then there was less than a universal consensusrnin the South for separation. Today,rnthat case simply does not apply. Thernmodern South has probably profitedrnfrom federal largesse more than mostrnother regions, and the argument forrnstates’ rights, which Southerners invokedrnfrom Jefferson to George Wallace, is silencedrnby the demands of Southernrnpoliticians for more farm subsidies, morerndefense contracts, more military bases,rnmore federal highways, and —if werninclude blacks as Southerners, whichrnthe League readily does —more “civilrnrights,” more affirmative action, morernfederal marshals to enforce them, andrnmore welfare.rnTo find out how practical secessionismrnis in the South today, visit any largernSouthern city—Atlanta, Charlotte,rnNashville, Richmond, Dallas, FortrnWorth, let alone New Orleans and Miamirn—and ask yourself if the residentsrn(even those who are still recognizablyrnAmerican) are ready for another Pickett’srnCharge. It’s all conservative Southernersrncan do to keep the Battle Flag flying andrnConfederate monuments from beingrnobliterated, and the most vociferous enemiesrnof the flag and the monuments arernnot the ‘Yankees” of yore or even the federalrngovernment but Southerners themselves,rneither the manipulated blacks ofrnthe NAACP or white Southerners ofrnConfederate antecedents like SouthrnCarolina’s Republican Governor DavidrnBeasley. The South today and thernSoutherners who inhabit it are simplyrntoo well connected to Washington andrnthe rest of the nation to contemplate anyrnserious movement for the national independencernof their region.rnBut even if secession were possible, itrnwould be a bad idea. Today, the mainrnpolitical line of division in the UnitedrnStates is not between the regions ofrnNorth and South (insofar as such regionsrncan shll be said to exist) but between eliternand nonelite. As I have tried to makernplain in columns in this magazine andrnmany other places for the last 15 years,rnthe elite, based in Washington, NewrnYork, and a few large metropolises, alliesrnwith the underclass against MiddlernAmericans, who pav the taxes, do thernwork, fight the wars, suffer the crime,rnand endure their own political and culturalrndispossession at the hands of thernelite and its underclass vanguard. Today,rnthe greatest immediate danger tornMiddle America and the European-rnAmerican civilization to which it is heirrnlies in the importation of a new underclassrnfrom the Third World throughrnmass immigration. The danger is in partrneconomic, in part political, and in partrncultural, but it is also in part racial, purernand simple. The leaders of the alien underclass,rnas well as those of the olderrnblack underclass, invoke race in explicitrnterms, and they leave no doubt that theirrnmain enemy is the white man and his institutionsrnand patterns of beliefrnThe only prospect of resisting therndomination of the ruling class and itsrnantiwhite and anti-Western allies in thernunderclass is through Middle Americanrnsolidarity, a solidarity that must transcendrnthe differentiations of region,rnclass, religion, party, and ideology.rnWhite Southerners are a vital part of thernMiddle American core, as are theirrnNorthern counterparts, and neither isrnthe enemy of the other. Both regionalrnsections of Middle America face thernsame threats, experience much the samernproblems, and ought to be joined in thernsame political-cultural movement tornmeet the threat together.rnIf, however. Southerners were to secede,rnthey would be engulfed by thernsame forces that threaten the nation as arnwhole. By the year 2020, the Census Bureaurnreports, the only parts of the Southrnthat will have more than a 75 percentrnwhite population will be a thin strip ofrnwestern Virginia, most of Tennessee,rnand northern Arkansas; the rest of the region,rnespecially Texas and the DeeprnSouth, will be dominated by populationsrnmore than 50 percent nonwhite, in somernplaces far more. If 80 percent of thernwhite population of South Carolinarnwere to support secession in a referendum,rnthat would amount to onlv 5 5 percentrnof the state’s total population. Irnmention this racial dimension of the secessionrncontroversy not because of thernobvious conflicts that will arise in itsrnwake but to suggest that the majorityrnpopulations of the South in the near futurernwill either be blacks, who have onlyrnhostile memories of what secession andrnthe historic South meant to them andrntheir ancestors, or Hispanics, who willrnsympathize with secession onlv if itrnmeans union with Mexico. It is unlikelyrnthat either the black or the Hispanic populationsrnwill evince much sympathy forrnJefferson Davis and his legacy.rnBut the racial composition of the futurernSouth is significant also because thernracial consciousness and solidarit)’ nonwhitesrnwill exhibit is alreadv plain, in thernfrenetic, hate-driven language of theirrnleaders and organizational vehicles, inrntheir political behavior, and in the wholernfabric of their subculture. It is a consciousnessrnthat readily identifies whitesrnas an enemy and their institutions andrnvalues as alien and oppressive.rnThe only prospect of white MiddlernAmerican resistance to this racial and politicalrnengulfment is our own solidarity;rninstead of snorting at white Northernersrnas ‘Tankees” who lack good table mannersrnand the rudiments of culture, whiternSoutherners should be standing firmrnwith them in opposition to more immigrationrnand more domination by the federalrnleviathan that serves as the politicalrninstrument of the overclass-underclassrnalliance. The key to resisting that dominationrndoes not lie in the dormant rightrnof secession but in the real federalism tornwhich both Southerners and Northernersrnsubscribed at the time the Constitutionrnwas ratified. It may be argued thatrnthe 10th Amendment is itself dormant,rnbut it remains more alive than secessionism.rnThe Supreme Court has cited thern10th Amendment in striking down a federalrngun control law in the Lopez case inrn1994 and the Brady law last year, andrneven poor old Bob Dole used to bragrnabout carrying a copy of the amendmentrnaround in his vest pocket. Of course Mr.rnDole didn’t understand or care what thernamendment meant, but the fact thatrneven he would invoke it means that it remainsrna living part of our Constitution.rnWith its revival as a serious political tool,rnmost of the dangerous and stupid overgrowthrnof the federal leviathan wouldrndisappear, and its disappearance wouldrnbe welcomed not only by Southernersrnbut by most Middle Americans of otherrnregions who suffer from it.rnI do not believe that secessionism willrnprosper as a serious political movement,rnbut I do worry that it will prosper to thernpoint of becoming a serious political distractionrn—a distraction from the imperativernthat Middle Americans now face ofrnconstructing their own autonomous politicalrnmovement that can take back theirrnnation rather than assisting the new underclassrnand the globalist ruling class inrnbreaking it up. The time left for us to dornso is shorter than it has ever been in ourrnhistorv”, and until we outgrow the infantilerndisorder that secessionism offers, thernconstruction cannot begin. If the gentiemenrnwho talk of secession have not yetrnthought of these things, I invite them torndo so soon. ‘^rn32/CHRONICLESrnrnrn