[Sam's Army]

"There will never be total agreement in a free society. And if flying another flag seems onerous to you, then you should understand the true meaning of that flag. It is only seen as racist because of recent adoption by a racist group of looneys (recent meaning within the last 20 to 40 years), but its actual historical meaning is something entirely different."

The co-option of the flag by racists is unfortunate.As I said before, the flag is not onerous in terms of a historical sense, but in a perspective of yet another group wanting to put heritage above all else: Identity-politics. I understand that there will never be total agreeement in free society (or even FreeRepublic for that matter). It just seems that so much of our lense is focused backwards instead of forwards.

For all the noble reasons you list for the Civil War, things often turn out the way they should for whatever reason (God working in strange ways?). The ramifications of a southern victory may have meant a united Europe (or worse)under German control in the last century. Ditto for Japanese control in Asia.

I guess I'm getting to that totally un-PC term called "Manifest Destiny"

[Colt .45]

If a person wishes to hold and honor their heritage, it is their right. That is a part of freedom. As for the focusing backwards, a lot of this would've never come about except for the lies and spin by the PC revisionistas and the Yankee whores. They say the war was over slavery, and the Southerners side of it is that the war was over States' Rights. Granted the society of the antebellum South had a lot of faults, but then the Bill of Rights was perceived at that time by the Supreme Court as a prohibition against the Federal Government not the States. So if the truth of the South's reasons for their Right of Secession is to be upheld and not to be perverted by Yankee spin doctors, we of Southern descent must fight the lies and distortions of the truth. Our society was birthed out of a tyrannical government by the right of secession, a natural right recognized by the Founders as the prerogative of the supreme power of the land ... the People. When a government denies you that right, then you must ask yourself ... "Are we truly free?" The great thing about our country is that we can disagree (like family squabbles), but let an outsider try to start some trouble and we all band together. I am an American first and foremost, of Southern descent secondly, and of Irish/Celtic descent. I support GW Bush, I support his efforts to disarm Iraq and against terrorism. I am a Republican voter, and a staunch conservative. But like I said before, I reserve the right to rebel against tyranny. That is supported by the guarantee of the 9th, and 10th Amendments to the Bill of Rights.