What is the war we are in now? Trump and his supporters seem the Southern elite people. They are trying to deport immigrants who are supporting farming and construction. The northern states have their leader for only two more months and surrender to Trump and his force. Please explain what is the war we are fighting now.
We have a huge segment of our country that has never come to terms with the outcome of that Civil War and continues the grievance and resentment down through generations. Together with the ever presence of powerful oligarch wannabes, we are surely testing again whether this nation will survive in the vision of Lincoln.
It's not just the vulgar, racist orange felon. It's not just the schools that produced the tens of millions who willingly put lies over truth, who ignored the public good for buffoon sensationalism and "bing-bing-boing-bong" reality show nonsense.
More, it's the many, many dehumanized M.B.A.s, bankers, humanly empty lawyers, lobbyists, and corporate officials who offshored the tens of millions of American working-class jobs and left those Americans and their communities abandoned, bereft, feeling ignored and forgotten.
Yes, the schools that produced the predators also produced other elites also without humanities --elites who in public could never refer to the many fine novels, memoirs, films, and songs which did keep in touch with the tens of millions of the left behind.
They voted for the convicted criminal, the vulgar entertainer because they knew, yes, Hiro, there was a war, and they lost. So millions voted not particularly for the orange fraud, but in deeper feelings of betrayal against all the "educated" elites who seemed not to know them or care enough about them to have plumbed into any of those humanities about them.
The schools, too, Hiro. They suffocate the kids of the working classes with the standardized testing geared only to the conceits of the college-bound elites, as David Brooks has been noting.
It was a war. The whole country lost. The former enslaving classes have finally won.
Remember the war was from being won when Lincoln made his speech. He knew that there was so much more to do. I think we are in that position now. Let’s share his courage . Thanks Heather!
Wishing a good holiday to all those on the Forum. I am fortunate this year: a new grandbaby, no deaths in the family, and progress on personal goals.
I am thankful for all of this, but I am also thankful for all of YOU readers! Your insights, your added content, your overall good humanity gives me hope; and your kind personal messages to me over the past year have been greatly appreciated. It feels like extended family, all over our great nation and beautiful world. All the best to all of you.
Miselle, I second your post. I am grateful to Heather for offering us timely history and yes, to all of you who post here, your life happenings and stories, your passions, your suggestions, your courage. I wish all of you a very serene Thanksgiving and a moment to have gratitude on this day to pause and reflect. We keep our family and friends close, so our neighbors and their daughter will join us tomorrow, a small gathering.
No problems at all. It always works perfectly for me. On all my Substack subscriptions. Sounds like you might have an intermittent hardware or Internet access problem.
I, too, Miselle, am grateful for HCR and the community here….I try to read all the comments (to the detriment of getting chores done!) and appreciate the opinions and life lessons shared. Miss some frequent commenters, not heard from in a while, and hope life and times are well with them. Happy holidays all…amidst all this chaos and worry, there is still so very much to be thankful for.
At least. “And in 1865, at least, they won.” In the fight now before us, the least we can do, what we MUST do, is win. It’ll take all we’ve got, and more. And a Dem re-think. Glad you’re on this side, Heather.
So, we are really giving thanks for the fact that freedom triumphed over bigotry… That those who preferred slavery lost. Wow! Thank you for this fascinating and important history lesson! It makes celebrating tomorrow a bit more bittersweet than it would’ve otherwise been. But when freedom eventually, defeats bigotry again (and it will!), I trust those who lead America at that point in time will make sure everyone knows what Thanksgiving is all about!
It ain't over yet. And right now the southerners have the house, senate, presidency and scotus. Never before in modern times has this happened w a sexual predatory psychopath as a president.
I know. But freedom can still win. It will take very creative thinking to do so ("asymmetrical warfare" some might call it). But it can happen! Buckminster Fuller once said "To change something don't fight the existing system. To create real change, design a new system that makes the existing system obsolete." This IMHO is what it's gonna take to defeat ChristoFascism / White Supremacy.
I agree. The Democrats talk a good talk, but Nancy Pelosi (for example) blocked AOC from making the contributions she’s capable of making. That resistance to new people with new ideas is classic blocking of real progress. And real, transformational progress is what we need.
