Posted on 02/23/2003 1:45:55 PM PST by GailA
Tennessee Family With Nine Members on Active Military Duty
Reporter: Melissa Penry
A Tennessee family could field a baseball team with the number of members is has on notice for active duty. It's become something of a family tradition to serve in the military.
"Well, there's Dewey and Ted and Steve, Chris and Jim."
You'll forgive any little pause Lucille Konig makes - her list is long.
"The grandkids is Kyle and Johnny, Dean and Nathan and Jeremy and Jarrett."
This 81-year-old Lawrence County woman is counting off her offspring about to serve their country. There are, after all, nine of them called up for active duty, with two already serving.
"It's sad and I miss 'em, but there's only one thing I found out I can do about it, and that is completely turn it over to the Lord," said Lucille.
Lucille Konig has had a lot of practice.
"Gene and dean, the two oldest ones, went in the Marine Corp."
All of her boys have served in at least one branch of the military over the years.
"They just love it and they love being together."
"It's the same thing I guess which keeps us here. All ten of us lives in these houses, right. I mean, we're right here," said Dean Konig.
"Ted lives straight across in this house."
All within sight of their mom.
"The grandchildren are going now."
Which means the daughters in the family, now mothers themselves, resound a familiar theme.
"I worry about them, but they're going to be okay because they're doing what they want to do. They want to serve their country," said Ernestine Curtis.
The brothers figure all told, together they have served more than 300 years in the military.
By the way, at last count, there were 123 members of Lucille Konig's family. That includes two brand new great-granddaughters born last week.
I guess my one point is this: the people of the South should be a lot more judicious in their willingness to serve the government. They should withhold their services until they, their culture, and their ancestors are given a heck of a lot more respect by our political and cultural elites than is currently the case.
Good old Tennessee! We Texicans 'preciate all them good folks who gave us a hand in the Revolution, the Lost Cause and this current fix.
Go Vols!
So would Old Hickory and Sgt. York.
A bus full of young men circled a small town in Nebraska so that the townspeople could pay respects to its sons who are now in an undisclosed location to fight this war.
Western states are experiencing over 75 percent of their units being called up.
How I honor these young soldiers who are willing to see beyond the years and are willing to serve our nation -- while those who are blind, rant.
But my comments were made in a different direction: the extent to which many of us need to be more judicious in the ways and extent that we serve "our government". The US govt has been engaging in a variety of policies that are overtly hostile to the culture and dignity of the broad white middle and working class (especially in the south). The govt permits legalized racial discrimination against us. The govt is allowing mass third world immigration to occur that is literally dispossessing us of our patrimony. The govt is encouraging educational doctrines that are overtly antagonistic to our culture and history (multiculturalism, etc). And, worst of all, the elites have been incubating a philosophy that looks down upon us as "trailer trash" etc.
Despite all of this, these same elites look to us when the time comes for a war to be fought. They, of course, would never send their little guys and dolls into the military. And, of course, they have global ambitions that must be won by military force. So they seem to be perfectly at peace with the idea that the very same people whom they smear and demean will always be on hand to do their fighting.
It just seems to me that they take a hell of a lot for granted.
The major mistake that many in the broad middle/working class america are making is that they have not updated to the fundamental reality of contemporary america: this is not your daddies' USA.
What I mean by this is that many of us cling to the assumption that this is "our" country. "Our" ancestors discovered america, came here from europe, and carved a nation out of wilderness. "We" threw out the king and "we" created a new form of government. This worldview is based on the old america that existed before multiculturalism and mass immigration.
Failing to update one's premises is a big mistake, because it means that you are acting according to a set of beliefs that are no longer valid. This country is now a multicultural empire. "We" have no more claim to it than an illegal mexican immigrant or a H1-B guy from Pakistan. "Our" historical narrative no longer has a central place in the USA...to think otherwise is a PC crime. The new multicultural america operates as a classic empire. The central tenet of such a polity is that numerous tribal groups struggle for resources within the imperial political system (ie: they try to screw the other groups and horde resources and special treatment for themselves).
