“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war!”
Occasionally a scene or event will cross one’s path that will set the machinery of memory running at full speed. Recently while watching Bill O’Reilly and Megan Kelly discussing the Federal Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage, my memory machine clicked on at full speed. O’Reilly and Kelly were debating the Supreme Court’s striking down several laws enacted by popular vote in numerous states defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Kelly insisted that we had to “get used to it” because, “The Court has spoken.” O’Reilly was appalled that in “this democracy the will of the people can be overruled.” Kelly continued her argument by stating that once the Court (Federal Supreme Court) has issued its verdict that was the end of the matter for after all, “That is the way it is in this country!” O’Reilly persisted in his protest that will of the people were overruled but acknowledged that indeed the Federal Supreme Court has the final say in the matter.
“That is the way it is in this country.” In one short statement Ms. Kelly was both right and wrong at the same time. Under Federal supremacy, the Federal government is supreme in all aspects of government and life. Yet, Ms. Kelly is describing the Federal Empire largely created by Mr. O’Reilly’s worshipful hero, Abraham Lincoln. Before Lincoln the Federal government was strictly limited in its “supremacy.” Only in those areas where the Federal government had been delegated an exclusive right to act was it proclaimed to be supreme. As pointed out in the Tenth Amendment, all rights not delegated to the Federal government remains with the people of the states. Also, as noted in the Ninth Amendment, just because a right is not mentioned in the Constitution that fact “shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” All rights “retained by the people” which “shall not be construed to deny or disparage,” belong to “we the people” of the sovereign states. One of these “un-enumerated” rights is the right to judge for ourselves if the Federal government was acting beyond its Constitutional limited powers. These un-enumerated nor denied powers are foundational to what became known as real State’s Rights. Real State’s Rights defended all Americans from Federal tyranny before Lincoln cried “Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war,” upon the South and America’s Original Constitution.
Just as General Lee warned (1865), with the Federal government’s victory over the Southern defenders of real State’s Rights, the United States became “aggressive abroad and despotic at home.” Five years after General Lee’s warning, Confederate Vice President, Alexander Stephens noted what happens when a union of freemen was held together by force, i.e., bloody bayonets. Stephens wrote that yes indeed one could hold a union together by force but that union, “would not be the Union of the Constitution. It would be nothing short of a Consolidated Despotism.” A Consolidated Despotism which overthrows the “democratic” will of the people of once sovereign states and demands absolute obedience to the supreme will of the Federal Empire—all of which was made possible by Lincoln’s “Dogs of War.” For those who cannot grasp what is being said here, let’s make it painfully clear: Gay marriage, removing the Ten Commandments from public view, protecting illegal immigrants, no-win foreign wars, minority special privileges, runaway tax and spend politicians, abortion on demand, and numerous other big government policies and actions are made possible because the South lost its war for independence! Today Southerners live in a nation not of their own choosing but as subjects of the Federal Empire living in a conquered nation. This is a reality too harsh for most people to embrace but being a Southern Nationalist, I see these issues in a different light—the light of cruel reality!
Considering the problems O’Reilly and Kelly were discussing and being of the mind-set of a Southern Nationalist led me to consider how I had arrived at this rather different view of American history and current events. Just a few weeks earlier I listened to a plethora of political commentators discussing the possibility of Scotland seceding from its union with Great Britain. While every secession movement on the planet was discussed, nothing was said about the secession of the still conquered people of the Confederate States of America! Why? After forty-eight years as a Southern Nationalists and the coming and going of so many “Southern secession” organizations, I wondered why there was no mention of the effort to “Free Dixie?” Where did we fail?
I was born in 1947 on a small farm in rural Mississippi where I grew into adulthood. For some strange reason Ron, my twin brother, and I always enjoyed talking about history and politics. While most teenage boys were reading about hot rods and baseball, Ron and I would include books about the evils of communism, socialism, and other forms of big government. Our radio would just as often be tuned in on a conservative radio program as it was on a rock and roll station. After high school we moved to the city, Jackson, Mississippi and began our professional studies. While there we were introduced to and became close friends to a lawyer and leader of the conservative movement in Mississippi. He took charge of his two little country boys and set before us books such as Calhoun’s A Disquisition on Government, Weaver’s The Southern Tradition at Bay, Mill’s, On Liberty, the Calvinist treatise in defense of liberty, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, and saw to it that we received an education unlike any we had before that day. Ron and I grew up as members of the Patriotic American Youth and were therefore, 100% Americans! When introduced to the concept that we were not “free” citizens in a free nation but subject members of a conquered nation, we recoiled as if handed a rattle snake. Having studied the above mentioned works and living in the South which was routinely being excoriated and berated by the Federal government, the media, and most other non-Southerners, reality ultimately set in.
Sometime around 1966 a few Southerners in Jackson, Mississippi had the chance to speak with Enoch Powell, Member of Parliament in Great Britain. At that time Powell was warning the people of Great Britain of the dangers of unrestricted immigration and the attending problems that policy would pose—the recent murder of an off duty British soldier by a Muslim Jihadist in London is one of many proofs of the correctness of his views. Mr. Powell was given an overview of how the South was being treated and what the South was doing to resist the trampling of its rights and the undue harsh treatment received from the Federal government. Mr. Powell was then asked why the South was being treated in such a manner, whereupon, he quickly remarked, “It is simple—you lost the War!” While most folks laughed at what they thought was a joke, some did not laugh and it should be noted, neither did Mr. Powell! Mr. Powell understood that which most Southerners spend all their lives trying to avoid—we are a conquered people!
