To the editor:
After reading about the permanent closing of the museum at the Nash Farm Battlefield in Hampton, Ga., I have a few thoughts on the destruction of Civil War emblems and monuments.
The effect of government is seldom good, noted by an early quote first appearing in 1837, “The best government is that which governs least.”
In 1861, the neutral state of Missouri, which had voted to remain in the Union, was attacked by its own federal government for not complying with unconstitutional orders from a tyrannical president who arrested and imprisoned anyone stating a different opinion from his own (thanks to the illegal/unconstitutional use of executive order). Businesses and newspapers were shut down by the same tyrannical president for opposing his tyranny. We need look no farther than the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, the heinous crimes committed against Maryland, and the arrest order for Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney. The consequence being the radicalization and polarization of an entire nation. Since there was no longer any common middle ground upon which to stand (due to the offensive actions of government) both aggrieved parties/sides were given war as their only recourse. Thus, Missouri, a neutral state that had voted to remain in the Union, was bullied into declaring war against that same Union, after being radicalized due to tyranny.
Today, the Old Southern Flag has been used as an emblem by two groups of people. On one hand, you have the historians, people who see the banner as a memorial to our nation’s history emblematic of both valor and error. The historical value of that Old Flag teaches the bravery of devoted individuals fighting for a cause…as well as a cause that was not entirely right. Thus, the emblem’s worth is twofold and should remain as a reminder of both courage and incorrectness.
The second group (using the Old Flag) is an offensive minority, that claims the emblem as a justification for hate.
These people are held by all to be wrong, and their use of the standard is illegitimate.
However, if tyranny of
However, if tyranny of government denies the use and value of the banner for the historian who stands in the middle, then once again there remains no middle ground when the historian is vilified for the standard’s use. This tyrannical action of extreme government leaves the Old Flag in the hands of a radical minority.
This hateful trend toward political-correctness is by itself polarizing a harmless situation, by demonizing the historical value of an emblem, as well as time-honored monuments/memorials. Valor is being destroyed by tyranny, leaving nothing in its wake but hate! History is being obliterated so the mistakes of the past can be re-enacted again by the ignorant radicals who stand at either extreme.
The Old Flag will always remain! However, due to the tyranny of the far left, that standard is now the exclusive property of a growing minority of hatemongers on the far right – after the foolish and unnecessary obliteration of the historians in the middle.
History is repeating itself – by its own denial.
EDWIN WOOLSEY, WILLOW SPRINGS