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Frequently Asked Questions About the League of the South
Q:  Why was the League of the South formed?
Q:  What is the aim of the League of the South?
Q:  Is the League of the South a Christian organization?
Q:  How is the League of the South different from previous Southern populist movements?
Q:  How will the League of the South pursue cultural and social independence and well being?
Q:  How will the League of the South pursue economic and political independence?
Q:  Will the League of the South work within the existing political system?
Q:  Isn’t secession illegal, unconstitutional, and discredited?
Q:  Does the League of the South favor political secession as a legitimate option for Southern (and other) states?
Q:  Does the League of the South advocate political violence, law breaking, or civil disobedience as a means of accomplishing our objectives?
Q:  What is the League of the South’s position regarding blacks in the South?
Q:  Why does the League of the South seek to protect the Anglo-Celtic core population and culture of the historic South?
Q:  Whence the name:  "The League of the South?"
Q:  How is the League of the South organized?
Q:  How does the League of the South spend my dues?

Q:  Why was the League of the South formed?

A:  To organize the Southern people so that they might protect themselves from the depredations of a hostile and tyrannical central government that refuses to be restrained by the Constitution.

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Q:  What is the aim of the League of the South?

A:  The League of the South seeks to advance the cultural, social, economic, and political independence and well being of the Southern people by all honorable means.

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Q:  Is the League of the South a Christian organization?

A:  While we do not require any sort of religious affiliation, we do recognize the legacy of Western Christianity and the sovereignty of God in the universe.  Most members are Christians, and we base our movement on Christian principles.  Trinitarian Christianity cannot be separated or removed from Southern society or culture without both ceasing to be Southern.

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Q:  How is the League of the South different from previous Southern populist movements?

A:  The League of the South hopes to avoid the pitfalls of similar movements by aiming both to have a large popular following as well as a leadership that includes serious intellectuals in a variety of disciplines.

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Q:  How will the League of the South pursue cultural and social independence and well being?

A:  In several ways:

By cultural secession or “abjuration of the realm,” which means withholding our support from all institutions and objects of popular culture that are antithetical to our beliefs and heritage;

By encouraging the formation of communities of like-minded Southerners that work and play together;

By buying and reading Southern literature, poetry, and history; and

By sponsoring competitions among Southern artists and writers in order to foster the continuance of our excellent traditions; and

Withdrawing our children from public education as soon as practicable and fostering home-schooling and private education.

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Q:  How will the League of the South pursue economic and political independence?

A:  This is a complex aim that cannot begin to be accomplished without first establishing a mass base; therefore, recruitment is the primary work of the League of the South until such time as our mass base is established.  Economically, we encourage Southern self-sufficiency and the purchase of Southern goods and services.  We must keep our capital at home.

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Q:  Will the League of the South work within the existing political system?

A:  Yes, as far as that will take us.  However, the League of the South does not suffer under the illusion that the leadership of either of the present political parties is likely to work toward our aims; therefore, we look forward to fielding a League of the South slate of candidates for local and state offices and drawing on our mass base to get them elected.  We will ignore Washington Beltway politics and concentrate our energies on the states and localities.

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Q:  Isn’t secession illegal, unconstitutional, and discredited?

A:  By no means.  Most of those who wrote and ratified the Constitution recognized secession as a legitimate, legal, and constitutional measure of protection against the possibility that the federal government might in the future consolidate and centralize power, violate the terms of the Constitution, and usurp the rights and liberties of the people of the sovereign states.  Secession is a natural right of a truly free people and the cornerstone of confederalism.  What has been tried, failed, and discredited is centralism – by a unitary government that reneged on its original compact with the states, usurped their sovereignty, and opted instead to hold the “Union” together by brute force.

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Q:  Does the League of the South favor political secession as a legitimate option for Southern (and other) states?

A:  Yes, but we realize that secession is not a practicable alternative at present.  However, it will be when enough Southerners come to realize the futility of reforming the present corrupt system.

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Q:  Does the League of the South advocate political violence, law breaking, or civil disobedience as a means of accomplishing our objectives?

A:  Absolutely not.  Such tactics would not only be counterproductive, but they would violate God’s law.  We do affirm our rights under the Second Amendment and the morality of self-protection, however.

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Q:  What is the League of the South’s position regarding blacks in the South?

A:  The League of the South disavows a spirit of malice and extends an offer of goodwill and cooperation to Southern blacks in areas where we can work together as Christians to make life better for all people in the South.  We recognize, however, that the historic interests of Southern blacks and whites are often different, and sometimes even antagonistic.  The League of the South believes that each group should be free to pursue its own interests without the help or hindrance of government.  We also believe in free association within local self-governing communities; governments should force neither segregation nor integration.  No one should appeal to government in order to force his preferences on others.

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Q:  Why does the League of the South seek to protect the Anglo-Celtic core population and culture of the historic South?

A:  The Anglo-Celtic peoples settled the South and gave it its dominant culture and civilization.  We believe that the advancement of Anglo-Celtic culture and civilization is vital in order to preserve our region, as we know it.  Should this core be destroyed or displaced, then the South would lose its link to the European heritage from which it has drawn its inspiration.  The South would be made over in an alien image unfamiliar to us and likely inhospitable to our children and grandchildren.  Southerners have a God-given right to self-determination, to survive as a distinct people, and to perpetuate our unique ethnic and cultural heritage.  We, as Anglo-Celtic Southerners, have a duty to protect that which our ancestors bequeathed to us.  If we will not promote our own interests, then no one will do it for us.

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Q:  Whence the name:  "The League of the South?"

A:  Our name comes from two different sources:

The Northern League, a very successful populist movement in northern Italy, to which the League of the South has personal ties, and

The League of United Southerners, organized by Edmund Ruffin and William Lowndes Yancey in 1858 to shape Southern public opinion.

For the first three years of our existence, our organization was called the “Southern League.”  However, the name had to be changed in 1997 to “League of the South” under threat of lawsuit after it was discovered that the name “Southern League” had been trademarked and copyrighted by a baseball sports league based out of Atlanta, which had held the rights to the name for several decades.

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Q:  How is the League of the South organized?

A:  It began in June 1994 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We are organized hierarchically.  The Board of Directors governs the national organization; state chairmen and boards of directors govern their respective states; and district chairmen govern local districts in each state.  From a single office in 1994, we now have state chapters in every Southern state, including the “border states” of Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri.  State chapters exist in non-Southern states as well, such as California, New York and others.

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Q:  How does the League of the South spend my dues?

A:  Dues cover the administrative costs of the national office, travel and lodging expenses for meetings held all across the South, printing and mailing costs of the bi-monthly newsletter, the Southern Patriot, the leasing of web server space for the “DixieNet” WWW Home Page, and other expenses incurred as a result of recruitment efforts.  In 1998, The League of the South Institute (LSI) for the Study of Southern History and Culture was established.  This institute can accept tax-deductible donations.  The LSI funds cultural and educational projects, including the publication of The League of the South Papers Series, and conducts annual LSI Summer Institutes (week-long summer school held in several locations across the South), as well as Southern “Hedge Schools” across the South.

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