Around the time of Mr. Powell’s remarks, Ron and I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Ace Carter who subsequently became famous as “Forrest Carter.” Ace Carter came to Mississippi to assist in the gubernatorial campaign of Jimmy Sawn. Ace had already made a name for himself as a writer and promoter of George Wallace. In later years he would become equally famous as the writer of the script for the movies ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales,’ and ‘The Education of Little Tree.’ Ace was very instrumental in pointing out to Ron and myself the need to get information into the hands of average Southerners. As Ace explained it, these folks no longer understand that they are a subjugated and mis-governed people. Ace showed us his manuscript for two books he said he was writing hoping they would help awaken “my people.” Little did we know at that time that both manuscripts would become famous in both book and movie format.
These three men had a lasting and a profound effect upon the Kennedy Twins. By pointing out that Southerners are a defeated people and the spirit of 1776 and 1861 must be reawaken in Southerners or we will never be free, these three men shaped our lives for the next forty eight years. From 1966 with the formation of the Southern National Party (SNP), the first such effort since Appomattox, to this day many Southern Independence organizations have sprung up. They seem to grow for a few years only to dwindle away and be replaced by another “great hope” for freedom. Despite these organizations, today when the news media is buzzing about secession, no one seems to even notice the secession or independence movement in the South. Why is there no talk about freeing Dixie? Better yet, why the failure of so many organization in their effort to “Free Dixie?”
Looking back over the past forty eight years, it seems that there are three reasons for the failure of the Southern Movement: (1) the willingness of some to curry favor with unsavory elements that see race as a central theme in the modern Southern rights movement; (2) the “exalted leader complex” which serves to promote one individual both as the answer to the South’s problems and siphoning of scarce funds (money) into maintaining the “exalted leader’s” lifestyle; (3) lack of a vision that can be translated into a grand strategy for achieving ultimate success. Let us look at these three points:
(1). For those of us who hold to a philosophy of liberty, race-baiting is not only counterproductive (it gives your detractors every tool needed to marginalize and ultimately defeat your efforts) but it runs against the grain of establishing a liberty-based society. Being on the frontline of the establishment of most of these movements I have noticed that if one is not careful, race-baiters will work their way into and ultimately destroy the organization. They do this mainly by running off good members who do not agree with the race-baiter’s mentality.
(2). Too often an organization starts out with a bang but instead of funding those efforts that promote the cause of the organization by educating the general public, the organization’s, money is spent to support an individual who is thought to be so important that the organization’s money must be used not to pay for information for the general public but to pay the leader’s salary. I saw this happen with the first organization for Southern independence, the SNP. A somewhat charismatic leader persuaded the membership that he must be supported in order to keep the organization alive and growing. Money that should have been used to promote the principles and policies of the SNP, thereby creating sympathizers and members, instead went to maintain our “exalted leader” in a job! A job that remained until the SNP ultimately and predictably folded. No such organization should even consider hiring a full-time “leader” until it has at least seven to ten thousand members. Until that time eighty cents out of every dollar of membership dues should be spent on promoting the Cause of the South, thereby enlarging our supporters and members. Just think of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have been spent on promoting the Cause of a Free South, Southern Rights, and Southern independence if that money had not been wasted on our “exalted leaders.” How many radio, T.V. and newspaper ads were NOT bought and therefore how many Southerners did NOT hear about the Cause of the South because that money was spent to maintain our “exalted leader” and not promoting the Cause of the South? This too has been a problem in most if not all Southern Rights organizations that elect to support a leadership rather than reaching out to their fellow Southerners via an aggressive media campaign. Question: Are we any closer to gaining our independence after having spent over $300,000.00 (my estimate) on our exalted leaders? Does anyone outside of these pitifully small groups even know about the effort to “Free Dixie?” The plain fact is that after forty-eight years and thousands of dollars, we have not even reached the point of being a nuisance to Washington, let alone a threat to Washington!
(3) “For lack of vision my people perish.” Strategy leads to an objective, tactics are used to support the overall strategy of obtaining the group’s objective. Gandhi of India and Parnell of Ireland are but two of many “crushers of empires” that understood the use of grand strategy. Of the numerous Southern Rights groups that I have been associated with, none have ever laid out a strategy for ultimate victory. The most I have heard is “We will wait until everything falls apart and then the people will come to us because, we have the answer.” You mean the people that did not hear, see, or read those ads that were never bought and published? People who never read our ads that would have explained who we are and what we seek will be coming to us? Really! You think that people who know little of us and even less of our “exalted leader” will in time of crisis rush to us for answers? They are more likely to seek help from the Lyons Club, the Kiwanis, or the Moose Lodge because they are known by the people. Waiting for everything to fall apart is not a strategy, it’s just a cop-out!
But all is not lost after forty-eight years. Forty-eight years ago there were no “Confederate” units marching in local parades, no “Living History” events to educate and inspire Southerners to be proud of their heritage, the Sons of Confederate Veterans was a dying organization peopled by old men who looked and acted more like a Civil War Roundtable group than a robust defender of the South’s men in Gray. Unlike then, today organizations such as the Stephen D. Lee Institute offer annual conferences that boldly proclaim the truth about Southern history; the Abbeville Institute does great work promoting a very positive view of Southern history and correctly identifying the real causes and consequences of the South’s defeat among young scholars; the Sam Davis Youth Camp reaches out to Junior High School and High School young Southerners equipping them with the truth about our Southland; Dixie Broadcasting, an internet radio station offers the world a sample of the real South; and, today unlike forty-eight years ago, numerous books are being published giving a positive view of the Cause of the South. This and many other such positive elements in the Southern movement give me hope for the future of real American liberty and a free South. But more must be done! Ron and I have been in this struggle for Southern Rights and REAL American freedom all our adult life. I hope and pray that the mistakes of the past will be taken to heart and a new and better approach to reclaiming our liberty will soon make itself known—we (Ron and I) don’t have another forty-eight years to wait to see a Free Dixie.
