of just how awful white Americans are. God how I loathe the establishment.
Were one to put the election in a Marxist context, we are seeing once again a battle between Lenin's faction (Democrats) and Trotsky's faction (Republicans).
Beautiful, Dr. Wilson. I love a good dose of sarcasm and humor now and then. And to rob @1, your first comment had me busting the gut. We all deserve a good laugh about "the way we are now", as Dr. Wilson would put it.
Brock @9
And to rob @1, your first comment had me busting the gut. We all deserve a good laugh about “the way we are now”,
Yes, either souls of tears or laughter are the way we are now.But "a contrite and broken heart is a sacrifice to God" and because "His mercy endures forever," we should also have a good laugh from time to time. Thanks
Thank goodness the nation still harbors immensely talented and brilliant intellectuals like Dr. Wilson. I had not thought an equitable solution was possible, but with his wonderful suggestion and those of others here, I feel certain that we can turn a corner and bring this nation to greatness again.
And just think: they have a choice of states now in which to tie their nuptial knot: Kalifornia, Taxachusetts, and, if they are a little nervous about 'going all the way,' why, they can take advantage of our wonderful option for civil unions here in Vermont, brought about by our brilliant legislators several years ago as they spent an entire session concerned with absolutely nothing else.
There have been an increasing number of articles in the mainstream media discussing an erosion of the American identity. Those articles are of course amusing to me since they are tiptoeing around the glaring evidence of how destabilized American society has become.
I have my own idea of what defines an "American" and not a foreigner. But when I go abroad (Australia) and I am asked something that pertains to nationality, I try to insert the name of my state for good measure.
To put it bluntly, can we say that to be an American has in effect become as meaningless as being a "Soviet?" What is the nationality or ethnicity of a white American descended from colonial settlers like me? I have done enough work on genealogy that I can track most of the family lines back to Europe but since like most Southerners I have origins from across the British Isles, the Low Countries, France and Germany. But since these are multiple ancestral origins people like me are effectively taught in the public schools that they are "mongrels" in this wonderful melting pot. My children started to refer to themselves mongrels and mutts as if our family is a bunch of dogs when Catholic ethnics from the North talk about their "ethnic purity."
Is there any alternative to the term "American" in the ethic sense for old stock Americans like me? To make an appropriate comparison, is there such a thing as an ethnicity as "South African" when looking at the Afrikaners. They at least have the Afrikaans language and the ethnic name of "Boere" to define themselves.
Good question, Roy. Most of my family history, heritage and culture derive from Britain, but even there is a mix of Angle, Saxon, Jute, Pict, Celt and Norse. Not to mention colonial ancestors' intermarriage with eastern Algonquin bands down in Massachusetts and the Islands during the late 17th- and 18th-Centuries. So I guess I could claim that not only does my family go back to the Mayflower (like forty million other Americans) but it also goes back to the original crossing of the Bering Strait.
I note, however, that when filling out statist paperwork and suchlike, when it comes to race and ethnicty, we are usually given just one choice, and mine ends up being "White/Caucasian."
And the original 'melting pot' became General Dinkins' 'gorgeous mosaic,' I guess.
In the last Economist magazine there was a short piece on how Americans are choosing to band up and live together in groups of common interests, and one example given was about some folks in Texas linking up to live in a group of like-minded Ron Paul supporters.
O, the Horror!
Fred Reed has had a number of discussions on this topic and his stuff can be found at http://www.fredoneverything.net.
It's a peculiar culture that lionizes various minorities for banding together in communities, but when us mean and ugly Caucasians do it, we become Anathema.
Roy, some thoughts: Afrikaners are Afrikaners, or Afrikaans, and are a nationality, and Boers are a subgroup of Afrikaners, much like 'Hillbilly' describes a certain subgroup of Southerner, though not with negative connotations, nor connected to any particular ancestral background, like Scotch-Irish is to 'Hillbilly'. All Boers are Afrikaners but not all Afrikaners are Boers.
For an alternative to 'American' for old-stock people, we have to go down to region. New Englander, and Southerner, or Southron, designate two of these . Old-stock people of the Midatlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) never had a name like this for themselves, but perhaps 'Midatlanticer' would suffice. These are the three original regions of British North America that formed the union, and gave themselves the expedient non-national name 'American', which was later distorted into a 'national' designation, after 1865.
What I am getting at here is that 'New Englander', 'Southron', and 'Midatlanticer' denote historic cultural and social identities, which are also ethnic identities, since each of these three regions had different settlement patterns and unique blends of ethnicity at their founding, creating three ethnicities, even if they weren't recognised as such at first. If you are looking for a specific ethnic and cultural designation for yourself, then 'Southerner', or Southron' are the only appropriate terms for you.
For us old-stock New Englanders who've been here for a real long time now, and who are nearly all descended from British stock, we prefer, instead of "New Englanders," which could mean anybody who lives here, the term given our forefathers by the Native American bands and the Dutch: "Yankees." In my family's case, swamp Yankees. Pilgrims and Puritans for a while, and then my family on the Islands and in New Bedford gradually all became Quakers.
