Modern Day Carpetbaggers

I read the following comment on Facebook concerning Sherman’s march to the sea.

Sherman’s innovative strategy was to seize the food stores, and destroy whatever crops and livestock they couldn’t take — instead of seeking out enemy armies, and killing thousands of soldiers. There were less than 1000 casualties, both killed and wounded, on both sides, combined, in Sherman’s March to the Sea. Compare that to Gettysburg, where there were 51,000 casualties in one battle. It amazes me that some people think Sherman’s March was worse than massed armies fighting pitched battles with tens of thousands of casualties.

The man who wrote this comment lives in Cary, NC but went to school in Michigan. The comment was made on Rep. Blust’s post praising Lincoln and a veiled attack on Rep. Pittman’s comment stating the truth concerning the tyrant Lincoln. As shown in that post, people are woefully ignorant concerning the facts of the War of Northern Aggression. For anyone who is not familiar with the “innovative strategy” mentioned above, here is one excerpt:

Targeting Civilians

Americans are still fascinated by the war because many of us recognize it as the defining event in American history. Lincoln’s war established myriad precedents that have shaped the course of American government and society ever since: the centralization of governmental power, central banking, income taxation, protectionism, military conscription, the suspension of constitutional liberties, the “rewriting” of the Constitution by federal judges, “total war,” the quest for a worldwide empire, and the notion that government is one big “problem solver.”

Perhaps the most hideous precedent established by Lincoln’s war, however, was the intentional targeting of defenseless civilians. Human beings did not always engage in such barbaric acts as we have all watched in horror in recent days. Targeting civilians has been a common practice ever since World War II, but its roots lie in Lincoln’s war.

…

The fact is, the Lincoln government intentionally targeted civilians from the very beginning of the war. The administration’s battle plan was known as the “Anaconda Plan” because it sought to blockade all Southern ports and inland waterways and starving the Southern civilian economy. Even drugs and medicines were on the government’s list of items that were to be kept out of the hands of Southerners, as far as possible.

I am not classifying all Northern transplants as carpetbaggers. I am classifying those transplants who are ignorant of history and spread their ignorance as carpetbaggers. Imagine the outcry today if the federal government came in and killed 76 civilians for a BATFE fundraiser. Imagine the outcry if a president who won the Nobel Peace prize had killed innocent civilians around the world with drone strikes.

I could give more examples but the root cause of this is simple: people like power at all levels. And they are willing to justify its abuse. But there are judgment days on both earth and Heaven.

David DeGerolamo