THE TENSION BETWEEN AMERICA’S NORTH & THE SOUTH IS ALIVE & WELL

…This display of the two regions still exists today

 

Regional American accents and vocabulary, are as different in America, as are the language differences between the countries in Europe.

 

Even though I have lived in Northern California for the majority of my primary school, college and business years, I was actually born in a state in the deep South.  But because early on, my family moved very often, we subsequently lived all over the US during my early years.  I was truly amazed when I had learned that my older sister had actually taken the time to list and count the 20+ schools we had both attended by the time we finished our formal educations.  

 

This situation of growing up under those bizarre conditions occurred because our father was an electrician that specialized on the building of big power projects such as hydroelectric dams, power plants and atomic energy facilities.  Because of his unique career, we ended up living in states all over this great nation.  This was all occurring back when America was constantly building and expanding after FDR’s, New Deal, WWII and the Korean War.  To put this in perspective, as a family , from 1943 to 1957, we lived in: Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky, Oregon, Washington state, Minnesota, Ohio, Louisiana, Arizona, and finally, multiple locations in Northern California. 

 

We did not stop being vagabonds until our father decided to settle down and to start his own construction company in Northern California.  That final location was formally an agricultural community that was referred to as the, “Valley of Heart’s Delight”.  Little did we know that this region full of orchards of apricots, prunes, and cherries and other agricultural products, would eventually become the nation’s High Tech region known today as Silicon Valley.

 

But where I’m headed with all this is that, during those formative years of living all over the country, as we became mature Americans, we experienced first-hand, that the entire United States was in some ways, comparable to the many different countries in Europe.

 

What I mean by this is, if you travel around America, just as there are different languages in going from one European country to another, in many areas of the United States, you would not necessarily recognize that the official language was English.  In other words, if you are from New York, you may not understand a visitor from New England, or from the deep South, if they were to walk up and ask you a question.  Regional American accents, local vocabularies and slang are as different in many regions in America, as are those in many foreign language countries in Europe.

The reality is that, in that the Southern state in which I was born, the political and religious views of my relatives still living in that state today, they are far different from my personal politics and beliefs.  And that’s mainly because of the highly diversified experience I had by living and traveling throughout my growing up and my business life.

 

That experience has allowed me to see and understand many of the different issues that continue to arise across our vast and diversified nation.   And I also understand that if I had been raised in the same atmosphere that my many Southern relatives were raised, I would probably be more in line with many of their views today.

 

OK, you may now be asking, so what does all that mean?”

 

Well, this is all leading to looking closely at what has been going on for decades between America’s North and the deep South, and as an example, what’s happening in the deep southern state of Alabama.

 

Going back to my business experience of all those years in high technology, I was required to travel all over America, as well as traveling outside the US.  This included many trips to Japan, Korea, S.E. Asia, China and Europe.  Therefore, I was able to develop a highly diversified view of this country, as well as a good understanding of those other nations.  However, today, when I look into the deep South of my own United States, I find that this region of the country is as unique in its own way, as were those countries I visited in the far east.

 

To explain this, just take into consideration what has been going on politically in Alabama.

 

Alabama today, is considered one of the most politically corrupt states in the US.  Over recent years, many elected politicians in Alabama have ended up spending major time in state and federal prisons.

 

As an example, Michael G. Hubbard, the former Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives was previously convicted on 12 felony ethics charges, leaving him stripped of his power and facing the possibility of decades in prison.

 

The verdict, at the end of Mr. Hubbard’s trial, deepened the political crisis in Alabama, where along with Mr. Hubbard, some of the most influential state officials are now facing inquiries and threats of being thrown out of office, or worse. The troubles of Mr. Hubbard, who had wielded a level of power that rivaled the then Alabama’ Governor, Robert Bentley’s power.  Prosecutors portrayed Hubbard as financially desperate and criminally culpable for misconduct under the very ethics law that Hubbard had helped to strengthen.  Mr. Hubbard was convicted on a dozen charges that prompted his removal as the House leader.  Mr. Hubbard was also convicted of improperly soliciting benefits from lobbyists and he currently faces up to 20 years in prison on each count against him.

 

But the issues in a corrupt Alabama do not stop there.

 

About a year after Hubbard’s trial, the Alabama Governor, Robert Bentley had to resigned due to a major sex scandal that still staggers the state.  The scandal lasted a full year before he resigned and it brought the governor to the brink of impeachment.  It also prompted a series of criminal investigations.  Ms. Ellen Brooks, a special Alabama prosecutor, has said Mr. Bentley quit with a plea agreement on two misdemeanor charges: that being the failing to file a major contribution report and knowingly converting campaign contributions for personal use. He eventually pleaded guilty.  Bentley, a long-time Republican acknowledged that he had made sexual advances to his senior political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason.  (Ms. Mason was also an advisor to the governor that was being paid her salary by a lobbyist, which was also against state and federal laws.)  Bentley’s exit from state government and his guilty pleas followed the mounting calls for his resignation.  This was after a report was made public that he had fostered “an atmosphere of intimidation” that had compelled state employees to assist him in covering up his relationship with Ms. Mason.

