Why the Confederacy Lives

Politico Magazine ^ | April 08, 2015 | EUAN HAGUE

[lqcincinnatus]

One hundred-fifty years after Appomattox, many Southerners still won’t give up.

One hundred fifty years ago, on April 9th, 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House and the Union triumphed in the Civil War. Yet the passage of a century and a half has not dimmed the passion for the Confederacy among many Americans. Just three weeks ago, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) appeared before the Supreme Court arguing for the right to put a Confederate flag on vanity license plates in Texas. Just why would someone in 2015 want a Confederate flag on their license plate? The answer is likely not a desire to overtly display one’s genealogical research skills; nor can it be simplistically understood solely as an exhibition of racism, although the power of the Confederate flag to convey white supremacist beliefs cannot be discounted.

Rather, displaying the Confederate flag in 2015 is an indicator of a complex and reactionary politics that is very much alive in America today. It is a politics that harks back to the South’s proud stand in the Civil War as a way of rallying opinion against the federal government—and against the country’s changing demographic, economic, and moral character, of which Washington is often seen as the malign author. Today’s understanding of the Confederacy by its supporters is thus neither nostalgia, nor mere heritage; rather Confederate sympathy in 2015 is a well-funded and active political movement (which, in turn, supports a lucrative Confederate memorabilia industry).

[lqcincinnatus]

The issue of slavery was properly decided, so for the rest, why should we give up?

[Paladin2]

We are all now slaves to the Feds. Many would like to secede from the tyranny of Bammy and DC....

[doberville]

So, what do we care what Euan Hague thinks about what we want to do with our confederate flags?

[centurion316]

A more important question is why someone would demand that such a thing be forbidden? The intolerance of the Left apparently knows no bounds.

[iowacornman]

It sure does live. It had very little to do with slavery. It was all about States rights.

[VanDeKoik]

Secession was not wrong, it was just wasted on the CSA.

Any other secessionist movement with that much support as they did, would have won easily. The foreign intervention would have happened.

[FatherofFive]

It is a politics that harks back to the South’s proud stand in the Civil War as a way of rallying opinion against the federal government

I'm second generation Irish. I always admired the South fighting for freedom from the oppressive federal government. I always viewed the Yankees as the Brits. The guys they threw out.

[SandRat]

Just why would someone in 2015 want a Confederate flag on their license plate?

Some would say, For the same reason that they would put the American Flag on it.

[GraceG]

[ We are all now slaves to the Feds. Many would like to secede from the tyranny of Bammy and DC.... ]

The Early Pro-Regressive Era from 1890 - 1920 is what started the ball rolling to make us all slaves....

[colorado tanker]

Just why would someone in 2015 want a Confederate flag on their license plate?

Same reason someone puts a "Celebrate Diversity" bumper sticker on their car - to make a statement?

[hosepipe]

Blacks WANT to be slaves of the federal givernment..
Slave mentality brain washed in public school and black culture..

The Democrat KKK of the South... went North....
As Lyndon Banes Johnson famously said.. “Those you know whats(nigs) will be voting democrat for 200 years”..

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

Well, Mr. or is it Ms. EUAN HAGUE, because you were obviously not born in the South then you can never comprehend why, dumb-ox!

[Paladin2]

Gadsten Flag....

[ConorMacNessa]

In a 1st Amendment analysis, I perceive no difference between a "Sons of the Confederacy" license plate and a "Choose Life" license plate. The states have just about all authorized individually selected license plates, reflecting both membership in various organizations and the particular thought or sentiments of the vehicle owner. It has become a forum for the discussion of ideas just as surely as a newspaper, a political advert, or even this forum.

There's a lot more to the War Between the States than slavery. I am descended from Irish Famine refugees who were transported to America under virtually the same conditions as African slaves and received just as harsh treatment in the coal mines of Pennsylvania as slaves picking cotton in the South.

We - the Conservatives - recognize the right of all to free discourse. The Left squelches by any means possible any speech that it finds objectionable - like Confederate flags, et cetera, ad nauseam.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[BenLurkin]

“reactionary politcs”

Who talks like that?

Seriously — it sounds like something out of Dr. Zhivago.

[jmacusa]

Yeah, the states rights to own slaves.

[easternsky]

My Daddy always said “the South is gonna rise again”

[jmacusa]

“The intolerance of the Left knows no bounds’’. Boy, irony isn’t lost on you , is it?

[panzerkamphwageneinz]

It’s alive in me.

[txrefugee]

Research the lives and character of Ullyses S Grant and Robert E Lee. The better man lost, and he proved he was the better man by conducting himself as an exemplary Christian gentleman after the war, never being bitter in spite of the war crimes committed by Union low-lifes such as Gen. Sherman.

The sons of the Confederate states have given outstanding service to the U.S. military in every war since the Civil War. Yet, vindictive and fearful partisans continue to demand that the South give up its remembrance of its history as a valiant people. We will never forget.