The South Will Rise... To The Left

Is it unreasonable for those of us who were born in the South, and/or live there now, to feel resentment when certain Democrats start talking trash about the South? I certainly hope not, because I'm far from happy about it, and if I, someone with progressive philosophies, can get riled up over this trash talk, I can only imagine how it'd go over with someone who, to the end, was unsure whether to pick Bush or Kerry. And such trash talk is certain to drive them towards Bush, guaranteed.

More after the bump....

Let me disclose upfront that I am a Texan by birth, but moved to Washington state just before our current President was sworn in as Governor. Bush wasn't the only reason; in fact, his governorship was a piddling factor in my decision to move. Mainly, I wanted to escape the heat and find a place where there is a combination of scenic beauty, mild weather, and progressive tendencies. If I were less eager to avoid the heat, I could've easily moved to Austin.

I say this to establish that, while I no longer live in a red state, I have a lot of roots there. And while I may not be fully happy with my home state's politics--if I ever met Tom DeLay I'd have some unkind words for him--it's still my home state.

So what am I to make of Bob Dreyfuss when he says such inflammatory things as:

It's war. And we have to win it. The very map of the United States looks like the Civil War. We need to obliterate the South again, just like we did in 1865. And then we need Reconstruction, starting with teaching them to read a book once a year. We need to crush the south and the mountain states with a Culture War offensive and then pour salt in their fields, give them the Carthage treatment they deserve, and worse.

Where do I even begin? "Read a book once a year"? Sorry, Bob, but I do a little better than that, including making a brave effort to read at least one non-fiction book in a field that is not my specialty, every year. And I'm far from alone. "The Carthage treatment"? Again, sorry, but if you continue with this childish fixation on how terrible "the South" is, history books will be saying something along the lines of "Democratii delenda est." (Pardon my Latin--I haven't got to that book yet, Bob. Excusez-moi pour mon ignorance.)

Now, Bob Dreyfuss drives me nuts at least once a month--his articles, when purely factual, are beautiful, but when he gets invictive it's pretty shrill. So I can discount him. I can't so easily discount all the Daily Kos diaries and comments about abandoning the South all together.

Then, this afternoon, gay journalist Rex Wockner passed on this rather inflammatory URL. The URL alone is not work-safe, and being at work I haven't looked beyond that, so pardon me if it turns out to be a fairly reasonable site. But something tells me it isn't reasonable at all.

So I ask you Kossacks: Where is our party's spine? Where is its will to fight the good fight? Can we leave the talk about salting Southern soil at home, and figure out long-term tactics for taking back the South? And I am emphatically not talking about becoming even more conservative, nor am I talking about quoting the Bible as an attempt to pander to the evangelicals, fundamentalists, and their ilk. I'm talking about a simple message:

The Right Wing of this country have wooed you with sweet words while shamelessly attacking all the things that would lead to a more prosperous and secure nation. We Democrats want to fight for you, and to rebuild the South to be more prosperous and secure. Help us help you, and together we will restore this nation to the greatness it deserves.

So stop lambasting the South--once you get past the "God, gays, and guns" facade, you'll find that they are actually hungry for change. And the evidence is out there. Make them want to empower us, and we can do great things. Chase them away with bitter vindictiveness, and we'll only reap what we've sown--more bitterness, more vindictiveness, and less unity.