'Tis Only My Opinion!^™

October  2017 - Volume 37, Number 10

Whitewashing

George Orwell was right ... only a few years early.

Trying to rewrite history, the Charlottesville City Council voted to remove the statute of Robert E. Lee from a city park near the University of Virginia. The University is known as a bastion of liberal education.

The city's statue removal decision prompted white nationalists to organize a rally in August. The night before the main event, they marched through the University of Virginia carrying torches and chanting racial slurs.

The day of the rally descended into chaos, with attendees and counter protesters brawling in the streets. After authorities forced the crowd to disperse, a car rammed into a group of people protesting the white nationalists, killing one woman and injuring many more. Many of this group protesting the white nationalists were outside paid agitators.

Charlottesville has since shrouded the Lee statue and another of Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson with a black shroud as a symbol of mourning.

Progressives then began a campaign to obliterate the history of the South!

It then became a wave of protests to remove statues of anyone who might have participated in slavery. Before long, suggestions were made to also remove Washington and Jefferson from Mount Rushmore.  As President Trump said, "Where does this end!"

The answer should be obvious. When all reference to slavery is erased and white privilege disappears ... according to the progressive zealots.

Ward Politics dominates Dallas.

Shortly after the Charlottesville protest, the Dallas City Council created a group to study removing the statute of Robert E. Lee. Built at a cost of $50,000 raised over a period of eight years by the Dallas Southern Memorial Association, the statue was the work of noted sculptor A. Phemister Proctor. The base was designed by Dallas architect Mark Lemmon. The statute is currently valued in excess of $1 million.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings formed the Confederate Monument Task Force stacked with minority members to advise about the removal of various symbols of the Confederacy. It was a foregone conclusion that a recommendation to remove the Robert E. Lee statue would be forthcoming. The advisory board also talked about other monuments, public schools, street names and artwork in Fair Park.

The cost to remove the statue from Lee Park is estimated to cost more than $750,000.

In a city full of pot holes, failing public schools, and a major upcoming bond program, the City Council is focused upon removing symbols of the Confederacy. Does any member of the Confederate Monument Task Force have any concept for the total cost to renaming all the streets and public schools within the City of Dallas?

Recently, the City Council agreed to a "fix" for the city’s pension fund for its police officers and firefighters which was near collapse . Unfortunately, the so-called fix only pushed the collapse a few years further down the road.  The problem is that it is predicated on achieving a 7-1/2% rate of return on pension fund assets. Good luck!

The slave trade

In the discussion of slavery in the U.S., it is often forgotten that the people who sold the slaves in Africa were also Negroes and often of the Muslim faith.

Of course, this fact is conveniently omitted in this enlightened era of humanity.

Nor is the fact that many slaves and/or indentured servants were Caucasian. When you have a look at the first census in the American colonies, white servants or temporary slaves, outnumbered African slaves in all the British colonies ( America and West Indies).

It is also a fact that today, there are very few individuals who were slaves that are living.

The real problem is that the welfare state has enabled many individuals to exist without contributing to society.

Facts don't really matter ...

In the October 2017 edition of his newsletter, "The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report," in a section discussing capitalism versus socialism, Faber criticized the move to tear down monuments commemorating the U.S. Civil War military leaders of the Confederacy.

"Thank God, white people populated America, not the blacks," Faber wrote in his newsletters. "Otherwise, the U.S. would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look like one day anyway, but at least America enjoyed 200 years in the economic and political sun under a white Majority."

"I am not a racist," Faber continued, "but the reality - no matter how politically incorrect --needs to be spelled out as well."

The reaction to Faber's politically incorrect comments was swift as he was terminated from six corporate boards within a few days.

What's Next ...

The Dallas Confederate Monument Task Force perhaps needs to broaden its focus.

After all, Dallas may have been named for George Mifflin Dallas, the eleventh Vice President of the United States. Dallas had been a respectable attorney practicing in Philadelphia and former ambassador to Russia before becoming Vice President.

George Mifflin Dallas

But No…who Dallas is named after is about as clear as the town’s early history.  There are plenty, plenty of theories.  But the best is that a man, who John Neely Bryan knew well, who shared property boundaries with him in Van Buren Arkansas, and who moved briefly to Cedar Springs in Dallas County in the 1840’s, is the friend Bryan mentioned to Cockrell.  That man, a “Joseph Dallas,” is the best bet for the town’s namesake.

Joseph Dallas

Now if the Dallas Confederate Monument Task Force believes that Dallas was named for the Vice-President ... well, there is a huge problem. Dallas was an advocate for popular sovereignty on the question of slavery strengthened opposition against him. Popular sovereignty left the question of slavery to each state.

Hence ... let's change the name of Dallas ...

Let's see ... that will mean that we no longer have the Dallas Cowboys nor the Dallas Mavericks ... and how many others  including the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport... but we must adhere to the Mighty Altar of Political Correctness.

Here is a suggestion for the P.C. crowd ... let's change the name to "CRAVEN."

But then - 'Tis Only My Opinion!

Fred Richards
October 1, 2017

www.adrich.com
www.strategicinvesting.com

Corruptisima republica plurimae leges. [The more corrupt a republic, the more laws.] -- Tacitus, Annals III 27

'Tis only My Opinion! Archive Menu, click here.

This issue of 'Tis Only My Opinion was copyrighted by Strategic Investing in 2017.
All rights reserved. Quotation with attribution is encouraged.
'Tis Only My Opinion is intended to provoke thinking, then dialogue among our readers.