Now...what, you ask, does this have to do with the war? Plenty. The broad swath of middle america believes that this is still their country. Other groups, which long ago updated their thinking to the new america, have been working to shape this country to their benefit, at our expense. While middle america slept, the elites kowtowed to the various organized tribal groups to set up such things as affirmative action, set-asides, "race norming", mass immigration, welfare, multi-cultural education, defamation of european history, etc etc etc.
Now that the empire is threatened, the vast swath of middle america is dutifully marching off to war without asking too many questions. This is "old-think".
In order to survive and prosper in the "new" america, middle america must learn quickly how the game is played. If the DC elites want to fight this war, and do it with a very disproportionately Southern military, then a few "concessions" are in order:
1) An immediate end to affirmative action/set-asides, etc
2) The restoration of freedom of association
3) The restoration of the battle flag on national civil war monuments.
4) An immediate end to H1-B visas
5) Militarization of the Mexican border.
If the elites, who desperately want this war, were presented with the demands as the price for Southern participation in this war......what could they do? The military machine would literally never get off the ground without the sons of the south. Why should they fight for a country that is discriminating against them and dispossessing them?
If the elites don't like it, then they can:
1)not have their war
2) send their own kids to fight
3) send a military comprised of illegal mexicans and urban blacks...and see how well that goes.
In any case, competition in a multcultural empire is a very serious thing. The political process determines who prospers and who suffers. You have to be willing to extract a price when you have the goods. There is no room for sentimental altruism.
There is no room for sentimental altruism
Yes, there is. There is room for a worldview that is bigger than, "What is my personal best interest in this situation?"
Admitting that you're right about the direction our country has taken, we also have to ask, "What's the realistic better choice?" It's not as if there's a ticket window where 2 million Southern Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines can all line up and say, "We're not doing this any more, unless you give us (1,2,3,4,5 from your list above)." There's no mechanism for the quid pro quo that you envision.
My husband, the Rome enthusiast, is just now pointing out that if we, like classical Rome, decide that, because our society is deeply flawed, we're not going to defend it, then we get what we deserve. Sure, it's not that great of a situation. Theodore Roosevelt's son died in WWI. Where are the sons of today's leaders? Probably in colleges that are moral cesspools and educational frauds ...
But that doesn't mean that somebody doesn't have to defend our country against the Islamofascists ... not because it's perfect, but because it's the best thing available. It's not like we can all jump ship and go to France "-). We can only defend what we have, and work to make it better.
And if it happens, if we don't go down the toilet like Rome, it will be because of the South, and the people in Oregon, and "from north California and south Alabam', and little towns all around this land ..." (Hank Jr.)
And if we give up what's best about us as Southerners, we've got nothing left but tripe and chitlins! I'll take Middle Eastern food first!
Ah, my little tax-chick....you missed a very important point. I am not advocating disinterested self-absorption or mercenary exploitation. What I AM suggesting is that we must update our views as to WHERE OUR LOYALTIES SHOULD BE FOCUSED.
My thesis here is that we should not be acting blindly in the best interests of the american nation-state, since this nation-state no longer belongs exclusively to us (and, I would argue, we are way down on the totem pole).
Our loyalties should lie with our cultural brethern. For the purposes of this thread, that means Southerners. From this perspective, our interactions with the feds should rest on the assumption: what is in the best interest of my fellow southerners?
Clearly, the feds no longer give undivided allegiance to the broad swath of white middle class america. Southern whites, even less so. That being the case, why should southerners give the feds their undivided loyalty? Why be cannon fodder for those who hold you in contempt?
This philosophy is profoundly different than pure individualistic self-absorption which your reply implies is the goal of my advocacy. That burning loyalty which drives the sons of the south to fight for the flag would be better spent if it were utilized in service of those who appreciate and respect the sacrifice.
"There is no mechanism for the quid pro quo that you envision"
You are correct. This situation must be rectified in the near future if middle america in general (and southerners in particular) are to survive and prosper in the coming multicultural america. Those groups which are least well organized lose out in the imperial scramble for resources to those who are better organized. If we wish to obtain jobs for ourselves or educations for our children, it will be crucial that we form organizations and institutions to represent our interests.
I might also mention that there are historical precedents for the type of "denial of military service" of which I'm speaking.
During the Korean War, the NAACP threatened to resist the draft if Truman didn't integrate the military. During Vietnam, MLK threatened to resist the draft if LBJ didn't go forward with the implimentation of civil rights laws and the Great Society. Both were classic tribal maneuvers within an imperial political system...and both worked.