 

So, now that the governor’s scandal is over, here comes an additional political issue that has arisen regarding the very controversial former Alabama Judge, Roy Moore.  Moore is the current favorite in the coming special election for the open Alabama US Senator position.  This is the position that was left open by the appointment of Alabama Senator, Jeff Session as the US Attorney General.

 

Now, please note that I am leaving out a lot of other illegal issues that have arisen within Alabama’s state government.  They are not being referenced here because apparently, most of the citizens of Alabama don’t seem to be interested in the fact that their elected officials are continually getting into hot water due to their illegal activities.  If they don’t seem to care, I guess then, why should you or I?

 

As for more background on this “Roy Moore”, he is a “former Judge” because he was thrown out as the Chief Justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court because he failed to follow a federal court order for removing a 12,000 pound monument to the Ten Commandments from the court’s grounds.  A monument that Moore had personally ordered to be placed on the federal court’s grounds.  It is illegal for there to be any specific religious icon displayed on federal property.  If one religion is allowed on federal property, then all religions would have to be allowed a monument.

 

So, now what’s the big deal with this former Alabama judge?

 

The Washington Post (WAPO) recently published an investigative report where after their following up on some rumors about the former judge’s sexual conduct decades ago, 30 local individuals were interviewed by WAPO reporters and 4 of those interviewed had stated that as a young prosecutor decades ago, Roy Moore sexually harassed all four of these locals as teenagers, and one was only 14 years old when the sexual activity occurred with the then 30 year old Asst. District Attorney.

 

Moore is obviously denying the accusations saying that it is an obvious lie, of course coming from the Democrats, and from a very liberal minded Washington Post.

 

However, the WAPO report is very well documented and corroborated in the details from all 30 of the Alabama locals.  It is appearing that the timing of these latest sexual confessions against the judge comes from what has been happening across the country in other sexual encounters.  These confessions all started with the release of the original Access Hollywood tape of Donald Trump admitting that he had grabbed women’s genitals.  With that now famous video, coupled with the many Bill Cosby sexual accusers, and Fox’s Bill O’Reilly’s pay-off of sexual accusers; plus Fox’s Roger Ailes being fired for the sexual harassment of his employees; and of course, the latest Harvey Weinstein’s many accusers, American women are feeling emboldened.  Apparently, American women are now feeling very open and brave for telling their tales of former sexual attacks which were previously kept in secrecy.  And with Roy Moore still polling ahead of the local Democrat, the locals apparently don’t care about all these accusations and Moore is for sure, not going to bow out of the up-coming election. 

 

But seriously, this is just the norm for real-time Alabama politics.  Alabaman’s will apparently still vote to elect this judge who is a committed racist, is against all homosexuals, against the Affordable Care Act for Alabamans, and he has an “A” grade from the NRA, while he also thinks the bible should take precedent over the US Constitution.

Even President Trump and the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), have called on Senate candidate Roy Moore to withdraw as have Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ), John McCain (R-AZ), David Perdue (R-GA), John Thune (R-S.D.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alk), Cory Gardner (CO), Richard C. Shelby (R-AL) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-PN)

 

The Alabama state Republican Party does have the power to disqualify Moore from the election, according to the Alabama Secretary of State. But if that were to happen, Senator McConnell and other Republicans would face the challenge of figuring out which candidate would run in Moore’s place.  And how do you win an election in which it is too late to replace the former judge Moore’s name on the Dec. 12 ballot.

 

But the former judge also knows that under Alabama state law, the current election ballot cannot be changed within 76 days of a state election, and this election, as of this writing is only 30 days away.  

 

My point of all this is that based on Alabama’s political history, this former judge, Roy Moore, with all the negatives against him, and based on his current poll ratings, Moore will probably win in this special election.

 

The reality is that just as for centuries, there has always been a level of tension between the Germans and the French, the Germans and the Russians, and similar tension between the French and the English.  I believe that here within the United States, there will always be that similar tension between the Northern states and those Americans living in the Deep South. 

 

I also believe this explains why there are those that still think that the 1860’s government of Abraham Lincoln, should not have declared a war between the North and the South.  They still believe that the US Congress  back then should have allowed the Southern states to secede from the Union.

 

There will always be a political and a cultural tension between these two regions of the United States, and based on those Southern states such as Alabama, I believe that will always be a fact.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017