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DR. MICHAEL HILL'S LETTER
17 JULY 2000
TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA
Dear Compatriots:
Sorry for the great elapse of time between the last and this e-mail
letter. I have been on the road almost constantly for the League of the
South. The following issue is, I believe, a very important one to bring
up at this point.
The on-going campaign to destroy all traces of our traditional Southern
cultural heritage-epitomised by the recent removal of the flag from atop
the Capitol in South Carolina-has served to awaken many of our
slumbering countrymen. As long as our cultural symbols were tolerated
publicly, we were made to think we were somehow acceptable to our
Imperial Masters. But now, thank God, the mask is off and the truth
revealed: we Southerners are seen as living "beyond the Pale."
If the actions of the Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, and the turncoat
politicians instill in our compatriots a righteous anger, then so much
the better. Let us pray also that a sense of alienation flourishes in Dixie.
Righteous anger and alienation, if properly focused, can become the
catalyst for larger, more important actions than the mere defense of our
heritage. We in the League of the South contend that the most important
action is that which first honors the triune God and then leads, with
His blessing, to Southern Independence. While legions of previously passive
and uninvolved Southerners are awakening to the threat to the symbols of
their heritage, we have an opportunity to translate that raw emotion
into productive, long-term action that leads to our ultimate goal of liberty.
So it is a good thing that large numbers of heretofore-complacent
Southerners have decided to become active in defense of their heritage.
But we must not allow heritage defense, however honorable and necessary
it is, to become the raison d' etre of the Southern Movement. More
importantly, we must not permit ourselves to sanction ill-conceived and
ill-timed centralized political efforts (i.e. the [Baxley] Southern
Party) or pseudo-military charades (i.e. the Confederate Legion). Instead,
we should view the present attacks as a wake-up call for a more worthy, if
unspectacular, undertaking, and that is the slow and arduous task of
organizing a counter-revolutionary movement to turn back the godless
revolution that has overtaken the South. This is what the League of the
South has been about since its inception in 1994, and we must not lose
sight of the fact that this organizational foundation must be built before
we can think seriously of our ultimate goal of Southern Independence.
Despite the positive aspects of the assaults on our heritage, there have
been some indisputable drawbacks as well. Perhaps the most crucial has
been a fragmentation of our movement. This fragmentation is born of
understandable frustration and impatience over recent defeats on the
heritage front. But let us understand one thing: the war has just begun,
and it is going to be a long, protracted campaign that calls for diligence
and perseverance. The final stake is our freedom, and success in
preserving it demands tight discipline and unity of purpose.
The fruits of impatience have lately manifested themselves in the
formation of numerous splinter groups or organizations (two of which are
mentioned above). While the motives of those who form these groups are,
for the most part, honorable, we run the risk within the general Southern
movement of spreading ourselves too thin by trying to support each and
every one of these efforts. Indeed, some of the more specialized efforts
are quite necessary and have done good work. They deserve your support
(e.g. the Edgefield Journal, SLRC, Southern Bar Association, Southern
Heritage Society, etc.) There are some who argue that the existence of a
large number of organizations makes us look more formidable to our
enemies; however, there is a limit to the effectiveness of this
multiple-organization approach, and it appears that we may be close to
the point of overkill (are not the LS, HPA, SCV, and UDC enough?).
Moreover, the attempts to form a centralized "national" political
party or to
establish some sort of showy Confederate paramilitary group promise only
frustration and ridicule. Let us get back to the unspectacular work of
foundation building that the League has advocated all along. For those
who lack patience and single-mindedness of purpose, this prospect may
sound unattractive. But remember, we did not get into this dark hole
overnight, and we will not dig ourselves out from it without much diligent
and faithful work.
Among those who are not particularly committed to the League's ultimate
goal of Southern independence perhaps this multiple-organization
approach is justified. Heritage defense, for example, can best be carried
out in an extremely localized manner. Politics, while not our salvation,
can
be practiced on the state and local levels by supporting our candidates (of
whatever party) through political action committees and caucuses. But to
attain our independence as a people, we must have a disciplined movement
in which all the component parts pull together in unison and in the same
direction. Movements of this sort, whether revolutionary or counter-
revolutionary (and again we are the latter), can succeed only by
employing a high degree of discipline and coordination of purpose.
The Kennedy brothers have long lamented that organizing Southerners is
akin to "herding cats." Yes, we are a stubborn and principled people,
and there is sometimes much merit in those characteristics. But, contrary
to the ways of our forebears, we have drunk too deeply of the cup of
individualism, and the atomized individual is a thoroughly modern (and
helpless) product that our ancestors would hold in the highest contempt.
Simply put, this penchant for modern individualism is a prime source of
our fragmentation, and hence of the bickering that all to often pervades
within our general ranks. We have unknowingly absorbed along with our
mothers' milk the dominant principles of a revolutionary age, and it has
bred within in us a potentially destructive impatience.
Recently, I spent several days in South Carolina on a speaking tour and
came away with a sense of what can be accomplished by a state League
chapter when the leadership and members decide to put aside individual
agendas and revolutionary aspirations and focus completely on the work
and goals of the League. Most of the folks with whom I talked had laid
aside the distraction of trying to wear too many different hats at once
and had rededicated themselves wholly to the struggle for Southern
independence by organizing strong locals chapters within the League.
I am also happy to report that this is happening in other state LS
chapters as well.
To my knowledge, the League of the South is the only broad-based
organization advocating an independent Christian Southern Confederacy.
For those who hold this goal supreme, then the League is where you
need to concentrate your efforts. The path before us will doubtless be
long and arduous, requiring patience and courage. Along the way we
likely will find it necessary to work with other organizations (e.g. SCV, HPA)
on heritage and other issues; however, let us never forget the purpose for
which the League was formed six years ago. These tumultuous times call
for a single-minded devotion to our first principles of Southern independence
through counter-revolutionary foundation building. I urge you all to
keep this goal foremost in your hearts and minds. The root cause of our
current troubles is subjugation. Our first order of business, then, must be to
break the chains of empire. May God continue to favour our honourable
cause by first instilling in each of us faith, wisdom, and courage and
then by restoring to us and our posterity a free and independent
Confederacy. That is, if we prove worthy of such a blessing.
Dr. Michael Hill
President
The League of the South
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