The Battle of Shiloh

Wikipedia

The evening of April 6 was a dispiriting end to the first day of one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history. In the Civil War, medics were not sent into the field to collect and treat wounded soldiers. Hence, many soldiers were abandoned to bleed to death, or in the case of Shiloh, be eaten alive by scavenging animals as a thunderstorm went through the area. The desperate screams of soldiers could be heard in the Union and Confederate camps throughout the night. As the exhausted Confederate soldiers bedded down in the abandoned Union camps, Sherman encountered Grant under a tree, sheltering himself from the pouring rain, smoking one of his cigars, considering his losses and planning for the next day. Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

It's easy to think that Grant was just indulging in ego here, but I think Grant knew something that many Northern generals failed to grasp. That the Northern states had the advantage in population, soldiers, war material and a greater industrial base. Whatever advantages the Southern armies had up to then, in audacious and cunning generals, in aggressiveness, they would ultimately be ground down with the steady application of the greater pressure from the Northern armies.

Since 2000, the Republicans have been able to cobble together a motley coalition comprising old-style conservatives, evangelicals, white supremists and dixiecrats, and corporate money types to get themselves close to the proverbial 50% electoral and popular vote. Add to that the Dixiecrat penchant for voter fraud and black voter exclusion, evident in Ohio and Florida, and in wherever state the Dems have been able to eke out 50% plus 1 majority, they have been able to steal the election and put themselves over the top.

The media is largely owned and operated by mega-corporations who's tax-breaks are controlled by the Republican Congress. It doesn't matter if an individual reporter is a Dem, Republican or a furry bunny, no bad news about Republicans will be allowed to make it's way into the public discourse and when it does the offending reporter will be punished.

Throwing up our hands and bemoaning the existence of Diebold voting machines in swing states is pointless. If 51% of the vote doesn't get us there then we have to get 52%, or 55%. We are the majority in the U.S. and reality does have a liberal bias. The old style conservatives are waking up to the dominance of the Dixiecrat Party and they're getting pissed.

I can't predict when the change is going to happen; it may have already started, but soon now their advantages will turn to disadvantages. They will go one "Swiftboat" bridge too far and we will have them.

Just keep the pressure on and we'll "lick 'em".