It is time we in the north acknowledge that the south was right. We would both be happier without the other. It is time to divide the country right along red state, blue state lines. There may be some question about Colorado, New Mexico and southern California but other than that it is so clear we both hate the other and will both never give in to their perversions.

Michael Lind's contrast of the EU with the US is very apt. One of the bedrock values of the European Union is that old, rich member states expend resources for the benefit of new, poor members.

Often expressed as a moral imperative — others helped us when we were new, say the older members, so now we must help the newest — in reality the practice serves an important strategic purpose. It prevents exploitation of economic disparities by the poorer states — exactly what Lind describes in the American South.

Lind doesn't say this but, fundamentally, the people who have had the most interest in the progress and expansion of a robust capitalist democracy have been asleep at the wheel since the Reagan Era.

The bizarre and self-destructive lapse of defense of their own interests by organized labor and the American intelligentsia — not the follies of the neoconservatives — will be the hallmark of our era when all is said and done. Hopefully it's not too late to turn it around.

Interesting. Very interesting.

Sherman was far too conservative with the torch on his march.

...they CAN be bought!

I'd bet that if the price were right, they'd let Al Qaeda set up shop. AQ only attacks blue states anyway!!

Toyota has factories there. Those dirty Japs. Next thing you know they'll bomb Pearl Harbor again, and side with the Confederacy.

Please allow me, a Southerner, to point out the fact that many Southern families were preserved from starvation in the 30's and 40's because they could "go up North" and find a job in "Detroit City". The money earned kept many a family intact, and truly, literally prevented starvation in many instances. The people of my grandparents' generation did not like living in the North (you love where you're born, no matter where that is), but they were always grateful for the chance to make a decent living wage in an era where that was very hard to obtain.

I have personal memories of this, related to me by my grandparents who found a job in Detroit, and their brothers and sisters who found jobs there, and in Chicago, etc. They always said they were glad to be able to return South years later, but had only good things to say about the opportunity they found. Cadillac Motors, Detroit Brass, the telephone company, and other companies provided my family a chance to survive. And we older Southerners have NOT forgotten that.

I have cringed with all this backstabbing of the American auto industry recently. Please folks, just know that not everyone here feels that way. I hope to see the American auto industry thrive for centuries to come.

And to the guy who said Sherman was too generous when he torched our land -- you have no idea what you're talking about buddy. Try living through that yourself and see how it feels. I have personally heard tales related to me by my great grandmother about that. It was a very horrible experience. You may not have meant it, but that comment was way out of line. Anyway ... Peace.

You can say "The South was right" only if you define "the South" as white; a construction that totally ignores the very large population of black people in the southern states at the time of the Civil War. It also ignores the horrendous nature of their legal status. In South Carolina blacks had a three to one majority. In other states, they approached half to a third of the population. The South belongs to black people, too. They constitute the largest voting block of what Lind calls "the progressives" of that region. I know talk of splitting off is facetious, but let's not forget the people who helped build the place and deserve to be able to live there under the standards of a truly modern and civilized society.

I agree with many of the author's criticisms of the South, but it seems bizarre to criticize Southern states for "collaborating with foreign economic rivals". Toyota and Nissan are enemies of the US? American car companies have moved many factories to Mexico to take advantage of low wages there - that seems a lot more "disloyal" than moving factories to the South where wages are lower. (And where the cost of living is a lot lower as well.)

They could make these arguments in high quality television using the public access channels. They could create educated dramas in Hollywood. As indiciduals, they could take a thousand and one constructive actions, from financing green development to charity work to political action.

Each of us must think of how to help the Obama administration be successful. A black man rescuing the nation from the Bush catastrophy will be a spectacular moral victory for liberals. And I for one intend to do everything I can to help.

I have nibbled around the edge of this in my Salon posts, but Michael Lind really bit into it! Bravo!

Have you noticed that the President of the United Auto Workers has a (white-style)Southern accent? Have you noticed that Senator Corker of Tennessee is Foghorn Leghorn in a Senator Corker suit?

Americans are brainwashed by their schools, the media and the mythology of an earlier era.

The "rugged individual" ..... ala John Wayne ..... you either succeed or fail on your own merits ........ you owe no one anything and no one owes you anything ....... their is no reference to cooperation for the common good. Its the law of the capitalist jungle ...... everyman for himself.

And while the public buys into this nonsense, the powers that be do not believe this nonsense and form groups and collaboatives to conspire for their own power and greed hungry interests.

A strange cold-hearted philosophy for a nation that claims to be Christian.

Europeans know they are all in the same boat and the common good takes priority over any one or group's interests.

Americans themselves have bought into and created this isolationist hell for themselves.

What fools ......

The south and the foreign car manufacturer controversy is just now becoming visible because of the problems of Detroit.

But the whole country is this way ....... including the north.

Everyman for himself means every one is their own individual whore ........

Southerners have been brainwashed to fear the word "union" (and no, they do not teach people to think anymore in schools ...... its all about socializing people to be cogs in the machine) but

almost all americans have been brainwashed to consider any policy which benefits the greater good, including that of their neighbors, to be "socialist" and they flee from the word like a tv vampire from the image of a cross.

The govt wants people to be separate ...... its wants them to be at odds with each other ...... it wants them to compete ..... it wants them to believe their sense of self is derived from what they own.

As long as they are separate ..... as long as they compete rather than cooperate ....... they will not have the power that a people unified in common causes have.

The govt is scared of the people coming together ...... their power would be too great.

And so they continue to promulgate ideas and policies that separate people and keep them from seeing their common enemy.