Confederate Flag

I have heard so much about this issue for years now. First, it was demanded off the dome of the capital. Now, it is demanded to be taken off the grounds completely. It is claimed to symbolize racism, ignorance, and oppression. Guess what? The NAACP is now a symboly to me and every true NON-racist, educated son of a confederate veteran to be the real symbol of racism, ignorance, and oppression.
The NAACP used to be a good organization. They used to truly fight for those that were being wronged and mistreated. Now they are nothing more than a bully without a clue. They pick up on ANYTHING that has claimed to be racist againt any person of African-American descent no matter if the cause is right or righteous. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be udderly appalled at what this group has turned into today.
The Confederate Battle Banner was a symbol for confederate troops to rally under during a time of war. Its design was that of a people fighting for what they thought was right. States rights, and industrialization; NOT slavery and oppression as the biggest racist this country every had Abraham Lincoln wanted the people to believe. It is a symbol to a descendant of a Confederate Vetran of the sacrifice that was being made to secure a better future for us.
The NAACP and anyone else that claims to be educated and claims that the Confederate Battle Banner is a symbol of racism and ignorance should truly get to the REAL story of the history around this matter. Otherwise they prove themselves to be either racist, ignorant or both. The Confederat Battle Banner is a symbol of HERITAGE NOT HATE. If this contiues I think the NACCP should have a class action law suit brought against them for slander, and defimation of character of all confederate soliders and their decendants.
If the excuse that the KKK carries the banner when they march, guess what? They also carry a Holy Bible, a christian flag, an American flag and the flag of whatever state they are in. To single out this banner is proof that the NACCP is picking on the minority group of those symbols to attack, the sons and daughters of confedarate soldiers.
It is time the NACCP gets over this crap, opens their eyes and find a just cause to fight. Stop being racists, ignorant to the truth, bullies, and most of all stop going back on thier word. The monument on the house grounds was accepted as a comprimise to it being on the state house dome. Now, they want to go back on their word because they have nothing better to do and feel the need to get their name in the news.

Is the U.S. flag--the Stars and Stripes a hate Flag? The answer is a resounding NO. It represents Freedom and Democracy.

However it flies over the murder by abortion of an estimated 50 million babies. It flew over the genocide of the American Indians and millions died. It (and the colonial flags of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and New York that pre-dated it) flew over the ships of Yankee slave traders for 200 years. It flew over an illegal and unconstitutional invasion of the Southern states from 1861-1865 during which Union soldiers committed murder, plunder, theft, arson, and rape on a huge scale which was planned and condoned by Union officers and president Lincoln. During World War II it flew over the bombing of Dresden Germany which was a cultural and population center and not involved in the war effort. Thousands of innocent children died. It could be compared to the Nazi flag as the human rights violations and atrocities committed under the Stars ans Stripes exceed that of Nazi Germany and the Swastika flag. Yet, amazingly it is the Confederate flag that is being compared to Nazi Germany and the Swastika. The U.S. flag and the Confederate flag are not judged by the same standards and held to the same level of accountability. It is indeed amazing that the Confederate flag which represents a decentralized limited government acting only in defense against invaders is compared to a totally centralized government bent on world conquest. The Confederate States of America and Nazi Germany were polar opposites.

Although most people do not realize or give it much thought, the results and consequences of Southern defeat and surrender in 1865 which ended the War for Southern Independence (War Between the States or Civil War) affect us on a daily basis.

One of the many consequences was the destruction of States Rights. America was founded primarily by Southern gentlemen from Virginia as a Constitutional Federal Republic composed of a limited Federal Government and sovereign states. The 10th Amendment states "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

The Federal Government has forced the "Right to Abortion" upon unwilling Southern states. Christian Confederate leaders would never have voted to allow the mass murder of unborn children and they would not have appointed renegade activist judges to the judicial system.It is estimated that 50 million babies have been murdered under the U.S Flag (Old Glory-The Stars and Stripes).

NO- the U.S. flag--the Stars and Stripes is NOT A HATE FLAG. As previously stated it represents Freedom and Democracy. Likewise the Confederate flag is NOT A HATE FLAG--it represents limited constitutional federal government, states rights, resistance to tyranny, and Christian values and principles. It is a grave injustice to call either flag a HATE flag or to compare either flag to the Nazi Swastika. Both should be respected for positive reasons.

