The proud folks of The Old Dominion turned their state from Blue back to Red in their recent governor’s election. Even more dramatic is the fact that in the last twelve months, voters in various Virginia counties voted overwhelmingly to keep their Confederate monuments! In nine out of nine ballot referendums, the voters spoke, and they spoke with a loud voice! This, of course, is in line with a national poll reported by CNN that 52% of Americans wanted to keep Confederate monuments—this was even true in the New England States! In the South, the percentage in favor was even greater—between 60 to 70%. Traditional American values win when “We the people” are allowed to speak. The folks in Virginia should be proud of their victories. These triumphs are victories for all true Southerners. But with this electoral victory comes a word of caution. It takes more to defeat our enemies than just winning an election or ballot referendums. Our enemy never sleeps. Mississippi is a prime example.

Too often, conservative voters become “drunk on victory” after a successful election or ballot initiative. They assume that, once the people speak, the political establishment will follow through and abide by the documented “will of the people.” Unfortunately, this is not how America’s current, corrupted, political establishment works.[1] When was a resounding conservative electoral victory followed up by a resounding change in America’s leftist march toward centralization, socialism, and anti-Christian immorality? The answer is NEVER! Occasionally, we win a battle, but conservatives do not know how to win the war! The past 156 years were years of consistent conservative failure—nothing was “conserved.” Occasionally, we may win an election, but the relentless attack on traditional American values continues. The leftist progressive movement that began in the late 1800s never retreated. Today, as President Biden’s Press Secretary recently declared, “The Federal Government can do anything it wants to do.” Where is “our” vaunted Constitution? Today, “We the people” are living in an era created by over a century and a half of conservative failure.[2]

The folks in Mississippi won a tremendous electoral victory when, by an overwhelming percentage, the people of Mississippi voted to keep their traditional state flag. The State flag that contained the Saint Andrews Cross. The people spoke, but the political elite in Mississippi, taking their instructions from the political elites in Washington, DC, schemed to nullify the will of the people. In a special called session, Mississippi’s Republican legislature passed a bill overriding the people’s vote, and the state’s Republican Governor proudly signed the bill. So much for the democratically expressed will of “We the people.” How did Mississippi’s political travesty occur? Will a similar political travesty happen in Virginia?

Mississippi’s political travesty is a prime example of the fact that traditional, conservative Southerners are a stateless people. We have no government that will protect and, more importantly, promote our values.[3] America’s neo-Marxists (liberals, progressives, secular humanists, postmodern academics, financial and political elites) have a government—the Supreme Federal Government—that protects and promotes their values, but “We the people” do not have such a government. I was in Mississippi while the rump legislative session was in progress and saw the utter helplessness on the faces of Mississippians who worked so hard to get their initiative on the ballot and then to win their ballot initiative. But the will of the people is meaningless if there is no political force to compel the political establishment to respect the people’s expressed will. John C. Calhoun declared that no word of the Constitution is self-enforcing. Without a strong political mechanism to enforce the limitations inscribed in the Constitution, the Constitution becomes a mere paper barricade. A barricade easily breached by an aggressive political ruling elite. The same is true for the expressed will of the people as expressed in a ballot referendum. It happened in Mississippi, and it can also happen in Virginia or any other state because we are all stateless people.

In a recent blog article, Pedro Gonzalez, an associate editor of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, warned that Virginia’s political establishment began the process of yielding on the conservative principles that won them the recent election. He noted that “Republicans have a long history of capitalizing on cultural outrage to secure electoral victories, only to grant major concessions to the opposition…”[4] He makes an interesting argument that all Virginians should consider. His explanation follows the trend of conservative failures following electoral victories.

If the Constitution means what it says and if the democratic process of voting means anything, then why are the neo-Marxists always able to turn conservative tactical victories into conservative strategic failures? First and foremost, it must be understood that neo-Marxists do not hold the Constitution in high regard. To them, it is nothing more than the ramblings of old dead white men—most of whom were slave owners! In their minds, it is a relic of America’s racist past that must be discarded and if not completely discarded, then it is ignored by those in power. President Biden’s Press Secretary’s remark that “The Federal Government can do anything it wants to do” is not something new in the thinking of America’s ruling elite. Recall how Nancy Pelosi, during the Obama Administration, responded when a reporter asked her if the Constitution gave Congress the power to compel Americans to purchase health insurance. Her response was a scathing, “You got to be kidding!” Or recall how, during the Clinton Administration, the U.S. Solicitor General was asked by a Supreme Court Justice if there was anything the Federal Government could not do. He stood there shocked by the very question and could not think of anything the Federal Government could not do![5]

The Supreme Federal Government can close churches, mandate medications for its subjects, or indoctrinate children in critical race theory. “We the people” are a stateless people, no longer citizens but now subjects of the Supreme Federal Government. This Supreme Federal Government is the government that neo-Marxists rely upon to force us to accept their social, political, and immoral values. This is the reason Mississippi’s Republican elite felt secure in nullifying the will of Mississippi’s voters. It serves as a warning to all of us, but what do we do?

