People don’t like it when you mess with their heritage. The Bolsheviks tried to destroy Russian nationalism, in particular massacring Russian Orthodox bishops, priests and nuns. But when Hitler invaded, not enough Russians fought for Marx, Lenin and dialectical materialism. So Stalin allowed Metropolitan Bishop Sergius to be elected patriarch, brought some of the surviving bishops and priests back from the gulag and started talking about Mother Russia.

The ongoing attack on things Southern, in particular the Confederate battle flag, might not turn out as well as progressives and neocons – and craven Republican presidential candidates – think it will. The question is: Will Southerners continue to be the backbone of the military, or head for the hills?

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2010, “Southerners disproportionately populate all the branches [of the military], while the middle-class suburbs surrounding the nation’s largest cities—New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia—produce relatively few service members despite having a large percentage of the nation’s youth population….

“While ROTC has been banned from many Ivy League campuses since the Vietnam War, the military also has drawn down its ROTC programs in the Northeast and in urban areas. ROTC has become increasingly Southern and rural.

“In Virginia, for example, there are 7.8 million residents and 11 Army ROTC programs. New York City, home to over eight million people and America’s largest university student population, has two Army ROTC programs. The entire Chicago metro area, with its 10 million residents, is covered by a single Army ROTC program, as is Detroit. Alabama, population 4.7 million, has 10.”

Not only that, but the South remains America’s most religious area. Yet in addition to the relentless assaults on Christian morality emanating from the black-robed Supreme Soviet, there’s this, from the Conservative Tribune, “As if it weren’t enough for soldiers to have to worry about foreign militants, Christians in the military are now having to look over their shoulders for a new enemy or else suffer friendly fire in the form of religious discrimination.

“When President Barack Obama claimed in 2006 that America was no longer a Christian nation, he could have been making an observation on current times or detailing his future plans for the country. Either way, with the mounting hostility toward Christians in this country, he seems to be right.

“In what could be seen as an effort to reduce the ranks of the U.S. military, as Obama said he’d do in 2014, Christians are being forced out of or not welcomed into the military in the first place due to a ‘hostile work environment’ that not only prohibits them from openly expressing their beliefs but even punishes them when they do, in some cases.

“For example, a chaplain for a Ranger training battalion received an administrative notice in December expressing concern due to the complaints of a soldier who said that the chaplain advocated Christianity and used the Bible during a mandatory unit suicide-prevention training session.

“Commenting on this in an article on their website, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers said that the chaplain ‘used his official position to force his personal religious beliefs on a captive military audience.’

“In another instance, Navy chaplain Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder had his career ruined last month after a few sailors complained of his support of traditional marriage and sexual practices that he divulged in a private counseling session.”

Despite that, the military boasts of its diversity and tolerance. The June 23, 2015 Air Force Times reported this headline, “Transgender troops attending White House LGBT Pride event.” Story:  “A transgender airman and his financé, a transgender soldier, will attend Wednesday’s LGBT Pride Month reception.

“Both Senior Airman Logan Ireland and Army Cpl. Laila Villanueva were the subject of the recent documentary ‘Transgender, at War and in Love,’ directed and produced by Fiona Dawson.

“The Air Force has been supportive of Ireland’s decision to serve as an openly transgender airman. He will attend Wednesday’s event in a male dress blue uniform.

“‘Being invited to the White House as an actively serving transgender airman is one of the most humbling experiences of my life so far,’  Ireland said in a statement emailed to Air Force Times.

“‘To be able to attend in my male dress blues is ground breaking.’

“‘For the first time I will be myself when I put on my blues, and I will carry a newfound sense of pride. Representing my Air Force at the White House is a great honor. However, being able to represent the more than 15,000 transgender military members that are still serving in silence is why I am there.’”

Just for the record, prominent Southern military leaders have included:

General of the Armies George Washington.

The Patton family: The famous general’s grandfather and uncle were killed fighting for the Confederacy.

The MacArthur family: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur’s father was a union general, but his mother’s family hailed from Norfolk, Virginia and fought for the Confederacy. He’s buried at the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk.

Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz: Texas Germans.

The Puller family: Marine Lt. Gen. Chesty Puller earned five Navy crosses and is the most decorated Marine ever. He “grew up listening to old veterans’ tales of the American Civil War and idolizing Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.” Chesty’s son, Lewis Jr., became a Marine officer and was badly wounded in Vietnam; he wrote the troubling autobiography, “Fortunate Son.”

So – what if Southerners don’t re-enlist and stop enlisting? What happens to the empire’s overseas adventures, advanced by not just Republican, but Democratic commanders-in-chief? Will the chickenhawk Ivy League politicians, diplomats and journalists themselves fight the wars they start? How will President Hillary be able to impose her feminist agenda across the planet?

To twist a slogan from the 1960s anti-war movement: Suppose the government gave a war and no Southerners came?