Extremists and Other Wacko’s

I have mentioned to Kristina many times in the past that one of the things that I fear living here in the south is how the general population will act when and if gas becomes unaffordable and the economy completely collapses.


The general population of Alabama has been sold on the fact that it is their birthright to have multiple HD flat screen TVs, cheap steaks, and be able to drive 40 miles to work each day. They do not realize and refuse to believe that this version of the American Dream has only existed since the late 1960’s and it has only existed for the whole population for the last 20-30 years. As they sit and mindlessly absorb what the marketing guru’s sell them on TV every night they believe that if they cannot afford a tricked out Cadillac Escalade and the gas that goes in it, that their country has failed them. The majority of them go to churches on most Sundays that encourages their lack of empathy and their xenophobia about all things that are different. They seem to skip over the parts of Christ’s teachings (they are “Christians”) were he loves the poor, disenfranchised, and protects and comforts sinners. Does not lend me hope for their ability to except others and help those who are different.

The fact that their race is losing its majority and dominant status is a simple fact that many of them cannot grasp. Their naked hatred for a President of a different race is expressed by their denying his religion and citizenship, despite all of the facts to the contrary. The most startling fact is that 24% of them believe that the President might be the antichrist (according to a Harris Poll Survey). The number of armed militia groups that are forming up to prevent a Federal declaration of Marshall Law (even though that the last administration restricted Constitutional freedoms much more than the current one) is very scary indeed. These armed groups like the “Oath Keepers” are being courted by not just fringe groups but also Fox News, and the Republican Party. How can we work together to solve or deal with the very real problems that we face, when almost a third of the country is preparing for a civil war?

The push by Fox news and a large part of the Republican Party to the far right has created a powder keg of hostility here in the south. I fear that if things do get really hard in the future that we will see violence and lynching’s like there was in the 1930’s.The general population of the South will seek out to blame others for their way of life collapsing, even though that their way of life was unsustainable and a very recent development. The fact that for most of Southern history the average person was very poor and lived at the whim of rich land owners and industrialists has been forgotten and written out of the history books by groups like the Sons of Confederate Veterans. When things return to how they traditionally were in the South the southern population will lash out and I fear that and want to get my sons as far away from it as I can. They insist that America is a Christian country yet fail to remember that our founders included the First Amendment to the Constitution (Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.)to prevent arguing over which branch of Christianity is the right one. The founding fathers still had fresh memories of the religious intolerance and hatred that prevailed in Europe during the 1500-1600’s and wanted to prevent that from happening again. Yet the Tea Party types seem hell bent on inciting that same violence.

I feel sad that the things that made America great have been replaced by greed and laziness. That we are too busy chasing luxuries that we cannot see the crises that are coming and refuse to deal with them. We have allowed for corporations and special interest groups to take over our government. We have dumb down our schools and education requirements to such an extent that our children no longer can think for themselves and can only memorize facts that are given to them.

America can recover and become great once again if we can escape from our creature comforts and realize that the freedoms that our ancestors sacrificed so much for have nothing to do with owning TV’s or cars, that cheap hamburgers and gas are not birthrights. I fear that we are going to have to lose these things before we face up to our complicity in the collapse of our empire and the fact that we should have never had an empire to begin with.