Reconstruction Is Back–If it really ever ended to begin with

by Al Benson Jr.

Member, Board of Directors, Confederate Society of America

Back in 1868 the Russian radical, Michael Bakunin, commented on the aftermath of the War of Northern Aggression. Considering he was not an American, Bakunin had some interesting comments to make about that war. In the book Russian Radicals Look To America it was noted, on page 70 that “Bakunin hoped for the ‘triumph’ of this minority ‘of great and generous…principles,’ but at the same time was aware of the limited possibilities of the ‘revolution by consent’ (as we would cal it today), once this minority achieved power. For ‘popular self-government’ really to become a reality…another revolution…far more profound…would be necessary.”

What Bakunin was really saying here is that another revolution, over and beyond the War of Northern Aggression, would be needed to give newly freed ex-slaves the place they really deserved in this country–and that further revolution was what Karl Marx referred to as “the reconstruction of a social world”–what we call “reconstruction” in the South. Two things here. One, Bakunin recognized the War of Northern Aggression was a revolution, and it was. It was this country’s French Revolution. Two, he recognized that our version of the French Revolution was not quite enough to give the leftist radicals in Washington everything they hoped for and so, to do that, we needed yet another revolution, a revolution that lying “historians” have told us was to rebuild the vanquished South–and they had the gall to call it “reconstruction.” Former General Richard Taylor from here in Louisiana called it “deconstruction” and he was right!

If you want to find out how well “reconstruction” really worked for the South and its folk, then read Ron and Donnie Kennedy’s book Punished with Poverty Shotwell Publishing, Columbia, South Carolina and you will get an up close and personal view of how “reconstruction” worked for the South.

The late Frank Conner in his book The South Under Siege–1830-2000 noted some of what was “accomplished” during “reconstruction” in the South. Mr. Conner observed that “…voter registration boards (named by the military authorities) could arbitrarily deny the vote to anyone: in other words, Southern Democrats would have a very hard time getting registered to vote…Now the South was under martial law. The occupying army could enter and search any Southerner’s home at any time and seize whatever possessions it wished…The U.S. Army could arrest any Southerner at any time for virtually any reason and hold him as a prisoner without trial for however long it wished…Woe unto any Southerner who displayed–under any circumstances at all–a Confederate flag or any other symbol of the Confederacy, he would be arrested immediately.” Former Confederate soldiers even had to remove CSA buttons off their coats and fasten those coats with string! Does any of this sound remotely familiar given today’s political climate–particularly the part about the flags–and that part has now been expanded to include Confederate monuments–the reason given for that? They supposedly promote “racism.”

Look at some of what has gone on recently in this country. It looks to me like our current crop of leftists in both parties in Washington has been using the playbook of the Radical Republicans from the 1860s as a guide to what they want to enact in our day. One is left to wonder how long it will be before they start trying to enforce the finer points of this updated “reconstruction.” Already Trump voters are all being labeled as “domestic terrorists” who, if not all arrested should at least be forced to attend “re-education camps”. They did the same thing in the 1860s in the South–only back then the re-education camps were called public schools and they were a particularly Yankee invention foisted on the South as part of our price for losing the War. Same principle in both cases.

Back in the 1860s Southerners who would not vote Republican were routinely denied the vote. They’re not doing that today–yet–rather they are going to cancel out our votes by letting anyone who comes into the country vote, citizen or not and they are talking about even giving the vote to 16 year olds. They plan to make sure those nasty Trump voters never have enough votes again to constitute a majority and should that occur again by sheer accident a bit of creative voting in certain states will solve that thorny problem for them.

Actually, “reconstruction” in this country never really ended. It took a slight breather but now it has returned with a vengeance. One wonders if Trump voters are the new Confederates in this ongoing story of leftist occupation of the country. So, folks, welcome to the 21st century brand of “reconstruction” designed by the deep state to ensure that you never get your God-given liberties back–ever again!!!