Planes of the South

OH NOES! Those Dirty Southerners are TAKIN' URR JOBS!

That explains, in one absurd op-ed, why so many people in this country have such a low opinion of unions. Here's a hint: if you are a pro-organized labor writer, and your purpose is to encourage sympathy for American workers, you don't do that by demonizing other American workers to make your case. And if you intend to make the company look like they're engaged in nefarious dealings, you don't make their free-market case for them in the most free-market major American news daily.

I know it might not seem this way to a big Chicago union lawyer, but we do a few things down South more complex than picking cotton. For example, Kyle Wingfield at the AJC picked apart this ridiculous screed of rhetorical sleight-of-hand, false choices, bald sectionalism, and inaccurate equivalencies. I don't always agree with real conservatives like Wingfield, but he makes some pretty good points in his takedown.

But let's be honest, he could go much, much further. And if he was so inclined, he could go at this from the left or the middle. Here's how:

Boeing is one of the most heavily subsidized corporations in the United States of America. They get billions in tax dollars and tax breaks. Hell, our government sends money overseas in loans so other countries and foreign companies will use those dollars to buy our Boeing products. Then there are the subsidies for the airlines they build these planes for.

I know it isn't helpful to the unions to say this, but the only reason these American workers have jobs at this particular plant doing this particular thing is because the industry they work in is heavily subsidized by tax dollars paid by other American workers - including workers from the South. It damn sure doesn't have anything to do with the skill, work ethic, pay grade, or experience of some American workers at the expense of others.

And that's before you start to consider the state and local subsidies that keep a manufacturing center running. There's a lot of local political connections involved in protecting the facility that currently exists, and there's a lot of local and political connections in developing the facility on the drawing board. The states and cities will be throwing taxpayer dollars at Boeing to keep them around.

Of course, that means every single one of these jobs is vulnerable to political conditions instead of market conditions. If we didn't have so much subsidy, we wouldn't need so many planes. If we don't need so many planes...

So right off the bat, we can see why this is such an important fight to special interests, and why that requires involvement of narratives from the right and the left. Some of the most vicious fights are the ones where localities are feuding over billions in government subsidies. And to protect those subsidies, they'll pull out all manner of completely empty partisan rhetoric. This ain't about "The American Worker" or "The Free Market" at all - and anyone who says so is just whistlin' Dixie.

Yes, I know that stings. Especially to those of you who may have bought in to one narrative or another. But government subsidy dollars find their way into high-priced union lawyers' bank accounts just as easily as they find their way into corporate profits. That's why that whole WSJ op-ed, or any of the pro-orgainzed-labor press on this issue never talked about just how heavily South Carolina will be subsidizing the Boeing plant in Charleston.

That really sticks in my craw, too. Do you know how useful that news would be in exposing a whole lot of Southern Republicans as fiscally fraudulent in their "conservative" rhetoric? But the organized labor interests demand we leave that arrow in the quiver, because bringing it to light may invite comparisons to how heavily Washington State subsidizes their Boeing plants. And Lord help us if anyone asks about national tax subsidies supporting airplane manufacturing and the airline industry! That just might start a conversation about why us taxpayers are subsidizing businesses in the billions while they keep declaring and delivering profits to their shareholders.

As for workers who can manufacture airplanes (no matter what state they call home), they'd be better off, with more secure jobs, working in an industry that is more sustainable economically and doesn't exist solely off the largesse of government subsidies.

I've never done anything as complicated as manufacturing an airplane, but I'm guessing that's a fairly specialized trade that requires some high level of skill. And while they've worked really hard and have earned their money and benefits within the system they had access to - I hate to be the one to bring up reality here - we won't be able to sustain the airplane manufacturing industry at current levels for much longer.

Petroleum costs are only going up. That means costs of jet fuel are only going up, which will make air travel much more expensive. You already see where this is going, but let's finish the trip. While the government will continue to subsidize the airline and airplane manufacturing industry robustly for a while, at some point that will become unsustainable economically and politically. Especially with one group of folks scaring the crap out of citizens about what a bad idea it is for the government to spend money.

Eventually, American culture, transportation, and tax priorities will shift, and it doesn't matter if you live in Washington State or South Carolina, there are going to be a whole lot less airplanes that need to be made, and a whole lot less subsidies to support their manufacture.

Alternately, what will need to be made, by highly skilled workers trained in manufacturing durable items with extremely high standards, are items to support alternative energy, green technology, high-speed rail, and mass transit. Who knows, there are some really nerdy types that want to get us back to dirigibles (and yes, I'm a nerdy type and I think that would be awesome). But all of those things are going to need to be built. The next generation of aircraft utilizing lighter but stronger materials to become as efficient as possible are going to need to be built. And whatever new technologies come along and require fabrication are going to need to be built.

That's a lot of stuff to be built. And the folks who are going to be needed to build it are the folks who are currently building high tech products like the Dreamliners. That's good news for the workers, but bad news for the status quo that unions want to protect. Maybe we could get to building that stuff sooner if we started turning off the subsidy tap that's keeping our economy from innovating.

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Garnet & Black Colored Lenses

The Senator points out this college football preview for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Not to be confused with the "poetry of pre-mature trash talk", a different category of fan pathology in the best of cases, the tradition of Carolina fans to offer boastful hyperbole during the pre-season is legendary within the SEC. It really is something to look forward to by many other SEC fanbases.

Though as a Georgia fan, I've enjoyed it much less since I took my own bit of undergraduate fan swagger into Williams-Brice Stadium one fall afternoon in 2000, when the Gamecocks officially served notice that they would no longer put up with being an assumed Bulldawg win.

Georgia has still taken the supermajority of wins in the series since that afternoon when Quincy Carter interceptions fell like pinata candies into the unbelieving arms of the Garnet-clad secondary, but Carolina has done a tremendous job in closing the gap in the rivalry in terms of games won outright and close losses. Without Branden Smith's 61 yard TD run in 2009 and the mind-boggling David Pollack Interception/TD in 2002, the UGA - USCe rivalry could easily stand at 5 and 6 since 2000.

Of course, there are those who will correctly note that's why we play the games, or moral victories don't count, or the final score is all that matters; Carolina will always be Carolina, they will say.

Maybe. But membership in the SEC has its privileges. That TV money makes a difference in athletic facilities, coaching hires, and desirablility due to national exposure. South Carolina may not be the most fertile recruiting ground, but the state produces a crop of elite players every year. Sharing borders with Georgia and North Carolina give them an in, and close proximity to Florida (not to mention a coach with a pedigree from that state) put the program in better shape than most others in the country.

This is allowing them to close the talent gap, if not yet the depth gap. In the past, those gaps would combine to destroy Carolina's momentum later in the season as attrition and the talent plateau would take its toll against Florida, Tennessee and Clemson.

But the 2011 Gamecocks are not going to have the same talent plateau - they proved last year that they can play with elite teams for 4 quarters, if they maintain their concentration (another maddening achilles heel for Carolina fans over the years). For almost a decade, this team has deployed a scrappy defense playing above their level, and that D has often kept them in games against incredibly good teams. If they remain healthy, both Ashlon Jeffrey and Marcus Lattimore have the talent to play on Sundays*. If Stephen Garcia figures out how not to lose games, they may finally have an offense that can give the defense leads to protect.

And they'll all be playing with a dangerous psychological combination not often seen in Columbia: while the Carolina chip on the shoulder will be there still, you now inject into the mix the knowledge that this team was able to play and win against the elite. They've beat Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee in recent years, and those SEC opponents may not be able to count on their own programs' winning tradition to get in Gamecock players' heads.

This year, the preseason talk may not be the traditional hyperbole for Carolina. The game in Athens this year is going to be the biggest and most important this rivalry has seen in a while.

(*- Spencer Hall at EDSBS once referred to Georgia players and NFL 1st round draft picks Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno as "uncontainability twinned," and the same could be said for Jeffrey and Lattimore.)

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On South Carolina

The college football offseason would be shorter for me if all the team previews read a little more like this.

(HT: The Senator's always essential Wednesday Morning Buffet.

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150 Years

How far we have come since then.

How far we have yet to go.

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The Mess of History

In 1811, Louisiana's river parishes experienced the largest slave revolt in United States history. I remember learning about this in school, but I've lived in New Orleans for 4 and a half years now. I've visited Destrehan Plantation and I've kept up with local historical reminders. Until this fantastic article was published in the Times-Picayune, I had forgotten the story.

How easy it is to forget.

Because it might be 200 years since this revolt took place, it is also 150 years since Southern states began seceding from the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and rose up against a government they believed would limit the right to enslave others.

Of those events, 150 years ago, there are plenty of rememberances. Every day I drive down Jefferson Davis Parkway, where his statue also stands. Riding downtown on a streetcar, I pass under the statued visage of General Robert E. Lee - who also has a street and a circle named for him. The streetcar line that terminates near my home does so at the foot of a horsebacked statue of General P.G.T. Beauregard - one of the creators of the Rebel Flag - and his former home is a historical site in the French Quarter. Several streetlights downtown include cast iron reminders of New Orleans "Confederate Domination" from 1861 - 1865 (even though New Orleans was surrendered to Union forces without a shot in 1863).

Across the Southern states, secession is being celebrated. Charleston hosted a Secession Ball. Montgomery is holding a parade, and a reenactment of Jefferson Davis' swearing-in as President of the CSA.

The folks are all awash in the idea of "Heritage Not Hate," an idea as noble as it is unserviceable. They want to look back at the past as if it were some better time for all, without entertaining the true meaning of the sins of the era. Doing so ironically cheapens the true blood-stained yet beautiful heritage, and only serves to keep fanning the smoldering embers of hatred between Southerners. If only we could look back on this sad history with honesty in our hearts, open eyes and open arms then maybe the Rebel Flag wouldn't be so frought with terrible meaning and the notes of Dixie wouldn't hold only her sad, exclusive memory. "Look away" is a phrase dependent on context, after all.

I'm proud to hear that New Orleans will be commemorating a slave revolt this year, as those 200 outnumbered and outgunned individuals fought for their freedom - a freedom that didn't include the right to enslave others. Such struggle gets to the heart of the Southern soul more significantly than any hoop skirt.

But it did remind me of something - something I never see. All of these activities, all of these monuments celebrating secession are billed as honoring the memory of the South. But there were thousands upon thousands of Southerners who also fought in Union Blue. Some, to be sure, were white or Native American, crossing the lines for their own conscience. But most of these thousands were former slaves - Southerners who fought under the Stars and Stripes, under penalty of reenslavement if captured during wartime, making up the United States Colored Troops.

I have lived in the South my entire life, and with the exception of the movie Glory, I have rarely seen a monument or a street or a celebration held to honor the heritage of these Southerners who fought in the Civil War. That is the greatest, most glaring omission from the "Heritage Not Hate" process of thought as it currently exists.

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As an afterword, I have read that the NAACP will be protesting several of the Secession Celebrations. These demonstrations will, of course, play right into the hands of those who want to politicize these events, and use "history" to keep us divided as the South has always been. What if...

What if, instead of showing up with placards and signs and shouting, the demonstrators showed up as USCT reenactors? They could stand at attention during the proceedings, flags aloft, with only a sign nearby indicating how many Southerners did in fact fight for the Union.

I think that would make the point more beautifully than any shouted word, newspaper editorial, blog post, or television pundit.

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