Disruption of the status quo can be constructive or destructive. It all depends on the value system of the people designing the disruption. Technology is value-feee. Facebook could have given us Heaven on Earth. But Zuckerberg wasn’t willing to demand users agree to adhere to constructive progressive values of the kind embodied by Dr M L King, Jr
Some folks, Steve, seem to want a Wreck-It-Ralph to, as Bannon urged, “burn it all down”. Yay chaos & destruction!!! Then the complaints come thundering about “stuff not working”. Go figure 🤦🏻♀️
I am constantly awed by your depth of knowledge, and most appreciative. What a great LETTERS today and for me, a wonderful refresher in our history. Thank you so much Dr. Richardson!
I always appreciate your reminding of us of the true meaning of Thanksgiving, Heather. Thank you once again. And enjoy time with Buddy and your family.
That was then, this is now. Hard to see what we have now as progress of any kind. I'm not a defeatist, but we have plenty of work to do to change both America and Americans.
The election has NOT been CERTIFIED, Trump has NOT been SWORN IN. Garland is wrong. Trump is NOT a "sitting president." What IS unconstitutional is that Trump is being allowed to take office.
Article XIV Sec. 3:
"Whoever has sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and takes part in an insurrection against same...shall NOT HOLD OFFICE...."
Evidence was there on television for everyone to see. Trump spoke to the crowd, and SENT THEM TO THE CAPITOL, knowing they were armed and dangerous.
It was NOT an "official act" that SCOTUS decided he has immunity for.
Trump and Co are taking it for granted that he "won," therefore is allowed to do anything he wants.
Until Trump is sworn in he is NOT officially POTUS.
So much gratitude for Heather! As Miselle said above, I too am thankful for this incredible family of HCR readers, here on SubStack, and on FB. Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!🍁🍽
I agree with you Bill. The Nazis, Japanese emperor worshipers were decimated and they rebuild form a clean foundation. As one GI said, 'when I got to Berlin there was not one Nazi to be found'. The South merely regrouped, gradually rewrote history with the Daughters of the Confederacy and so the malignancy persists.
Jefferson Davis' statue stands today in our Capitol because Mississippi continues to chose him to be so. Bet ya don't find Hitler's statue in Germany's Bundestag or Hirohito's statue in Japan's National Diet.
It's not a question of statues still standing, it's a question of DNA and indoctrination. You can tear down all the statues but the indoctrinated people would still think and act the way they ancestros did. Germany, Hungary, France and others are a ready to repeat their history.....well ,Hungary is already there.
Ricardo, you might find this information from Nationhood Lab, part of the Pell Center of Salve Regina University of interest. I’ve posted it here a few times, but never know who sees it, so will post again: https://nationhoodlab.org/a-balkanized-federation/
Plantation thinking was warmed over thinking of royalty that owned everything and forced people to work in order to exist and to let them live the life of royalty. It was what the USA was ostensibly going to end. The urge of some to exploit others is hard to kill.
Bill, TFFFG the hagfish of politicians….so far his slime is so slippery he’s been able to escape the grasp of justice. Just hope someday he’s at long last caught in the justice-net and grilled up nicely on the BBQ or in a stir-fry.
Especially grateful on this Thanksgiving eve for Heather Cox Richardson's always-timely history.
Yes! Extremely timely! She always seems to know the exact lesson we need to learn in the moment!
Annual message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32INoIBaY0M
What is the war we are in now? Trump and his supporters seem the Southern elite people. They are trying to deport immigrants who are supporting farming and construction. The northern states have their leader for only two more months and surrender to Trump and his force. Please explain what is the war we are fighting now.
We have a huge segment of our country that has never come to terms with the outcome of that Civil War and continues the grievance and resentment down through generations. Together with the ever presence of powerful oligarch wannabes, we are surely testing again whether this nation will survive in the vision of Lincoln.
We're not fighting it, Hiro. It's over. We lost.
It's not just the vulgar, racist orange felon. It's not just the schools that produced the tens of millions who willingly put lies over truth, who ignored the public good for buffoon sensationalism and "bing-bing-boing-bong" reality show nonsense.
More, it's the many, many dehumanized M.B.A.s, bankers, humanly empty lawyers, lobbyists, and corporate officials who offshored the tens of millions of American working-class jobs and left those Americans and their communities abandoned, bereft, feeling ignored and forgotten.
Yes, the schools that produced the predators also produced other elites also without humanities --elites who in public could never refer to the many fine novels, memoirs, films, and songs which did keep in touch with the tens of millions of the left behind.