Slandering the Confederacy

One often sees attacks in the press on the Confederacy,
comparing it to Nazi Germany and its battle flag to the swastika. Such
ignorant analogies are highly offensive, especially to those of us who are
Jewish, and demonstrates little knowledge about either the Confederacy or the Nazis.

Over 3,000 Jews fought honorably and loyally for the Confederacy, including
its Secretary of War and later State, Judah Benjamin. My great grandfather also
served, as did his four brothers, their uncle, his three sons, and some
two dozen
other members of my Mother's extended family (The Moses' of South Carolina
and Georgia).

We know first hand, from their letters, diaries, and memoirs, that they were not
fighting for slavery, as is so often and falsely alleged, but rather to
defend themselves and their comrades, their families, homes, and country
from an invading army that was trying to kill them, and burn their homes and cities.

If you want to talk about Nazi-like behavior, consider the actions of a leading
Union commander, General Ulysses S. Grant, whose war crimes included the
following:
Ordering the destruction of an entire agricultural area to deny the enemy support
(the Shenandoah Valley, 5 August, 1864).
Leading the mass murder, a virtual genocide, of Native People, mainly helpless
old men, women, and children in their villages, to make land available for
the western railroads (the eradication of the Plains Indians, 1865-66).
What we euphemistically call "the Indian Wars" was carried out by many of
the same Union officers who led the war against the South -- Sherman,
Grant, Sheridan, Custer, and other leading commanders.
Overseeing the complete destruction of defenseless Southern cities,
and conducting such warfare against unarmed women and children (e.g., the
razing of Meridian, and other cities in Mississippi, spring, 1863).

And we Georgians know all too well of atrocities by the Union forces, especially that of General William T. Sherman on his infamous
"March to the Sea" through Georgia and the Carolinas, in which his troops
routinely burned, looted, and destroyed libraries, courthouses, churches, homes,
and cities full of defenseless civilians, including my hometown of Atlanta.

It was not the South but rather our enemies that engaged in genocide and
other war crimes. While our ancestors may have lost the War, they never
lost their honor, or engaged in anything that could justify their being
compared to Nazis. It was the other side that did that. .
Sincerely yours,

Lewis Regenstein
Atlanta, GA

Traitor, according to Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary:
One who violates his allegiance and betrays his country; one guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers his country to its enemy, or any fort or place entrusted to his defense, or who surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished; or one who takes arms and levies war against his country; or one who aids an enemy in conquering his country.

Treason, according to Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary:
Treason is the highest crime of a civil nature of which a man can be guilty. Its signification is different in different countries. In general, it is the offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power.

Traitor, according to The Random House College Dictionary 1984:
A person who betrays another, a cause, or any trust; a person who betrays his country by violating his allegiance

Treason, according to The Random House College Dictionary 1984:
violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state

