Liberals should dig up Woodrow Wilson and Robert Byrd graves too

In a unanimous vote conducted last Tuesday, perhaps inspired by some of the recent acts of ISIS against historical landmarks, the Memphis city council voted to dig up the grave of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest from where his remains laid in rest for 110 years. 

What has changed over the past 110 years?

There is a sickening, immoral, and politically correct cartel that knows no bounds in its pursuit of a tyrannical agenda to fundamentally remake America.  And unlike in any other time in our history, there is no political opposition to anything they do.  In fact, based on the embarrassing and pathetic groveling of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus before the pagan altar of political correctness, it would not be surprising if they flew down to Memphis with shovels in their hands before the week is over.

Slavery and unequal treatment of blacks is probably the biggest scar on this country’s history.  But that history runs a lot deeper and is more complex than confederate figures such as Nathan Forrest.  Although Abraham Lincoln viewed slavery as immoral, his general sentiments about blacks would be considered repulsive by anyone living today.  History is indeed quite complex when viewed through a modern lens.

And speaking of Memphis, there is another dark blemish on the region’s history aside from some of the repugnant views held by people like Forrest.  After winning control over the Memphis area and key parts of the Mississippi River on December 17, 1862, northern Union General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 expelling Jews from the area – an area where Jews thrived under southern culture for years.  This was likely the single worst act of anti-Semitism sanctioned by a top government official in American history.  It was quickly countermanded by President Lincoln.

Should we exhume the body of Grant and remove his statues and tributes from all over the country?  Certainly a man like Robert E. Lee would never have issued such an order.

When this madness all began several weeks ago and the Left hijacked a tragedy with a maniacal war on the dead confederacy (after they failed to inspire riots or spark a backlash against the Second Amendment), most conservatives failed to take it seriously.  After all, we certainly have no love lost for a symbol and cause exclusively associated with Democrats.  Who needs the stars and bars when we have the stars and stripes? 

But like everything with the Left and their Alinsky-style tactics used to transform this country, there is so much more to where this is coming from and where it is headed.  They are now seeking to uproot every last vestige of, not just overt Confederate symbols and history, but southern heritage itself.  Remember, many of the Confederate generals reconciled with the government at the end of the war. 

Even Forrest gave a conciliatory speech before an audience of black southerners shortly before he died.  Speaking at a Fourth of July celebration in 1875, he spoke of a shared commonality as countrymen: “We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment.”  

And in many respects, that last speech of his represents what so many Americans –northerners and southerners alike – appreciate about Civil War history, museums, and reenactments.  They see images of Confederate and Union generals coming together being pardoned with their side arms.  They see pictures of the 50^th anniversary of Gettysburg when 80-year-old veterans of both sides came together in embrace on that hallowed ground.  Despite the Civil War representing the darkest time in our history, the story of the post-war reconciliation represents something so purely American that has always stuck with me as a little boy who went to Civil War reenactments with so many patriotic Americans of all backgrounds.  And from recent polling data, it’s clear that this is the sentiment of the majority of Americans, despite the one-sided media campaign to eradicate all vestiges of Civil War history. 

There is also a rich history of patriotic military service from the descendants of Confederate generals.  Forrest’s great-grandson was a General in World War II and lost his life in a bombing raid in Germany.  Nathan Bedford Forrest III is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. 

My wife’s mother’s great-grandfather fought in the Army of Northern Virginia and that side of the family has the most military veterans.  Her family is from Richmond, Virginia and she grew up a few blocks from Monument Avenue.  After reading this sickening story, my wife, who is only a casual observer of politics, asked me what’s to stop the Left from digging up the grave of her great-great grandfather or smashing the monuments of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson she grew up with on Monument Avenue as a kid.    

Rather than ignoring this insanity and focusing on the real threats to our country, Republicans have declared a state of emergency and have called up their political reserves to wage war on this piece of history.  GOP leaders have probably issued more press releases on the confederacy over the past few weeks than they have on illegal immigration during the entirety of their careers.

Make no mistake about it, this runs much deeper than a myopic focus on the confederacy.  The same dyslexic worldview that is prompting them to dig up graves and smash statues with the gusto of ISIS is also motivating their push to remove our Founding Fathers from the currency, eliminate all replicas of the Ten Commandments, and extirpate God from the public square.  The same decadent value system that cheers on Ayatollah Khamenei, the Castro brothers, and cop killers is inspiring them to declare a retroactive war on Robert E. Lee.  And the same perverted sense of morality that has stirred them to nullify marriage, religious liberty, and the definition of gender itself is rousing them to dig up graves of Confederate generals instead of fighting the modern threats to our country.

This has gone too far and it’s time for conservatives to wake up to the reality of what’s at stake and put an end to it.  It’s time to boycott the boycotters, ban the banners.  It’s time to agitate for exhuming the bodies of Woodrow Wilson, Hugo Black, and Robert Byrd if they desire to play this sick game.  And if Boehner and McConnell dare to allow the GOP-mandate to be used for this disrespectful deracination of our history, they must be shut down.

Many people in this country understandably have no soft spot in their hearts for any history related to the confederacy.  But they will be made to care.  This is just the beginning of the pagan inquisition.