Dear Editor:

April is Confederate History Month in Alabama, as proclaimed by the school board and governor. Over 100,000 Alabamians served in the confederate states military; over 30,000 died; another 30,000 wounded, many losing arms, legs and eyes in defense of the voluntary union of independent states, established by the founding fathers.

White, black, Indian, hispanic, protestant, Catholic and Jewish confederates valiantly stood as one in thousands of battles on land and sea. Afterward, they attended confederate veterans’ reunions and received pensions from southern states.

See photos of black and white confederate veterans together at the Alabama archives: “Scrapbook of the 41st Reunion of United Confederate Veterans in Montgomery, June 2-5, 1931.”

Results of President Abraham Lincoln’s tax war:

The voluntary union of low-taxed states was replaced by a compulsory union of high-taxed colonies, as under Britain, with states and people only having rights the federal government allows.

All Americans became tax slaves, paying a 40 percent tax rate on income, payroll, sales, property, gasoline, imports, etc…

Slavery was not abolished, just the name changed to “sharecropper,” with 5 million whites and 3 million blacks working on land stolen by the Wall Street bankers, who elected Lincoln. Even General Ulysses Grant owned four slaves during the war.

The southern people suffered a cruel military occupation for 13 more years; confederates could not vote nor hold office.

The greatest Christian revival in American history in the confederate army resulted in scores of churches built and the south being nicknamed, “The Bible Belt.”

The south was right!

 

To the Editor:

Rep. Bradley Byrne is right: the Employee Rights Act (ERA) would “bring our nation’s labor laws up to date.” (“Overreach reigning at labor department,” March 30)

Unions today function like the Hotel California — it’s almost impossible to leave one. According to government data, less than 10 percent of union members ever voted for the union currently “representing” them. In most cases, union leadership is a relic of the past — a pro-union workforce from years or even decades ago. This means that many current union employees are only unionized because of the status quo, not by their own choosing.

The ERA would solve the problem by requiring periodic union recertification votes once a workforce has experienced substantial turnover. This provision is in no way anti-union; it merely guarantees union members have a say when it comes to their union status.

Employees certainly want one: the ERA’s recertification provision is supported by almost 80 percent of working Americans, including more than 70 percent of those in union households.

Labor unions should be democratic. The ERA would ensure it.

Richard Berman

Center for Union Facts

Washington, D.C.