The Stars And Bars Under Attack? I'll Fly Them

It appears there is a renewed witch hunt against all things Confederate, including the battle flag, in the wake of lunatic Dylann Roof's recent shooting of several black churchgoers. The young murderer wore several such insignias and claims to have acted with the intent of sparking a race war.

Before I comment on how ridiculous and offensive it is to stamp out this symbol of the Confederacy, I should pause to mention that another lunatic named John Brown murdered several innocent people in the mid-1800s with the same intention of sparking a race war. He was hanged before he could find out that he had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, for the war he helped to launch caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. And yet, John Brown was and is hailed as a hero for his cowardly, murderous actions. I see only two choices here: both John Brown and Dylann Roof are lunatics worthy of scorn, or they both are heroes worthy of praise by the people they claimed to represent. I choose the former, but everyone else should ponder that one for a little while.

As for the flag, it was flown by men with more character, courage, and righteousness in their fingernails than any modern politician has in his entire family. The vast majority of Confederates owned no slaves and had no aspirations of doing so; while they tolerated chattel slavery (as did the United States under the Constitution), what they fought for was to preserve their lives and homes from an invasion by a murderous, lawless, and rapacious regime that would, and did, impose a form of slavery that was universal and perpetual. The Confederacy was freer with chattel slavery than we are today without it, hands down. The cause of the Confederate soldier was noble -- he was willing to fight to prevent the tyranny that we now endure, in the face of overwhelming odds and almost certain death or disfigurement.

I pray for that kind of courage, as should all men, and I will continue to honor my ancestors who showed it. The shriveled souls who demonize them, or those of us who honor them, can go straight to hell.