They voted for the convicted criminal, the vulgar entertainer because they knew, yes, Hiro, there was a war, and they lost. So millions voted not particularly for the orange fraud, but in deeper feelings of betrayal against all the "educated" elites who seemed not to know them or care enough about them to have plumbed into any of those humanities about them.
The schools, too, Hiro. They suffocate the kids of the working classes with the standardized testing geared only to the conceits of the college-bound elites, as David Brooks has been noting.
It was a war. The whole country lost. The former enslaving classes have finally won.
Remember the war was from being won when Lincoln made his speech. He knew that there was so much more to do. I think we are in that position now. Let’s share his courage . Thanks Heather!
Yes… far from being won… as we are far from victory today. But victorious we shall be eventually!
Wishing a good holiday to all those on the Forum. I am fortunate this year: a new grandbaby, no deaths in the family, and progress on personal goals.
I am thankful for all of this, but I am also thankful for all of YOU readers! Your insights, your added content, your overall good humanity gives me hope; and your kind personal messages to me over the past year have been greatly appreciated. It feels like extended family, all over our great nation and beautiful world. All the best to all of you.
Miselle, I second your post. I am grateful to Heather for offering us timely history and yes, to all of you who post here, your life happenings and stories, your passions, your suggestions, your courage. I wish all of you a very serene Thanksgiving and a moment to have gratitude on this day to pause and reflect. We keep our family and friends close, so our neighbors and their daughter will join us tomorrow, a small gathering.
Does anyone else have trouble getting the listening “carrot” (>) to work. I notice it doesn’t seem to work regularly for some reason.
No problems at all. It always works perfectly for me. On all my Substack subscriptions. Sounds like you might have an intermittent hardware or Internet access problem.
I, too, Miselle, am grateful for HCR and the community here….I try to read all the comments (to the detriment of getting chores done!) and appreciate the opinions and life lessons shared. Miss some frequent commenters, not heard from in a while, and hope life and times are well with them. Happy holidays all…amidst all this chaos and worry, there is still so very much to be thankful for.
At least. “And in 1865, at least, they won.” In the fight now before us, the least we can do, what we MUST do, is win. It’ll take all we’ve got, and more. And a Dem re-think. Glad you’re on this side, Heather.
Can't imagine Heather on the other side. Nobody would appreciate her.🫠
So, we are really giving thanks for the fact that freedom triumphed over bigotry… That those who preferred slavery lost. Wow! Thank you for this fascinating and important history lesson! It makes celebrating tomorrow a bit more bittersweet than it would’ve otherwise been. But when freedom eventually, defeats bigotry again (and it will!), I trust those who lead America at that point in time will make sure everyone knows what Thanksgiving is all about!
It ain't over yet. And right now the southerners have the house, senate, presidency and scotus. Never before in modern times has this happened w a sexual predatory psychopath as a president.
I know. But freedom can still win. It will take very creative thinking to do so ("asymmetrical warfare" some might call it). But it can happen! Buckminster Fuller once said "To change something don't fight the existing system. To create real change, design a new system that makes the existing system obsolete." This IMHO is what it's gonna take to defeat ChristoFascism / White Supremacy.
Excellent point. As for the Dems, we need a complete overhaul of leadership. Dems are rudderless now. Need new leaders and new philosophy.
I agree. The Democrats talk a good talk, but Nancy Pelosi (for example) blocked AOC from making the contributions she’s capable of making. That resistance to new people with new ideas is classic blocking of real progress. And real, transformational progress is what we need.
Steve, isn't it what maga did? They were very asymmetrical and changed the system. That's why we are still shocked?
Disruption of the status quo can be constructive or destructive. It all depends on the value system of the people designing the disruption. Technology is value-feee. Facebook could have given us Heaven on Earth. But Zuckerberg wasn’t willing to demand users agree to adhere to constructive progressive values of the kind embodied by Dr M L King, Jr
This is what Trump has done.
Yes, but Trump is a destroyer. I’m talking about being a builder … of a positive future (see Buckminster Fuller for an example)
Some folks, Steve, seem to want a Wreck-It-Ralph to, as Bannon urged, “burn it all down”. Yay chaos & destruction!!! Then the complaints come thundering about “stuff not working”. Go figure 🤦🏻♀️
Don’t forget the several others in his proposed cabinet of mismatched toys.
Bravo, Mr Brant! Bravo
That’s very kind of you to say!
Thankful we have you! Enjoy your family.
I am constantly awed by your depth of knowledge, and most appreciative. What a great LETTERS today and for me, a wonderful refresher in our history. Thank you so much Dr. Richardson!
