Is it really prudent to remove the Confederate flag and Confederate monuments from public property?
Why are we only exposed to the one-sided, emotional argument? The one that says, "these are symbols of oppression and reminders of slavery and therefore must be removed!”
I think a more reasonable argument is to leave the monuments and flags up and have civil, mature conversations about what they actually mean or what they tell us about history.
Are they really symbols of oppression or do they symbolized how far this country has come in a relatively short period of time? We outlawed slavery! A practice that is as old as human history. Something that is still practiced in many countries around the world to this day!
Or perhaps they symbolize state sovereignty and rebellion against an oppressive federal government that preferred to send over 600,000 Americans to their deaths rather than to allow a few states to secede from the Union.
That’s a conversation and debate worth having rather than weak-kneed politicians succumbing to public pressure from a loud minority of constituents unwilling to discuss or debate the merits of the monuments.
Great conversations on this topic from The Tom Woods Show - Southern Monuments Removed, Others Under Attack and Brion McClanahan podcast Confederate Origins of Memorial Day.
The Lost Art of Critical Thinking and Common Sense in Politics and Public Policy