What? Where? How?
And what's the time horizon on this, if some nutcase tries nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons on us? Not that I'm worried, because nobody's going to think of Broken Arrow, but a lot of other people could get killed!
Show us a real target, if it's not Iraq. We tried taking down Washington once ... are you saying it's time to try it again?
For now, don't get too bogged down in the details. The important thing is to accept that a drastic change in consciousness is required on the part of southerners. They flock to the military because they are responding to an outmoded concept of the nation in which they live. They believe that this is their country and that the govt is their govt. This is not true. That govt holds them in contempt and considers them to be at the bottom of the multicultural totem pole. Once this change in consciousness occurs amongst a crucial mass of southerners, the specifics will gel almost by themselves.
"We tried taking down washington once...are you saying that its time to try again?"
NO! I'm saying that southerners have to understand the govt for what it is: it is an imperial institution run by deracinated elites who hold you in contempt. They no longer inherently represent your interests (as in the old days of the american republic) because they no longer view themselves to be related to you in any fundamental way (they are the gods of the planet and you are a redneck from fly-over country). They respond only to power. Southerners must learn to use power in order to carve a place for themselves in the new multi-cultural america, or you will be in a very sorry state.
So what we have to do is ... er ... militarize (?) the NRA, the League of the South, and the Home School Legal Defense Asssociation? The Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Daughters of the Confederacy?
I'm frustrated, as I imagine you are, because I keep telling my associates, "If you accept THEIR agenda, instead of choosing your own, you've surrendered your freedom." But most people (except on FR!) think we're from Mars or somthing!
the NAACP threatened to resist the draft if Truman didn't integrate the military. During Vietnam, MLK threatened to resist the draft if LBJ didn't go forward with the implimentation of civil rights laws
And I think my original point was that Southerners aren't like that. We're not asking for handouts in return for our military service. Tribal politics is what is dragging us down to the pit. Isn't it better not to participate at that level?
Okay, I've accepted it! For how it works out it Real Life, you'll have to wait until the Too-Many-Boys-Already grow up :-) ...
It's not that I think you're wrong about anything ... I just don't see how your points are really practical today, and today is what we, and my brother, among other Southern dudes on his way to Turkey, have to deal with.
I would say that "organize" is more appropriate.
"We are not asking for handouts in return for our military service...tribal politics is what is dragging us down into the pit"
"Handouts" is not the right term. How about respect? How about freedom from discrimination? How about not being lampooned by the NY/Hollywood elite as being trailer trash? I almost hate to say this, but Southerners' willingness to shed their blood for this current system smacks of being "useful idiots". I wish I could be a fly on the wall when the slickster elites in DC watch the Southerners march off to war. Can you imagine what they must say to themselves?
As for "tribal politics" dragging us into the pit...get used to it. You have been dragged into the pit by the elites who have drastically altered the demographics and political system in this country to suit themselves (at your expense). You are in the pit, and the lampreys are coming for your blood. You either learn to survive and prosper in the new multicultural pit, or you become a pathetic second-class citizen. There's no going back...and this ain't your daddies' USA.
Phil Valentine & 1510 WLAC will host what they hope is the largest pro-America rally in the country on Friday Feb. 28 in Nashville. Valentine will do his show live from the park (3-6 CST). At 6 the festivities begin. Lots of stars are tentatively scheduled: Charlie Daniels, Martina McBride, Lee Greenwood, etc.
CSPAN will be in the studio today at 5 PM CST to film the announcement.
Actually, I was in the USAF for 13 years...including overseas deployments. Been there, done that.
"tell my husband he is a country bumpkin..."
I don't consider people in middle america to be "country bumpkins"....though the people who run our government and who craft our foreign policy do.
"I hope my children get this same attitude of duty, responsibility, and loyalty from their Tenn father"
My quarrel is not with folks' sense of duty and loyalty. But is rather with the direction in which that loyalty and responsibility is channeled. Our elites are leading this nation in a direction which is drastically against the interests and well-being of the vast swath of middle america, even as these same elites use middle americans to achieve their own goals. Giving them unquestioned allegiance is a grave mistake.
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