I always appreciate your reminding of us of the true meaning of Thanksgiving, Heather. Thank you once again. And enjoy time with Buddy and your family.
“And in 1865, at least, they won.”
Ouch!
That was then, this is now. Hard to see what we have now as progress of any kind. I'm not a defeatist, but we have plenty of work to do to change both America and Americans.
Food for thought:
The election has NOT been CERTIFIED, Trump has NOT been SWORN IN. Garland is wrong. Trump is NOT a "sitting president." What IS unconstitutional is that Trump is being allowed to take office.
Article XIV Sec. 3:
"Whoever has sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and takes part in an insurrection against same...shall NOT HOLD OFFICE...."
Evidence was there on television for everyone to see. Trump spoke to the crowd, and SENT THEM TO THE CAPITOL, knowing they were armed and dangerous.
It was NOT an "official act" that SCOTUS decided he has immunity for.
Trump and Co are taking it for granted that he "won," therefore is allowed to do anything he wants.
Until Trump is sworn in he is NOT officially POTUS.
Timothy Snyder, ON TYRANNY:
1) DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE.
🗽🇺🇲🇺🇦
John, check out Professor Vance's 'Discourse earlier today.
Bryan, thanks much. I read her comments; very helpful.
Of course, Everything is "Not Broken."
Ed, ouch indeed. A reminder to all of us of the task that lies ahead of us.
Ed, hope we can say "and in 2028 at least WE won".
Yup, Ricardo, tho it IS up to us!!!! We need to keep our shoulders to the wheel to get our democracy over this rough terrain.
Heather is my first person I read dIly. May this Thanksgiving, as scary as it is, be an inspiration
for Americans to fight for their liberty. We’re all so exhausted, but think of those before us!
So much gratitude for Heather! As Miselle said above, I too am thankful for this incredible family of HCR readers, here on SubStack, and on FB. Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!🍁🍽
Was our Civil War really "won"? Why were thousands of southern traitors pardoned? Some returned as Senators.
Just an idea. But what if treason wasn't forgiven? What if the north really crushed the evil of the Confederacy?
The DNA of plantation thinking lives on today in the Republican Party.
Pogo was right.
I agree with you Bill. The Nazis, Japanese emperor worshipers were decimated and they rebuild form a clean foundation. As one GI said, 'when I got to Berlin there was not one Nazi to be found'. The South merely regrouped, gradually rewrote history with the Daughters of the Confederacy and so the malignancy persists.
And plutocrats deliberately fanned the embers of the Civil War in order to divide and conquer, just as they had fed racism to keep the serfs divided.
“The south shall rise again”
Echos in my mind, the stars and bars traipsing thru the capitol, they have never gotten over it.
Jefferson Davis' statue stands today in our Capitol because Mississippi continues to chose him to be so. Bet ya don't find Hitler's statue in Germany's Bundestag or Hirohito's statue in Japan's National Diet.
It's not a question of statues still standing, it's a question of DNA and indoctrination. You can tear down all the statues but the indoctrinated people would still think and act the way they ancestros did. Germany, Hungary, France and others are a ready to repeat their history.....well ,Hungary is already there.
Ricardo, you might find this information from Nationhood Lab, part of the Pell Center of Salve Regina University of interest. I’ve posted it here a few times, but never know who sees it, so will post again: https://nationhoodlab.org/a-balkanized-federation/
Thanks Barbara 😀
https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/jefferson-davis-statue
See "How the South *Won* the Civil War" (my emphasis) by HCR that originally brought me to this Substack.
Plantation thinking was warmed over thinking of royalty that owned everything and forced people to work in order to exist and to let them live the life of royalty. It was what the USA was ostensibly going to end. The urge of some to exploit others is hard to kill.
Bill, TFFFG the hagfish of politicians….so far his slime is so slippery he’s been able to escape the grasp of justice. Just hope someday he’s at long last caught in the justice-net and grilled up nicely on the BBQ or in a stir-fry.
Thank you for your never-ending hope. we need that, and you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you, Heather. So grateful for your wisdom. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Thank goodness for reminding us the history we all need to
I’m reading State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Jesus Effing Chrippes!
Yes, the female secretary of state saves the world!
I have the book and will read this month. Your post intrigues me!
I'm reading it too, right now. I totally agree.
Read it when it first came out….art imitating life???? A good read.
Happy Thanksgiving Eve from North Haven.