Get Rid of The Confederate Flag Now

Since the tragic Charleston shootings, there has been a call to stop displaying the Confederate flag.   I don’t think that there is any cause/effect of displaying the flag and racial hatred.  Turns out, the person that did the shooting was on a prescription drug-like other mass shooters were.

I disagree with those that want more gun control.  We have plenty of gun control laws in Chicago.  There were more Americans killed and wounded here than there were on any field of battle where American GIs are stationed.  Gun violence has little to do with the law.  The people committing gun violence don’t really care about laws anyway.

Predictably, political candidates have mostly shied away from saying anything.  Bush got rid of the flag in Florida and it was the smart thing to do.  Clinton didn’t when he was governor of Arkansas, and Hillary made nary a peep.  When the wind blows the right way and they feel it on their fingertips, the candidates will come around.  They’d look better to all Americans if they made a quicker decision based on their gut and not their pollsters.

I agree with those that want the flag taken down.  I am a conservative.  I grew up in the North, but I have a lot of family in the South.  My kids went to school in the South, so it’s not as if I don’t “get” the South.  There is no doubt that people in my ancestry fought on the side of the South in the Civil War.  But, they are a part of history now, and the Confederate flag should be a part of history too.  It should have been a part of history since April of 1865 when the South lost the Civil War, or War Between the States, or War of Aggression or whatever you want to call it.  Dixie isn’t going to lose it’s flavor if the Confederate flag ceases to be displayed.

On holidays, I understand that the dead from the Civil War get Confederate banners on their gravestones in some cemeteries, when other people from the same town that passed away in different conflicts get the Stars and Stripes.  But, maybe that tradition should end too.

I am empathetic to people saying they should not bend to the will of people calling for the abolition of Confederate flag displays.  I am empathetic to free speech.  I understand the logical argument that if it starts at the Confederate flag, what other flag might have to be taken down that people find offensive?  The Confederate flag is offensive because of what it represented, and what it continues to represent.  You don’t see German states flying the Nazi banner just because it represents their ancestors or history, and for good reason.  The Tea Party has used the “Don’t Tread on Me” (Gadsden) flag as a rallying banner.  Big government types might find it offensive.  I know people of all races that appreciate the spirit of the Tea Party.  We haven’t officially used Gadsden in a war yet, so if you want to display it feel free.  It shouldn’t be displayed over an official government place of business though.

I am all for state’s rights, but a state has a state flag.  It can display that one.  I was in Louisiana, and I noticed they don’t even have a Confederate symbol on their state flag.  Neither does South Carolina anymore.  I think it behooves all the states that used to be in the Confederacy to rid their state flags of Confederate symbols as well.  We all can google what happened.  No one is being forgotten or honored, or dishonored.  Your flag represents your state but we are all Americans and the Confederate flag is not a part of America.  Nor was it ever a part of America since the South seceded.

Stick the Confederate flag rightly where it belongs, in a museum.