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So, here are the definitions of treason and traitor. We, as Confederates, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Southerners, Southrons, oftentimes read/hear of our Confederate ancestors referred to as traitors. Most of the time, we wince, get our feelings hurt, or as the P/C crowd says "offended", and move on. Recently, one Southern lady informed us through the valuable Demastus newsletter, A.K.A. Southern Heritage News and Views {SHNV}, that some yankee man called all Confederate soldiers "traitors" and that she "did not appreciate his remarks". In my estimation, she should have slapped his face! HARD!! Because, he just insulted her and her children, calling her family the descendants of traitors.
Here is why we are not the descendants of traitors. First, the Southern States democratically withdrew from the voluntary union of States, based upon a compact they had made with each other to guide their "common government" and to help them settle any disagreement they may have with each other. This "compact" is called the Constitution of the United States of America. Without now going into the details of this "compact" suffice to say these were "the rules" by which all signatories agreed to live by, as regard the other States. And, they understood that if the "compact" was broken on one point, then the whole thing was broken.
Was George Washington a "traitor"? As a British subject, he most certainly was. The English law, first clearly stated in the Statute of Treasons (1350) included this, "and to wage war against the kingdom". Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/treason. Also, it included this, "prohibited levying war against the king, adhering to his enemies, or contemplating his death." So, clearly, the whole of the 13 British colonies that were established in the "New World" and constituting what we now call "the 13 original States", were guilty of treason. Because they did wage war against the kingdom, they did levy war against the king.
Are we to hold our Confederate ancestors to the same standard? Did they "wage war against the kingdom", i.e. the U.S. government? Did they "levy war against the king", i.e. president lincoln? According to Article 3 of the Constitution it thus provides that treason shall consist only in levying war against the United States or in giving aid and comfort to its enemies and that conviction may be had only on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act or on confession in open court. By that definition, are Mexicans traitors? Because of a little incident in U.S. history referred to as "the Mexican War, 1846-1848"? What about the Germans who waged war against the U.S. in 1917-18 and again in 1942-45? What about the Vietnamese, the Iraqis? Obviously, these countries' people have given aid and comfort to our enemies.
So, is this starting to get ridiculous? Of course it is. So is calling our Confederate ancestors "traitors". Because, the various Confederate soldiers, if they had been in the employ of the U.S. government, if they had been soldiers and sailors of the U.S. army and navy, they resigned their places so that their honour and integrity may be maintained. At that point, they became private citisens of their respective States, not soldiers of the United States armed forces. Therefore, the stain of traitor could not be levied against them. The United States army took up arms against the sovereign States who had just declared their individual independence. As men who had military experience, they offered their swords, their very lives, in the defence of their States.
Those very States who sincerely believed that their future, as sovereigns, lay out of this union with an outlaw, rogue nation, and instead, belonged with the several Southern States, all of whom had kindred spirits, the spirits of liberty. They democratically withdrew from the voluntary union of sovereign States, then joined together, in common cause, a new union, a Confederate union. All of this was done within the highest ideals of the democratic process.
Treason? No!
But, was there "treason"? Was there "rebellion" in the U.S. in the 1860's? Are not we the ones who point out it was the president of the United States, abraham lincoln, who violated his oath of office by violating the Constitution of these United States? These are ten distinct violations of the Constitution by Abraham Lincoln: Coercion in 1861. Article IV.— Laws of Neutrality -- Trent Affair. Article VI, Clause 2 -- Violation of International Law.— Writ of Habeas Corpus Suspended. Article I, Section IX, Clause 2.— War Declared Without the Consent of Congress, 1861. Article I, Section VIII, Clauses 11, 12.— Emancipation Proclamation. Article IV, Section III, Clause 2.— West Virginia Made a State. Article IV, Section III, Clause 1.— Freedom of Speech Denied. Vallandigham Imprisoned in Ohio. Amendment One.— Blockading Parts of States that Were Held by the Federal Government to be Still in the Union.— Liberty of the Press Denied. Amendment One.— Violation of the Fugitive Slave Law. Article IV, Section II, Clause 3.
With all these clear and distinct violations of the Constitution by the Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces of the United States of America, would it be a stretch at all to declare that it was the yankee soldiers who were the traitors? By virtue of and connection to, their highest leader? If it be their leader who leads them into the paths of unrighteousness, to do harm to the Constitution, to do harm to the nation, to do harm to its citisens, can they, the yankee soldier, be called the good guy, the patriot, the "American hero"? Was it not the yankee soldier who rounded up the old men, women and children of Roswell and New Manchester, Georgia onto train cattle cars and shipped them north only to dump them off north of the Ohio River to be on their own? Was it not the yankee soldier who killed more than fifty thousand Southern civilians in a four year war, almost as many American soldiers who died in Vietnam in a fifteen year war? Was it not yankee soldiers who destroyed the Shenadoah Valley, causing the yankee general to boast that a crow flying over would need to carry provisions?
I could go on and on about the treachery of the yankee soldier.
Therefore, I conclude that for now on, we refer to the yankee soldier as the traitors. No more will our enemies call us traitors, by extension, because we honour our brave Confederate/American ancestors, who stepped up to do the right thing, placed their lives on the line in the defence of the ideals of the Founding Fathers. No more will their base charges of treason go unanswered, no more will they ridicule their bravery, scorn their patriotism and laugh at their motives without being challenged. Remember my friends, if the whole world believes in wrong, does that still make right, wrong; or wrong, right? Remember these words from Charles C. Hemming from Volume IV, page 149 of the compiled Confederate Veterans Magazine, published by Broadfoot Publishing, "One hundred years from now, when the mists of prejudice and the unfairness of a beclouded history shall have passed away, it will be counted an honor supreme to have descended from such gallant men."

