Never before has a political party given the political equivalent of the finger to an entire region of the country. The Democrats have systematically attacked, mocked, and earned the hatred and loathing of the South.
Former Governor Howard Dean (D-VT) has been trying to win back those voters. He began with a stroke of brilliance by declaring that he wanted to be the candidate of guys with the Confederate flag on their pickup truck.
The politically correct wing of the Democratic Party had a heart attack. Dean backed off and has recently apologized for his remark and has called the Confederate Flag a racist symbol.
In Florida, Governor Dean clumsily declared that the South needed to stop basing its vote on "race, guns, God and gays."
In the past week, Governor Dean has shown us why the Democrats lose the South. Dean is seeking the votes of the South while attacking its cultural heritage, mocking its faith, and standing for all that it abhors. By declaring the Confederate Flag a racist symbol, he tars those who fly it proudly as a reminder of their heritage. He slanders Southern men of honor and integrity like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson who were not fighting out of racist hatred, but for their home state.
No other group besides Southerners are forbidden from honoring their heritage because of the wrongs their forbearers committed. Many Native American tribes practiced human sacrifice and awful methods of torture. African tribes were involved in slavery long before the White man came. The British Empire oppressed countless peoples across two oceans. Germany was the aggressor in two World Wars. Yet, they are not denied the right to honor their heritage.
Lincoln ended the Civil War by promising "charity to all and malice towards none." The Democratic Party, however, wants the world to know that they dishonor and disrespect the heritage of Southern Americans with a fanatical passion.
By declaring that Southerners should no longer base their votes on race, Dean is slamming the South as racist and demanding that they move on and mend their ways. Might I dare suggest that it is not the South but the Democratic Party that needs to leave the '60s behind?
In the modern South, Blacks and Whites coexist together in growing peace and harmony. The old sores of yesteryear are being healed for the most part. There are strong Black Republican candidates for congress in North Carolina and Georgia.
Dean does not and cannot understand the South. His slanderous statement that the South does not support Democrats because it is racist underlies the actual reason why they do not vote for this party.
By telling them not to base their votes on guns, Dean is making light of the Second Amendment and the concerns of those who want to preserve and protect their rights from government interference. You'll have to forgive the poor Southerners who care about the Constitution.
By telling them not to vote based on God, Dean is asking them to abandon their concerns about moral issues such as abortion and prayer in school. He's telling them to discard the faith of their fathers to support the Democrats' campaign of death and decadency.
By telling them not to vote based on gays, Dean is demanding they accept as normal what they believe to be an abomination in the eyes of God and to have their children taught the same.
Dean demands that South surrender its soul, its heritage, and its liberty. In exchange, he offers them a chance to live on his government dependence plantation. He promises higher health care spending and higher education spending which we'll be paid for, with interest, by their children.
Dean, like a modern day Jacob asks the South to sell its birthright for pottage. Next November, Southern men and women of principle will give Governor Dean his answer. In 2005, Democrats will once again be wondering why they lost the entire South. As the saying goes, those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.