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Politics : The Left Wing Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Poet who wrote (5197)	8/30/2001 11:34:54 AM
From: Win Smith	Respond to of 6089

There was so much in that article, it's hard to pick out pieces. Another bit that particularly struck me: There were strong economic reasons for the broad national reach of American slavery. Though Northerners gradually eliminated slavery in their states, Southern slave-grown cotton was the nation's leading export. It powered textile-manufacturing revolutions in both New England and Europe, and paid for American imports of everything from steel to capital. In addition, the demand for slave labor in southwestern states like Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas drove up slave prices and land values throughout the South. In the 19th century, slave values more than tripled. By 1860, a young "prime field hand" in New Orleans would sell for the equivalent of an expensive car, say a Mercedes-Benz, today. American slaves represented more capital than any other asset in the nation, with the exception of land. In 1860, the value of Southern slaves was about three times the amount invested in manufacturing or railroads nationwide. Coincidentally or not, there was an amusing counterpoint article in the magazine. Jack Hitt is pretty funny, though his previous article on Star Wars Redux sort of missed. I though this one was good, though. In South Carolina, a War Over Barbecue nytimes.com Just inside the door of his main restaurant is a set of tables that form a kind of shrine to Maurice's ancestors and his beliefs. There are pictures of his parents and grandparents, as well as framed letters from his heroes, George Wallace and Pat Buchanan. (Maurice's main pit doubled as the state's Buchanan for President headquarters in 1996.) The tables hold pamphlets on a range of subjects, one titled ''McCarthyism and Lincolnism'' and another that traces the symbology of the Confederate flag back to ''4,000-years-old hieroglyphics,'' when the flag was ''used by Jehovah-God in prehistoric times to fight battles for liberty and freedom.'' ''The whole thing wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for John Monk,'' Maurice told me. Last August, Monk, a local newspaper columnist, quoted one of the pamphlets explaining the relationship between the Bible and slavery. ''Many of those African slaves blessed the Lord for allowing them to be enslaved and sent to America,'' it said. (In my experience, I have found that blacks can get grouchy when Southern whites talk knowingly on the issue of slave gratitude.) Mainstream historians may be finally coming around to a more straightforward reading of American history, but W, at the behest of his handlers, had no problem standing tall for the Maurice Bessingers of the world and their curiously self-serving view of Southern history when it was politically convenient. A moderately less caustic bit of humor : Maurice is comfortable weaving religion with barbecue: there is a weekly Bible-study session at each of his pits. Later on, in the privacy of his office, he let slip a secret of his sauce. ''The recipe,'' he said, ''is in the Bible.'' ''Does it start with Jesus' parable of the mustard seed?'' I joked. Maurice's eyes flared, as if I had correctly guessed that his middle name was Rumpelstiltskin, and he refused to discuss it further.