Peaceful fishing and whaling folk for the most part, with some trades, such as blacksmithing. Some were involved in running Underground Railroad stations during the War of Southern Independence, and us descendants do not much cotton (pun intended) to the demand for reparations.
My paternal grandfather was raised with a foster family and as a Quaker, but later served in the so-called Great War in the Army. He married my grandmother, who was Irish Catholic, so they compromised and became Episcopalian, the faith in which my dad and myself were raised. Dad served in the North Atlantic during The Good War, and my maternal grandfather was in North Africa for three years during that debacle. My uncle and I served in yet another debacle in Vietnam, with a second term added to my sentence for good behavior, in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
Such a long way from the Society of Friends meeting house. But still proud of our English background, though all too well aware of Perfidious Albion.
In Pennsylvania you had the "Pennsylvania Dutch" (or Pennsylvania Germans). In New York and New Jersey you had the original "Knickerbocker Dutch" from the Dutch West India Company. They existed as kind of a subgroup in enclaves until the beginning of the 20th century when they died out as a cohesive group. Many of the Dutch were absorbed into the Yankees. The Pennsylvania Dutch originally included all of pre-French & Indian War German immigration and were made up of Lutherans, Reformed, Baptists. Unfortunately a separate PA Dutch identity has dwindled to the Mennonites and Amish. Such a shame. The public education system probably had a significant hand in the destruction of these groups. It is sad how for all this talk of "diversity" these original white indigenous sub-cultural groups are to be wiped out to make room for "New Americans."
Regarding the Afrikaners, from what I read they are divided into two main subgroups. The Boere and the Cape Dutch. The Boere have always has had the reputation of being much more conservative than the other. They also have the memory having their own independent republics. They seem to be the dominant group and the Cape Dutch have found themselves more inclined to associate with them. I really feel for the Boere. After following the situation down there I see ethnic separatism or cultural nationalism to form their own "Boerstaat" no longer an option and they need to emigrate or be exterminated.
My question is this? How many immigrants are going to inundate Dixie before the Yankee Empire collapses. I have heard the case made my many others such as Gary North who are suggest that the immigrant tide will not be stopped until the U.S. has a worse economy than Mexico, the entire border is physically sealed (doesn't deal with the insane legal immigration levels), or the entire welfare state that subsidizes illegals is cut-off. The Yankee Empire is going to collapse in our lifetimes I do not doubt. But how much damage will be done until then? Will our children be in the same position of the Afrikaners?
We are told now that illegal immigration is slowing down due to alleged enforcement of existing laws, raids on employers, and the ongoing construction of the wall along the border. But, as Roy mentions, this does not even address the wack levels of legal immigration, and when we bring any of this up, we are, of course, xenophobes, nativists and racists.
Probably most folks here already know this, but a good site for the latest information and outrages is:
http://www.vdare.com
The nabobs and overlords who run the Yankee Empire apparently feel that not a good enough job was done on the South during the War of Southern Independence, nor during Reconstruction or during the one-hundred years since. So, it looks like the plan is to send more of us down there, where we can, of course, go all out to replicate the places we came from, plus have a completely open-arms policy to all and sundry to come to this country no matter their legality or other qualifications.
Unfortunately, Gary North is probably right; once we've achieved economic parity with Mexico and La Reconquista has occurred, there will be no need for immigrants to come across the border anymore. I'd learn Spanish but we rarely see any Latinos this far north and it would make more sense to learn French. Except that I couldn't stand when I had it for three years straight in middle school; no, I think we'll keep our English Only policy here.
Even if illegal immigration is slowing down, it doesn't change anything for California, New Mexico, Arizona, and half of Texas. The birthrate differentials are too big. Many folks moving back East from California are saying that we need to just ditch these lands and retrench instead of being yoked with a vastly foreign populace. They can have their Aztlan for all I care, but yet we have about 600,000 Hispanics in North Carolina right now (all who have come in the last 20 years) with two-thirds estimated as being illegal squatters.
I find it ironic how these obscene Yankee mansions and haciendas that have been built (the bigger they are the less kids are in them) have these teams of Hispanics doing landscape and other work as if it was a miniature modern-day plantation.
600,000 in North Carolina?!!! I had no idea.
Agreed: give 'em back Aztlan or Mexifornia or whatever they want to call it just as soon as we close out our military bases and remove anything else of value; the big aquifers out there are being inevitably drained dry anyway.
Gotta wonder what goes on, if anything, in the minds of those carpetbaggers as they watch their Latino serfs doing all that scut work. Not so much here in northern New England, except for the cities, but the trend for houses in the Northeast has been for these guys to buy an existing house with a half-decent yard, tear it down, and then build a MacMansion right out to the property lines. A gross and rank obscenity. Unless, of course, one believes that property rights transcend all else.
Mr. Hardy, the Hispanic population in NC and GA is 10 per cent and rising.