At Your Service,
I Remain Respectfully,
Jimmy L. Shirley Jr.
SCV Camp 1599
James Patton Anderson
West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Confederate States of America and the Old South was a classical civilization with colleges and universities, art and literature, world class architecture, politics with superior statesmen, and a fine military. It was driven by slave labor just as the classical civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome were. Regardless, slavery was a dying institution and virtually all educated Southerners knew this. It had ended peacefully in the rest of the Western Hemisphere but in America the Northern radicals, fanatics, zealots, and industrialists used it as a scapegoat to attack and subjugate the Southern states for the cause of empire and to exploit the South's resources. The famous English writer Charles Dickens stated " The Northern onslaught upon Southern slavery is a specious piece of humbug designed to mask their desire for the economic control of the Southern States". The Confederacy deserves to be honored, remembered and respected.
The Confederate Flag and the United States Flag are judged by different standards and criteria, and are not held to the same levels of accountability. In analytical science and weights and measures, comparisons are made against known standards. However, in politics comparisons are never made in a fair and impartial manner.
Political Correctness has been used to attempt bans of The Confederate Flag from schools, parades, public and private property, and even historical monuments and sites.
The Confederate flag represents Constitutional Limited Federal Government, States Rights, Resistance to Government Tyranny, and Christian Values and Principles. To say that it represents racism and bigotry is a negative and shallow interpretation comparable to saying the U.S. flag represents the genocide of the American Indians and abortion.
Hypocrisy, ignorance, and bias have been directed against the Confederate Flag. Compare the U.S. Flag (Stars and Stripes). The genocide and racial cleansing of the American Indians took place under the U.S. Flag. Their land was taken without fair and just compensation. Indians died by the thousands as they were forced on to reservations and subjected to starvation and deadly diseases. In the American West, cavalry troopers murdered entire villages including babies in their mother's arms.
Slaves were imported from Africa to America primarily by five Northern States: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. New York City had the second highest slave population in America. The Confederate Flag was not involved in the importation of slaves. Finally, the U.S. Flag flies over a nation that has murdered an estimated 50 million babies by abortion.
Yes, the CSA had the institution of slavery but most were treated well and it was a dying institution prior to the war. White factory workers in the North were not treated as well as most Southern slaves. For proof of this view the movie "Gangs Of New York". Yes, various hate groups have misused and abused the Confederate flag but they have done the same to the U.S. flag. The Confederate flag is 180 degrees diametrically opposed to Globalism, Socialism and Secular humanism. That is the real reason globalists, socialists, and atheists want to ban it. The infamous Communist Vladmir Lenin coined the term "Useful Idiots". The Socialist Karl Marx stated "People separated from their heritage are easily persuaded". Many Black Americans and White Liberals who are opposed to the Confederate flag have been indoctrinated by those who would convert America to Total Socialism and Secular Humanism. They have been told that the Confederate flag represents a painful reminder of slavery and racism and bigotry and that they should be offended by it. They are being used as "useful idiots".

Good Gosh Gerdie...People, get a grip...if you don't like The Confederate Flag on SC capitol grounds....don't look at it. I am a G.R.I.T.S girl...Girls Raised In The South...and I am sick of the banter about OUR CONFEDERATE flag not being "politically correct" for the vast majority.
The Confederate Flag is a part of our southern heritage, and anyone that would want to ban this flag from public display must have "insecure personality issues" I value the presence of the Northern "Union Jack" flag as much as the Confederate Flag. Both flags have much history that deserve respect. I had ancestors that engaged on the Southern side, others on the Northern side in the Civil War. Just like today, back then, people had their opinion and chose to engage in the fight for their beliefs.

Think about this...our SC State Flag...Crescent Moon and Palmetto Tree..this flag was created in 1775 by Col. William Moultire during the Revolutionary War. The SC State flag that flies over the state of SC today is of the same design that flew over the independent SC during the Civil War. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Don't wanna hear that you are "traumatized" by our South Carolina State Flag...get over it...grow a pair....MAN UP!