As the Kennedy Twins pointed out in 1995: “This historic battle will not occur in Washington, DC, but at the local level.”[6] We must be organized locally in every village, city, county, and Congressional District. If the state legislature attempts to ignore the will of the people, then we will remove them via a recall election or at the next election. Because we do not have a government of our own to protect and promote our values, we will have to establish our political mechanism to compel the elected elite to protect and promote our values. No more business-as-usual politics—we must be willing to engage in irregular political warfare.[7]  If Mississippi’s conservative voters had such a political mechanism in place, their elected “conservative” Republicans would have never dared to nullify the expressed will of Mississippi’s people. The people of Virginia as well as all other Southern states should take warning. Merely winning an election or ballot initiative is not enough—our enemy never sleeps.

[1] See Chapter 11, Political Poverty-The Death of Southern Statesmanship in Kennedy & Kennedy, Punished With Poverty-The Suffering South 2nd edition (Shotwell Publishing, Columbia, SC: 2020), 133-160.

[2] See, How Not to Win in Kennedy, James Ronald, Dixie Rising-Rules for Rebels 2nd edition (Shotwell Publishing, Columbia, SC: 2021), vii-x.

[3] See, American Values Conservatives are a Stateless People, Kennedy, Dixie Rising-Rules for Rebels 2nd edition, (Shotwell Publishing, Columbia, SC: 2021), 2-4.

[4] https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/blog/warning-signs-for-virginia-populists/  accessed 11/23/2021.

[5] As cited in Kennedy & Kennedy, Was Jefferson Davis Right? (Pelican Publishing Co., Gretna, LA: 1998), 279.

[6] Kennedy & Kennedy, Why Not Freedom (Pelican Publishing Co., Gretna, LA: 1995), 241.

[7] Irregular political warfare as described in Kennedy, James Ronald, Dixie Rising-Rules for Rebels 2nd edition (Shotwell Publishing, Columbia, SC: 2021), 19-34.


James Ronald Kennedy

Ron and his twin brother Don are the authors of Punished by Poverty, The South Was Right!, Why Not Freedom!, Was Jefferson Davis Right?, and Nullify Tyranny; Ron is the author of Reclaiming Liberty, Nullification: Why and How, and Uncle Seth Fought the Yankees. Ron is past Commander of the Louisiana Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and is a life member of the Louisiana Division and the National Sons of Confederate Veterans. Ron is a frequent speaker at SCV, Southern Heritage and other pro-Liberty groups. Ron received a Masters in Health Administration (MHA) from Tulane University in New Orleans, a Master of Jurisprudence in Healthcare Law (MJ) from Loyola University Chicago, a Bachelor’s degree from Northeast Louisiana University, a certificate in Paralegal Studies from Louisiana State University and holds numerous professional designations in healthcare and insurance Risk Management.

4 Comments

  • William Quinton Platt III says:

    You are absolutely correct. Your enemy will never stop. You cannot appease him. You cannot reason with a movement that is willing to kill children on delivery room tables to secure votes.

    Deo Vindice.

  • TheRepublicofIndianStream says:

    I’m a New England Copperhead.
    All Traditional Virginians should pay attention to this.
    New England Republicanism is a ‘special-kind’ of Deceit.
    You have not experienced deceit until you’ve experienced RINO / Establishment Republican Deceit !

  • Planter&StockDealer says:

    Dear Sir,

    If the State of Virginia can be carved up by political power to manufacture a whole new ‘state’, well, then political power can easily destroy stone and cloth. Don’t you agree?

  • John Jameson says:

    Thank you for mentioning what happened in Mississippi 2020. Im from Mississippi and very proud to be, but i am ashamed, that somehow our people let our woke spineless legislature and so called republican gov. get away with removing our beloved flag, and replacing it with a marxist snowflake looking one. Im praying our little dictator Reeves is a one term gov because of what they did. But its to late for our flag. Even the petitions for it to be recalled in 2022 to be voted on is looking dim. Some how WE THE PEOPLE have got to pull together and hold these elected officials feet to the fire. Thank you again for mentioning this hidious act they have done to the people of Mississippi. And a shout out to other red states not to trust just the ballot box.

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