A source in SC recently informed me that the winning Democratic candidate for the US Senatore nomination, "Flattop Bob Conley," was attacked by his opponent for being, among other things, tough on immigration. When the opponent also appealed to Mexican voters, black voters turned out for Conley, although he previously supported both Buchanan and Ron Paul. With any luck, he might even replace the epicene Lindsay Graham.
As I say, Barrack McBush is running for president. You couldn't put a cigarette paper between the three. Since Barack is Super Cool, I've also proposed calling him BHO in the tradition of French intellectul (and author of an excellent book on America, despite what that hick Garrison Keilor thinks) Bernard Henri Levi.
17Roy
...After following the situation down there I see ethnic separatism or cultural nationalism to form their own “Boerstaat” no longer an option; they need to emigrate or be exterminated.
I have heard the case made by many others such as Gary North who have suggested that the immigrant tide will not be stopped until the U.S. has a worse economy than Mexico, the entire border is physically sealed (doesn’t deal with the insane legal immigration levels), or the entire welfare state that subsidizes illegals is cut-off. The Yankee Empire is going to collapse in our lifetimes I do not doubt. But how much damage will be done until then? Will our children be in the same position of the Afrikaners?
Actually we may have the option of either emigrating or being exterminated, the result may be White flight on a continental scale. Look at this short ad for this book:
http://www.perpetualdiversity.com/whiteflight.html
If what is mentioned in the book ever happens we can thank Ted Kennedy and those who keep re-electing him. heck he is only 79, Strom Thurmond lived to 100 while staying in office. Ted could easily still be in office in 2028, long enough to see America fail.
I truly believe that reprobate hates his native soil and every person in America.
Well being swamped by third-worlders is one issue. On the other hand, some things that I am observing I believe must be due to the wrath of God. I have visited several college campuses recently and what I saw at a university up in Pennsylvania sickens me. Sometimes it appears to me that I see more tatooed women than men. The number of them I see with nose rings are astounding. I went to NCState a while back and I pray to God that Dr. Wilson's overall assessment of the student body down there is better. The men are no better of course, but since women now the majorities at our universities (except for engineering which is still male-dominated) I'm describing them.
Even still,the level of promiscuity has made college dorms in effect dorm-brothels. I listened to a pastor who had a sermon on the situation and said that it is as if men hate their daughters by letting them get into situations like that. I want to send my daughter to college but it is definitely going to be a private Christian college if the Feds will still be tolerating them.
Nothing short of a revival can turn this around.
Roy
Well being swamped by third-worlders is one issue. On the other hand, some things that I am observing I believe must be due to the wrath of God.
Several weeks ago I mentioned the state of the US Catholic bishops and how I felt that contributes to the problems here in the US. I specifically mentioned their refusal to excommunicate Ted Kennedy and other prominent members of the church who are corrupting America.
This is what my inquiring mind wants to know: We are supposed to be one nation under God according to the Pledge of Allegiance. What God? The God of the Bible, the god of Mormonism, the Great Architect, or the God of the Koran? If I lived back then, it would be my Christian duty to oppose the admission of Utah into the Union rather than being yoked with a state run by the Mormon cult even before the nature of the federal government was changed in 1861. Now we have 16 members of Congress whose welcome of massive Latin migration corresponds with their religion's belief that since the migrants have Amerindian ancestry, they are descendents of Israelites who migrated to American.
Roy,
Mormon legislators primarily support enforcing existing immigration laws (secure the border, and prosecute employers who flaunt the law). For example, Mitt Romney is very strong in protecting the border.
Bot,
I think we should protect the borders from Mormons.
Should we even bother voting in this next election? It looks like Israel is planning to strike Iran between then and the inauguration and at that point all bets are off. The Iranians say that in retaliation they will hit Tel Aviv and our ships in the area.
And here's a little tidbit from today's lewrockwell.com blog:
Never Vote
Posted by Lew Rockwell at July 8, 2008 01:00 PM
Writes Bill Bonner:
"Who are you going to vote for?" asked a well-meaning friend from New Zealand.
"Vote...I never vote."
"Why not?"
"Statistically, it is a waste of time," we explained. "Barack Obama will be elected Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan before my vote makes any difference in a presidential election. But there's a moral reason too. Suppose my man wins? Then, I bear some responsibility for what he does. I have no idea what he might do...and no control whatever over him... "
"But isn't this an important election?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Economically, the cake has already been baked. The next president isn't going to like it very much. And he'll do all he can to avoid having to eat it. All these rebates and bailouts – I suspect that we haven't seen anything yet. Whoever is elected...we're probably going to see $1 trillion deficits...and the collapse of the dollar, along with the post-Bretton Woods financial system..."
“Statistically, it is a waste of time,” we explained. “Barack Obama will be elected Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan before my vote makes any difference in a presidential election. But there’s a moral reason too. Suppose my man wins? Then, I bear some responsibility for what he does. ”
How can you be responsible if your vote makes no difference?