Here are some comments in my e-mail:
“I detect a Northern tinge to your writing.”
“Everything you write seems to be anti-Southern.”
“Don’t mess with the South.”
There is a bumper sticker a friend of mine had at one time that I wanted on my car but I think they stopped making it. It said “Southern by birth. Tech by the Grace of God.” An obvious reference to the grace of anyone being able to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology. [A school that, only as I get further and further away from in years, I grow more fond of graduating from.]
In any case, of course, anyone can attend Georgia Tech. Southerners. Northerners. Foreigners. They don’t really care where you come from.
Not so in the South, as I’m finding out. Now, before all of “you folks” who think every question about your Southern heritage is an attack on your Southern heritage, let me inform you of something: I am a Southerner.
I was born in Louisiana and lived there 7 years before moving to Atlanta with my folks. My mom was born in Atlanta and raised there. My dad was born in Alabama and raised in Louisiana. Last time I studied a geography book, both Louisiana and Alabama were states located in the South. For those of you in Claxton, Georgia, Home of the Fruitcake, Atlanta is a city located a ways north of you, but in the state of Georgia.
The SCV (“Sons of Confederate Veterans”) is a subject I knew nothing about before Roy Barnes stuffed a new flag design down the throats of the Georgia General Assembly in 2001. Did that make me ignorant? Sure. I honestly have no problem admitting such ignorance. My life has been and still continues to be spent on making a living and working toward the cause of getting good people elected. I do not have the time to become informed in every possible aspect of what other people do in their lives. Nor is it my responsibility to do so.
I didn’t particularly like the study of history in school (which might explain the C’s and D’s I received in the subject). In high school and in college, I had to take courses on the Civil War. I didn’t enjoy the subject matter then, and I don’t have the time to study it now. My gifts include a mathematical inclination and the ability to take boring subject matter (like, politics and law) and turn them into something interesting to read via the Political Vine.
But, my lack of knowledge of all of the nuances of the war that occurred between 1861 and 1865 in this country (I’d like to use the term “Civil War” but I don’t want to put up with all of the niggling e-mails I’ll get regarding “Weren’t nothing civil about the Civil War”) does not preclude me from having a say in the current political situation. Oh yeah. I may have forgotten to mention something. I am a Southerner. Did you get that part in the beginning of this essay?
My exposure to the SCV has been by way of the current chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, Marilyn Gilhuly. Now, Gilhuly is not a member of SCV. But at one time, she was appointed to the Georgia Civil War Commission by Democrat Speaker of the House, Tom Murphy and chaired that commission. And she’s involved in a number of heritage groups. I have nothing against heritage groups. I have a lot against Marilyn Gilhuly, and her designated protégé’ Anthony-Scott Hobbs.
Gilhuly was elected in March 2001 by way of members of the SCV who attended the county convention. These SCV members, in general, had spent their previous lives engaging in the celebration and study of their heritage and didn’t give a damn about politics until the state flag change.
Based on mere observation of her actions since being elected, Gilhuly’s goal, as far as I’m concerned, is to wreak mental terrorism against anyone she can. She attempted to do it against me with regards to statements uttered by Doris Fowler of West Cobb against me in October 2001. The fact that early in 2002 she kept referring to the Cobb County Republican Women's Club as the "Al-Quaida of Cobb County" should have given an indication to outside observers that this woman is mentally defective.
Not so the members of the SCV who continue to support her to this day. That support indicates to me that these people are as mentally defective as Gilhuly. And, that pretty much goes for anyone else in Cobb County who thinks Marilyn is a fine upstanding citizen, including a couple of Cobb Republican state senators.
To give you an example of behavior from the flaggers that I find especially offensive and very "non-Southern," during last year's primary, State Representative Judy Manning was having a fundraiser at a restaurant in Marietta. Outside the restaurant was a picket line of the flaggers, and Tim Pilgrim was one of the participants. When Manning concluded with her lunch and fundraiser and exited the restaurant, Pilgrim took it upon himself to plant his body in front of her and scream at her in an intimidating fashion about her vote to change the state flag in 2001.
Now, YOU flaggers can claim all you frickin'-well want to about your heritage, but I am familiar with another part of Southern heritage and it is called respect for ladies unless the lady proves herself to not be a lady (see Gilhuly, Marilyn). Pilgrim displayed no such respect for Manning (who, by the way, handily won her reelection in spite of her flag vote, so, apparently her district likes the job she does), especially for an elected official. Pilgrim has a history of voting Democrat, but since he is best buddies with Gilhuly, he now sits in the Assistant Treasurer's position on the Cobb County GOP Committee. (Note to Manning: Next time a gun show comes to Cobb, allow me to introduce you to a really sweet .32 caliber pistol from Kel-Tech that you just tuck inside your purse until you discover the need to shove the business end up the nostrils of Pilgrim or any other nutcase who ever confronts you like that again.)
