Memorial Day thought

[rmd]

It's been nearly 150 years since we started having Memorial Day (aka "Decoration Day") to honor the military who died in the Civil War (later expanded to all fallen military once we had a few more wars with lots of battle deaths). Eventually, the Civil War will stop being a scar on this country's psyche, but I think it's going to take at least a couple more generations.

Comments

[muffyjo]

I am finding the European Union fascinating as it is, essentially, the model that the South was proposing pre-civil war. The idea of the states being independent and being their own ultimate authorities instead of the federal government but being "together" in union as a country unit. I don't think it would have worked well, in the end, as it would have isolated the states even further and fractured us even more, which would have removed us as a "superpower", but it's interesting to watch Europe cope as a kind of test ground for the concept.

My great grandparents (one of whom I knew in my lifetime) were born during the civil war. I agree, still too close. And while much of the North doesn't care in the least, the South is having a helluva time letting go. It's incredibly hard feeling like a victim. It's amazing to me to realize how lucky we are to only have 200 years of this kind of history. I think of any of the European nations who have layers upon layers of this kind of pain coloring everything they do with one another.

Makes you think that maybe the best lesson to learn is how to forgive and let go of the past trespasses. Now that's something to teach in school.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Europe also doesn't have anybody trying to use "federalism" as a way to deny a large group of people their rights as human beings, as still happens in the United States. Their biggest failure seems to be in regards to their unified currency. Allowing independent control of national fiscal policy with little to no effective oversight or control by a centralized authority is what's causing the whole thing to fall apart.

Imagine, if you will, if the fifty states were all authorized to print "Dollars" and we all had to take all of them.

[muffyjo]

I think if you ask Greece right now, they would strongly disagree with you. Not to mention the Cypriots. They are a rather large group of people who feel their rights are being removed, but I am guessing you are talking about slavery which is a nice way to remember the war but wasn't the only reason it started despite being the biggest reason it succeeded.

And while we now pay folks for their work, I'm not sure that battle is yet won, either. People are now free to be incredibly poor. But that's a discussion for a different day.

We fight over land, and possessions and people who hurt other people so we fight them to stop hurting people we love...it's kind of a screwy system that is built to perpetuate itself.

[clauclauclaudia]

The current federalism/rights thing that leapt to my mind was gay marriage. Though voters' rights is arguably much bigger and more important.

[ceo]

That was actually kind of the idea behind the Articles of Confederation, which didn't work out very well, which is how we got the Constitution. The Confederate Constitution was largely similar to the US Constitution; it was somewhat more restrictive of the powers of the federal government, but retained things like the Supremacy Clause, and it prohibited the states from abolishing slavery or otherwise restricting it.

Saw a bumper sticker once that had the Confederate battle flag in a circle-slash and said "You lost. Get over it." Don't think I'd drive a car with that sticker anywhere south of, oh, Connecticut.

[cz_unit]

It's possible that we just need another domestic war to replace the memories. I wonder how long the whole tory/hessian/American thing went on after the revolutionary war.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Some Loyalists emigrated to Canada, but most stayed behind. Many Loyalists who had been civic leaders before the War held political office afterwards. It was far from "all was forgiven," but it wasn't a Stalinist purge either.

I'm not sure how credible the wikipedia article is, but: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalist_(American_Revolution) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalist_(American_Revolution))