Imagine the look on the faces of the soldiers of the Union as the Confederate flag flew high and proud above the South Carolina state capital building into the late 2010s. The very state that led the charge against “Northern aggression” was permitted and heralded by Southerners and Southern sympathizers alike. Even into the 3rd decade of the 21st century, more than a century-and-a-half after the end of the first (and so far only) American Civil War, we consistently hear debate about the true meaning of the flag.

Just last year, NASCAR finally banned the flag from being flown inside the gates of their race tracks. A sport born and raised in the South took 60+ years to ban this universal sign of oppression. The social media outrage was incomprehensible. The backlash was fierce. The old-timers were going to cut their cable and the youngsters were going to fly it anyways.

How can it be that we are still here? How does the defense of a flag flown to represent nothing more than “Southern Heritage” and “State’s Rights” have so much influence in American politics? The answer is simple: the Democrats and the Republicans.

Political Influence Abound

Unless you’re in absolute denial, there is no disputing the origins of the Confederacy, the Ku Klux Klan, and strong-racial tendencies of the early to mid 20th century: The Democrat Party of the United States. The idea of white power, white supremacy, white wealth, and white utopia are all things still true in the deep parts of the DNC. This is why the Democrats have so feverishly distanced themselves from the flag and from their origins; how else to cover their trail but to shift the blame?

The once strong and hard-nosed GOP, the true abolitionists, began their long-fall to today once the black-power champion President Lyndon B. Johnson implemented his “Great Society” plan into the American political system. The modern Left talk about the “big-flip” like it’s some kind of scientific fact; their problem is that the “big-flip” was nothing more than Southerners leaving the DNC to get away from government oversight and live on their own free terms.

Once LBJ came to power, he and the rest of the DNC with him ensured the history books would be re-written. There are few traces to fully-employ this accusation, but there are far less to deny it. So, riddle me this: The GOP, still the party of Lincoln, decide to pick-up the very Confederate flag they sought to burn one day and start to feverishly wave it? I don’t fucking think so. No way, no shot. 60 years later I believe this observation is simple: The GOP had a choice. Tell the truth, out the DNC thugs and potentially face a political civil war, or embrace a new wave of Conservatives with Southern Heritage as the country was changing faster than any civilization in the history of mankind. Of course, they chose the ladder and have continually paid dearly for it. As truths change to fiction and fiction to new facts, the truth is this: The GOP’s embracing of the flag’s voters were never going to be good optics, while DNC’s resentment of the flag’s voters have paid itself off and then some.

God Bless William Tecumseh Sherman

General Sherman, where the hell would we be without him? Raging absolute, total war, the Union General went on a “tour” of sorts throughout the Southern states, burning homes and cities to the ground to get the point across: You lose. There will be no second uprising because there will be nothing to support that uprising. No event was more obliterating and devastating than the destruction of Atlanta. Sherman destroyed rail lines and supplies, leaving an estimated 40% of the city burned to a crisp.

You people of the South don’t know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it… Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.

General William Tecumseh Sherman

I bring up Sherman for this fact: Why would a region inside of the country who killed their plans of secession, fly a flag that represents the very origins of that secession? Are they proud of their loss? Are they trying to commit tyranny? What good does flying a flag who’s image represents a failed state and destruction of all they hold dear do, unless they plan to do it again?

Now, I am the biggest proponent of modern secession you’ll find in America today. I’m all about that life. I myself even own a Confederate flag. Bought it in the South. Fell for the romanticism of the South that the GOP and Conservatives alike gave me. Guns, trucks, beer, what’s not to like?

But, as I strayed further and further from the GOP and from Conservatives, the world was becoming like a newly opened book for me. I saw things differently and saw the vagueness of “heritage” and the truth of Southern and Southern sympathizer’s roots.

This isn’t a hit-piece on the South at all. I’m just concerned by one thing: If the flag means nothing but heritage and loyalty and home, then why do you want to push it into everyone’s face? If it has nothing to do with slavery, then why do so many black people want to disassociate with anyone who wants to associate with the Confederate flag? Have you taken the time to think through it’s symbolism beyond what you think you know? There is no, zero, denying that the flag to most, if not all black people, (and other minorities) represents suppression, slavery, and tyranny. Just because you don’t like the fact that someone else doesn’t like it doesn’t mean you get to say it louder.

Why You Shouldn’t Burn the Confederate Flag

The reality still remains that this is America and this is the land of the free. If you want to fly the flag, get a tattoo of the flag, wear a hat with the flag, by all damn means, do it. No one can or should stop you.

You must remember several things though:

  • NASCAR is a private entity and the GOP has sworn to protect that; you must respect their rules.
  • The flag is home to a devastating Civil War loss and owns the blood of millions.
  • Blacks have every right to ignore your business, your home, or you on the merit of the company you’ve chosen to keep.

So no, don’t burn your flag. Don’t tear down your statues. Keep the reminder of the failed secession alive and let black people know to avoid you right off the bat. Fly a flag for your heritage so I can fly my flag for freedom. You don’t think you’re racist? Burn your Confederate flag and pick up a real symbol of freedom. May the Gadsden Fly Forever.

Benevolus Post-Script

If you live anywhere but the South and claim “heritage” for you association to the flag, then get the fuck out of town!