By Dr. Boyd D. Cathey
Over the past three months I have, on several occasions [April 9, 24, 25; May 23, 24, 29], examined the relationship between the vigorous, no-holds-barred current attacks on the symbols, monuments, and flags of the Confederacy, and the ongoing assault by the Left—from the frenzied minions and advance “Red Guard” of the progressivist Deep State—on what remains of our Western and Christian cultural and religious heritage. The taking down of prominent monuments honoring Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and P. G. T. Beauregard in New Orleans, and the attempt to remove the Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, are just the two most recent examples of what must be called a “cultural cleansing.” This cleansing involves an attempt to radically re-write and revise the history of the War Between the States and the South according to a preordained cultural Marxist vision of society; any voice or any portion of our remembered past that does not fit this iron clad vise, must either be rejected or completely re-interpreted.
What is increasingly clear is this: the campaign to remove, take down, and exile Confederate symbols is inextricably connected to and part of the broader campaign to destroy the traditions, symbols and inherited culture of the West, itself. For the traditions and legacy of the Old South and the Confederacy are an integral part of that legacy, representative of the most noble beliefs, traditions and struggles of the Christian West
This undeniable fact was once more in the news (although not reported by the Mainstream Media) last night: an unhinged fanatical Leftist advocate of “freedom from religion” drove his car into a Ten Commandments monument on the Arkansas capitol grounds, destroying it. He had done the very same thing in Oklahoma previously, and each time he shouted “freedom!” as he committed the dastard act. (He recorded himself this time ramming the Arkansas monument.)
No doubt, this maniac minion of the moronic Left would have rammed and destroyed any Confederate monument, had he thought of it. And no doubt he would have joined the raging and ranting anti-monument demonstrators in New Orleans whose hatred for our history is only matched by their supine ignorance of it.
And, now, as if to compound and confirm these observations, comes the news that the “Antifa”—anti-fascist Leftist movement—has decided to mount a “demonstration” at Gettysburg and to “desecrate the graves” of Confederate soldiers during the coming 154th anniversary of the battle this July. If anything, the announcement by this virulent group, which has organized mass violent riots in Berkeley and on various college campuses against President Trump and to prevent any conservative from speaking, is illustrative of what I am saying.
Far too many so-called “conservatives” have accepted the historical narrative of the Progressivist Left on slavery, race and gender. They have attempted to separate the Confederacy and the Old South and its traditions from the traditions and legacy of the West, which they have redefined. Adopting the “civil rights” template of the 1960s, they have appropriated the language and goals of the Left which impose egalitarianism across society, destroy what is left of the rights of the states over voting, curb individual and business rights, violate the religious rights of citizens, and, in effect, bowdlerize the Constitution. Thus, important contemporary “conservative” figures like William Bennett and Allan Bloom celebrate Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi as conservative icons, while relegating the brilliant commentaries on Federalism of John C. Calhoun, the acute observations on private/public education of Robert Lewis Dabney, and the eloquent defense of states’ rights by Senator Sam Ervin, to the embarrassing dustbin of locked-away, invisible history.
But, let us give grudging credit to the Left. Unlike most in the “conservative establishment,” they recognize that Confederate heritage is part and parcel of our Western heritage; an attack on it, is an attack on all the historic West. They understand that their supposed opponents, those conservative “trimmers” who continue to profess their fealty to “common goals” of progress, are actually enablers for continued destruction of our Western heritage. Like the heel of Greek hero Achilles, they see that an attack on the Confederate part of our history is a successful means of getting at the Western whole.
In fact, what this demonstrates is the intellectual bankruptcy of much of the “conservative establishment” and most of its spokesmen. Their vision and understanding of our history and culture is profoundly warped, critically infected by the Progressivist Left. And as long as that state of affairs continues, their opposition to its ravages will be fatally flawed and portend continued defeat and disaster.
When such prominent Republicans as Bush strategist Karl Rove can declare that zealous Marxist (pro-Stalinist), anti-South historian Eric Foner is his favorite historian, then we should know that the so-called “defenders” of our civilization are little more than Trojan Horses, delivering the keys of victory to our enemies.