Joined
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181 Posts
Let me preface this post by saying I am not a Southerner. I grew up in a military family and only moved to Virginia nine years ago for high school, then went to college up north, and am now beginning my own military career in Georgia and Texas. So that's where I'm coming from.
Now, it's obvious to me that this is a very conservative/libertarian and patriotic community. Yet I've seen constant references to the War of Northern Aggression and how Lincoln, usually ranked among the greatest presidents, was actually a tyrant. I've heard the arguments for states' rights, and while I understand that, wasn't this beyond states' rights? I mean, if Lincoln didn't do what he did, the United States of America as we know it does not exist today. The CSA didn't want the feds to bugger off and mind their own business, they wanted their own country! Didn't Lincoln simply do everything that was needed to save this great nation? Am I wrong?
I don't mean to insult anyone's beliefs or question anyone's patriotism as I know this is definitely a place that believes in the greatness of America, but as an admitted outsider, I will say that I don't entirely understand how the idea that the North was a tyrannical aggressor in the Civil War is reconciled with the idea that the America (that, as I've been told, was saved by the North) is a great place.
I also wrote a longer and more eloquent post before, but my internet crashed and it was lost. So this is the shorter and probably more blunt version.
Now, it's obvious to me that this is a very conservative/libertarian and patriotic community. Yet I've seen constant references to the War of Northern Aggression and how Lincoln, usually ranked among the greatest presidents, was actually a tyrant. I've heard the arguments for states' rights, and while I understand that, wasn't this beyond states' rights? I mean, if Lincoln didn't do what he did, the United States of America as we know it does not exist today. The CSA didn't want the feds to bugger off and mind their own business, they wanted their own country! Didn't Lincoln simply do everything that was needed to save this great nation? Am I wrong?
I don't mean to insult anyone's beliefs or question anyone's patriotism as I know this is definitely a place that believes in the greatness of America, but as an admitted outsider, I will say that I don't entirely understand how the idea that the North was a tyrannical aggressor in the Civil War is reconciled with the idea that the America (that, as I've been told, was saved by the North) is a great place.
I also wrote a longer and more eloquent post before, but my internet crashed and it was lost. So this is the shorter and probably more blunt version.