Now, I'm certain that people like SCV Members David Anderson, Bill Lathem, et al. all approve of this type of nonsense exhibited by Pilgrim. BUT, most folks don't, whether they be Southern or not. It's one thing to be passionate about an issue. It's quite another to be rabidly obsessed with an issue. Most of the people, both in the SCV and the white Democrats in South Georgia who voted for Sonny, fit the definition of being rabidly obsessed about the state flag issue.
One e-mail I received was from Woody Highsmith. Woody included this quote from Sir William Wallace (circa 1281):
"Any society which suppresses the heritage of its conquered minorities, prevents their history, and denies them their symbols, has sewn the seed of its own destruction."
The difference between the time of Braveheart and now is that no one in Georgia is preventing people from displaying their flags or any other symbols of their heritage. You are free to obtain an SCV tag, or attach the old state flag to your front license plate, or fly a flag in your house or on your property. Your history is emblazoned in Confederate landmarks and battlefields all throughout Georgia and the South. The rich history of the war is preserved, even without the symbol of a flag flying on these landmarks.
In fact, the Confederate Battle Flag ("CBF") has joined other symbols like the U.S. Flag and the State Seal in receiving protection under state law against defacing or defiling of such symbols. (OCGA 50-3-8 & 50-3-9).
Now, I know a lot of you will see the results of this Website's poll and think "he doesn't know his own poll." Yeah, I do, actually. I know that this Website receives, on average, 4000 unique visitors every week. So, the fact that out of 410 total votes, 73% of them want the CBF as the Georgia state flag means that the other 3600 some-odd visitors either don't know the poll is there, or are too busy too vote, or realize that the vote means nothing. The only thing this poll and other online polls mean is that some activists are expressing an opinion. These activists constitute a miniscule percentage of the total voters in Georgia.
I'm not arguing now, nor have I ever argued, against the hoisting of the CBF as the state flag on the basis of it being "racist." In fact, a part of me gets tickled at the prospect of forever keeping people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on permanent boycott of Georgia if we did have the CBF as the state flag.
No, my objection to the CBF as the Georgia state flag comes from three directions: 1) In the 270-year history of this state, why are we focusing on one 5-year time period of great strife and sadness to represent Georgia today? 2) There are 8.5 million people living in this state, and yet we must have a symbol that one small segment of our population's past wants? And, 3) There is this little quote I try to keep in mind whenever I catch myself or observe others in the throes of rabid obsession over symbols or the quest for power. To some of you, this may sound familiar:
"Thou shall have no other gods before Me." (God, Exodus 20:2, circa the beginning of Mankind)
Anyone recognize this? You people who worship the CBF to the degree that you do appear to be worshipping it as a god. This concerns me a great deal. People who run for office who do or say anything to get elected also concern me a great deal because their only purpose is acquisition of power, which is a god in and of itself.
Don't waste your breath and your e-mails calling me a "liberal" for not seeing things your way. This is not a "conservative" or a "liberal" issue. I see things from a whole 'nother perspective, and I think I'm in the right when I consider things in the context of God's First Commandment.
In case you missed the beginning of this, I'm a Southerner. But, I have grown-up in a different time period from the Civil War. I know that if one ignores the past, one is doomed to repeat it. But, I don't ignore the past. I simply refuse to live in it. I feel I best honor my heritage and my ancestors by moving forward and being successful in whatever endeavor I do in the future. I simply cannot comprehend focusing all my time on a war that has been officially over for 137 years. Nor can I comprehend anyone else focusing on it to the degree I see people in this state and elsewhere doing so. It just makes no sense now, nor will it ever.
Now, if y'all will excuse me, all this talk about the South has stirred-up my Southern genes and I've got a hankerin' for some fresh food for supper. After I visit my deluxe outhouse, I'm going to see if I can't rustle up some good varmint for stew tonight. See y'all later!
| Bill Simon - Thinking Outside The Box Bill Simon is the creator, editor, and publisher of The Political Vine. He has been a Republican since 1990 and been active in Republican politics since 1996. Professionally, Bill runs a political research services firm called Political Intelligence, Inc. and has another venture called ID Builders that helps political and business clients promote and market themselves using effective and innovative promotional products. He is single and lives with his adopted 90 lb. Yellow Lab named Brewster. |