The Southern Nation: The New Rise of the Old South
There are many books about history, but very few on how to make history. When I started writing The Southern Nation, I promised myself that it would be a unique kind of Southern book. The first goal was to send a message of hope to the Southern people. This message is that we no longer have to live as second-class citizens or as the subject of the rest of the country's jokes and criticisms any longer. My second goal was to write the one of most controversial books of the 21st Century. Early reviews tend to show that The Southern Nation succeeds on both counts.For many years, the Southern states have suffered constant ridicule from the establishment and its media. Every time we hear a Southern accent in movies or television it, issues from the mouth of a villain, a fat sheriff, or a barefoot, hookworm-infested hick. When you take time to look past the stereotypes, a much different South emerges. It is a land with just a little more than 1/4 of America's population, yet it produces almost 1/3 of America's goods and services. We do this for 4/5 to 2/3 of the wages the rest of the country makes. Of these lower wages, Southerners pay an average of 40-45% in various taxes each year. Not to belittle the contribution of other regions, but the same Southern people that the rest of the country looks down their noses at pay a higher price in blood every time America decides to fight. While only about 1/4 of the general population, Southerners made up 26 % of the armed forces in WWI, 34% in WWII, 35% in Korea, 36% in Vietnam, and finally 41% in the Persian Gulf War. No other country on earth rewards its hardest working citizens in such a way. The Southern reality is low pay, poor working conditions, high taxes, and a good chance of dying in some Third World country whose name you can't even spell. The Southerners are the victims of a constant campaign of political, economic, social, and moral oppression. Daily, we continue to pay the price for losing the War for Southern Independence. Our rulers make it clear that even today, after 140 years have passed, the bill will never be paid.However, The Southern Nation is not about our past It is about our future. In a country where it is made plainer every day that Southerners' efforts are not appreciated, and that our people and our participation are unwanted, it is time to search for other living arrangements. The South makes, mines, or grows almost every product it needs. Despite all its handicaps, if the South were independent today, it would be one of the world's few self-sufficient nations. It could also be the third most prosperous nation on earth. This is our future.In January 1998, London's Sunday Telegraph called Southern nationalism America's "fastest-growing political movement...." Since then, the actions of our government have done little but fill the ranks of this new breed of Southern patriots. The Southern Nation gives its reader the knowledge and the methods to lead the fight for Southern rights. It is time for the American Empire to either put up or shut up. If it will not give Southerners their portion of the American dream, then its time to let us go. Then, we will build our own Southern dream--not on the hatred of other peoples, (as is so often shown us) but upon love for our own people. If the American government wanted to derail the Southern nationalist movement tomorrow, it could. All it would have to do is give us our fair share. However, it is obvious that only what we are owed is too much to ask. The American Empire would do well to heed The Southern Nation's warnings. The question across the South twenty years from now will not be which flag flies at the bottom of our statehouse flagpoles. The question will be which flag flies from the top.