The battle flag and the Civil War

Pardon me for offering a history lesson on the Confederate Battle Flag and the reason it came into existence, the Civil War.  Most wars are unnecessary and lead to "most of the troubles of the world" as spoken by Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind and the Civil War is no exception.

The southern states-led by South Carolina-had no reason to secede.  They had won the argument over slavery that had been growing since the Missouri Compromise of 1820.  I would note the following:

1.  The Compromise of 1850 gave the slave states freedom (I hate to use that word here) to bring slaves into an area once prohibited to slavery; that being New Mexico and Utah.

2.  That 1850 compromise also gave the slave states a "more stringent Fugitive Slave Law", meaning escaped slaves in the north were required to be returned to their owners with the help of federal and state officials.

3.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 made the Compromise of 1820 null and void, or unconstitutional.

4.  Then in 1857 the Supreme Court came out with the Dred Scott decision declaring that it was unconstitutional to ban slaves in the territories.  

5.  Up till the election of 1860 the Democratic Party controlled all three branches of government and had nearly done so for many years.

6.  The Democratic candidate in 1860-Stephen Douglas- supported a plan to allow settlers of the new territories to decide for themselves the status of slavery in their territory.  (He did advise on how that could be ignored, in order to win a Senate seat in Illinois).

7.  If the southern democrats who supported John Breckinridge supported Douglas and those who supported John Bell (Union Party) had supported Douglas it is very possible Lincoln would have lost to Douglas and the democrats would have continued to hold the Presidency, giving South Carolina no reason to leave the Union.

8.  The Supreme Court ruling (Dred Scott) meant that slavery was legal in all territories and only a constitutional amendment could have changed that, something not likely to occur with southern states still in the Union and voting.

9.  With even the south's most dreaded opponent-Lincoln-the institution would have been guaranteed existence in the places where it all ready existed.

Back to the original question of what was the need of the south to secede.  There was nothing left to argue, they had won them all.  Hell, if anyone should have seceded it would have been the New England states (imagine how history would have changed if New England seceding and joining Canada and the western territories were up for grabs).  I also wonder if the racial situation in this country could have been any worse fi the Civil War never happened.

The south wanted war-certainly South Carolina did-and the other ten states went along.  And as classical literature once noted "you loose the dogs of war" and there is no controlling where they go.

You would think the south would want to down-play the decision that caused so much violence, death and destruction instead of remember their folly by waving the battle flag.

Iran and Israel

I am reminded of a bit of history while reading about the issue of Iran and its nuclear power program, or as Israel claims, it's nuclear weapons program.  Prior to 1914 German and Austria-Hungry were in the same place.  The German government gave Austria-Hungry a "blank-check" to deal with their problem with the nation of Serbia.  History tells us that a Serbian nationalist assassinated an heir to the throne of Austria and the Austrian government wanted to use the issue to force Serbia to give in to its demands.  They were, by the way, not that concerned about the Archduke and his wife-the victims-as they were not well liked by his family or the country.  But the incident provided Austria with a opportunity to gain back some land lost in the Balkans to new countries in the region.  So, in the popular vernacular, Germany told Austria "we got your back" and the Austrians used it to make unreasonable demands on Serbia.  Even after these demands were met the Austrians declared war on the smaller nation.  Now the you-know-what hits the fan and German was stuck with a situation that soon developed into a world war; the "great war" as historians note, and the world or at least Europe was never the same.  We should recall that the generals in 1914 are like the military-industrial complex today; just itching for a chance to use their war plans and weapons.

We are in that place now with our willingness to back Israel is whatever they want in regard to Iran and their nuclear power/weapons program.  If we make the same mistake of granting a "blank check" to an ally without making every effort to restrict their military actions, we very likely could be drawn into a war in a region that is already a powder keg ready to explode.  If that happens a lot of innocent people will be killed or made homeless.  As the Indian proverb goes, "When the elephants fight, only the ants get stomped".

Greece 2015

Greece seems to be on the verge of collapse, economically at least.  This post will be an attempt to record some of the issues.  As on July 15th the country has recieved an additional bail out from the European Union.  It seems one of the provisions of that plan is an increase in sales tax, making everything the Greek citizen buys more expensive.  Many are rioting at this time.  When there last year we saw the evidence of he last time the country rioted because of the recessions there.  Graffiti was everywhere.

One issue may be the reluctance of the Greek citizen to pay taxes.  Some say that harks back to a time when the Ottoman Turks ruled the country and to not pay taxes was seen as a form of patriotism; but hell that was way over 100 years ago.  Now it is said the reluctance comes from the believ that the govt is corrupt.

On reported income earned by the underground economy is one issue, it could amount to 25 % of the gross domestic product.  The IMF says that tax evasion is a big problem,  "Tax debts in Greece equal about 90 % of annual tax revenue" that is the hightest among industrialized nations.  A chart I found on a Google search indicated that from 2008 to 2010 tax collection % fell from just over 60 % to just over 50 %.  This while other countires the figure is in the high 90's.

The bail out recently was for 85 billion euroes or 95 billion dollars.  Unpaid taxes since 2009 were 76 billion euroes or 86 billion dollars. 

Might be an on-going file.

A Lesson From the Sixties

Protest in the 1960's occurred while the economy was still in good shape and people felt comfortable and secure in their jobs and homes.  This resulted in the middle class having time and personal security to afford to be able to concern themselves with issues like civil rights, war, and segregation and discrimination, and they protest all those issues fully.

In the 1970's the economic conditions turned sour causing many people to be concerned more about that job and security of their home and family; the "bread and butter" issues became more important than issues of society's wrongs.

Maybe this was planned by those who run this country, who were fed-up with the masses protesting issues that rocked the boat and threatened to end the privileged position of those who run the country.  If they could divert everyone's attention from the society's problems by causing people to worry about their own security then the "establishment" could continue to rule without interference from the mass.

This was accomplished by driving down wages, destroying the union movement, shipping jobs and money overseas and changing the tax laws to benefit the wealthy.  By making people more fearful they could make them more manageable and in the process increase their own wealth to obscene levels not seen since the Gilded Age.

This would quality as a "conspiracy theory" of some kind.

"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself" said FDR

While the government diverts our attention by one scare or another-Ebole one day, ISIS another, Social Security bankruptcy another, and then back to the old stand-by, Terrorism-they allow the plutocrats to find ways to stick it to the rest of us.  Now I read that NJ wants to raise a gas tax by eliminating the estate tax.  How greedy can the one percent get?  Take away a tax on the extremely wealthy and replace it with a sales tax, that as all sales taxes, is a dis-proportionate burden on the lower classes.  Is there no limit to how far the rich will push the envelope (in my opinion, there isn't)?  Thomas Jefferson once wrote that people will bear suffering until a certain point and then they will respond;  I don't want to be around when they do.

Remember Jefferson's words:  "All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, then to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed".