Southern Progressives, Take 2 and 3

Here's another take on the meeting of Southern hoity-toits at Ole Miss, from a bit more conservative perspective.

But to judge by the stemwinders at this academic conference, the Society named for [L.Q.C. Lamar] never developed much interest in conciliating conservatives and liberals. Correction: There are no more liberals; they're progressives now. It's all in the best tradition of modern marketing: If a product doesn't sell, change only the name.

I intend to keep a running score of the political asides, digs and general bloviations at this morning's session. I want to see how many reflect a liberal/Democratic bias, and how many a conservative/Republican slant.

I soon give up. Because the contest proves as one-sided as the Arkansas-Ole Miss score this year: 35-3. Except the conservatives don't score as much as a field goal during this first session of the morning.

Is there any sector of American life that talks more of diversity than academia, and shows less of it when it comes to ideas?

...And another.

It was easy to pass for a liberal in those days because that was still the one-issue South, and The Issue was race. If you opposed racial segregation, you were a liberal no matter what you might have to say about anything else - economic policy, foreign policy, any policy. Nothing else mattered. (It wasn't just black folks who were defined by the color line.)

So someone who thought he was following sound conservative doctrine - respect for the courts and the law of the land, a reverence for the Constitution, a belief in the dignity of man as created in His image - could be labeled as some kind of wild-eyed radical. Even now somebody will approach and ask why I've changed over the years, when from my perspective I haven't changed much at all.

I much prefer this new, multi-issue South. It's healthier, more well-rounded. Now we can disagree about a whole wide range of topics, instead of just one volatile issue linked to a violent past, and tensions are defused. It makes for a quieter, and longer, life.

I sense a certain nostalgia for the old days at this gathering. I understand: Things were so much simpler then. You didn't have to think so much. Right and wrong were clearer. And we happy few who opposed segregation never had to agonize over our stand; the injustice of that peculiar institution was so evident.

It feels good to be in the minority at this conference, too, where the conservative caucus numbers maybe three. We have a kind of secret sign - an exchanged look, a quiet sigh when all things good are equated with the Democratic Party, and a shared delight when the best of the Southern tradition comes to the fore: a sense of place, a respect for eccentricity, a never-ending complexity when it comes to social relations, the lulling presence of the ever fecund land, the palpable feel of a past that is never past, the assurance that comes with knowing you will be treated with the greatest warmth and courtesy when not being challenged to a duel . . . and finally the sheer impossibility of ever really explaining this evanescent South. You might as well try explaining love.