fringeelements:

Perhaps you do this too, scoffing at confederate soldiers for being so blind to the obvious issue of the time: slavery. Most people who lived in the Confederate States of America didn’t hold slaves, and while certainly a very racist society, a freed slave had better luck finding a job in the south than the north. The extreme propertarian ideology in the confederacy that would uphold the ownership of slaves also upheld the legitimacy of the freed slave. The states without slavery tended toward white nationalism. The notion that the confederacy harbored more aggregate racial prejudice than the union stems from the fact that there were more black people in the south, and thus more opportunities for the extant prejudices to manifest.

Now following the civil war and the freeing of the slaves, which was viewed as illegitimate by the confederacy and led to a black racial voting bloc, race hatred came to the fore. And of course the black population voted reliably republican at the time, which was the party of big gov’t and big business. Back then people were smart enough to recognize that big business loves big gov’t and that “regulations” are simply barriers to entry. But by establishing mandatory 12-year education camps either run or approved by the state, the state has managed to break this connection in the mind of the public and pose as the protectors against free-market “robber barons”, but I digress.

How could a confederate soldier fight for a polity that upheld slavery? The type of mind that could do such a thing, and then imagine they were fighting for liberty, is one that most today cannot conjure. But it should be extremely easy to conjure when you analyze your own view of people in third world countries. That is, people recognize that US policies prop up totalitarians and cause damage to those folks in Africa. 80.5% of the Sub-Saharan Africa population was living on less than $2.50 (PPP) a day, and there are approximately 1 billion people in Sub-saharan Africa.

The median income for Blacks in the US is $34,218 per year. US Blacks are an extremely wealthy and priviledged population, with high levels of education. While they may have something to complain about, it is definitely NOT that they lack income or opportunity compared to everyone else. And if one is concerned about fellow humans, then the last place they should look is in america.

But people still think the plight of american blacks is worth mentioning because of political barriers. The confederate didn’t think much of the plight of slaves because they were slaves, nor do americans think much of the plight of africans because they are africans. If you want to see how the confederate soldier could do what he did, just look in the mirror because odds are you do the same thing.

Now sister bleeding heart with all of your compassion please don’t turn to the state. The very bugaboo that created the political barriers (which are primarily barriers of mind) is not what will solve the world’s problems. Pointing guns in certain directions in an attempt to transfer resources simply causes production to contract both among the taxed and those who recieve goods.

If you care about the third world you will advocate 2 things:

1. Open borders
2. Free trade

On the surface this may appear to lead to rife exploitation, but let me just say that money represents goods. And if the entire world labor market is integrated into a universal structure of production, more things will be produced, and those things will be bought with whatever wages are paid. Wages will crash to be sure, but so will prices.

In the long run, i.e. 50 - 100 years, we would all be better off if this was implemented. Though in the short run the result would be a titanic transfer of capital to the third world, and in effect a giant transfer of wealth. Think high pressure to low pressure. Opening the borders would be like opening a giant vacuum chamber, sucking wealth from the first world to the third, though eventually resulting in a higher amount of wealth for all.

If you are unwilling to support freedom, and you wish to use the guns of the state to keep the africans, south and southeast asians and south americans locked out so you can live a life of comfort, then please don’t blather about having compassion or imagine that you are better than a confederate soldier.

The whole “If you care about the 3rd world you will advocate…2) Free Trade” thing caught my eye, mostly because it is misguided and generally full of shit. Every currently ‘developed’ country has at one time or another (the 19th century is the best example) in their history practiced protectionist policies, whether it be taxing imports or subsidizing domestic industries.

“Though in the short run the result would be a titanic transfer of capital to the third world,” - this is also nonsense. The truth is that capital does not flow from rich to poor countries. Instead of going off and explaining, I’ll let you check out an empirical study of this done by the IMF, here: http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2004/ecbimf/pdf/voloso.pdf