| The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Paddy1640, Thank you for the explanation. I also honor my Irish ancestry, and agree that there is little if any "European-American" history taught in schools in the US. Sad to say, there'll never be clamor for an "Irish History Month"! Though I do respect the honor you have for your ancestors, and thus would not disparage them, please consider: During the incorrectly-dubbed "Civil War," the South (considerably Celtic in ancestry) fought for independence from the US government for the same reasons as our Colonists (including my ancestors) fought against King George: secession from a government deemed too powerful, abusive and corrupt (if only they could have imagined the power and corruption of same 150 years later!). The irony is this: While the Irish have long been dominated and subjugated by the British Crown, and has fought for independence from same, Irish immigrants were pressed into Union service during the war of 1861-65 to SUPPRESS the South, and force the Southern states back into the Union. They were, in effect, doing the same work as the British in 1775, and the British Crown in Ireland and Scotland for hundreds of years. Invade, suppress, kill, burn, and force acceptance at the point of a bayonet. Simply put, while Thomas Francis Meager fought valiantly FOR Irish independence, he fought AGAINST Southern independence in leading the Irish Brigade. Of course, "history" proclaims the South wrong, just as the Irish and Scots were "wrong" from England's point of view. While the counter of "The South fought for slavery, and the North fought against it!" is the justification, it is a far cry from reality. The North (and the federal government) profited enormously from the Atlantic Slave Trade, and from the exportation of Southern slave-produced goods. Slavery could not have existed were it not by the blessing of the United States government. Northern merchants, bank and insurance firms were but a few of the entities who demanded their share of a lucrative pie. Then, as now, 98% of the wealth - North and South - was controlled by the 1-2% who held enormous wealth and power. Some 95% of Southerners owned NO slaves, and would not have left their homes and young families to "protect the property" of the wealthy. In fact, had slavery not existed in the South, the plantations would have been occupied by poor white farmers, eager for employment - even if such paid (no pun intended) meager "slave wages." There is irony in the North having "won" freedom and independence by fighting against it; the massive, out-of-control leviathan that the federal government is today has its origin not in the administration of George Washington, but in that of Abraham Lincoln. |
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