Marion County re enstates the Confederate Flag
 

News reports say the Marion County commissioners have voted to restore the confederate flag to the county buildings. I think I want to move!

Please understand that I have spent my entire life (less the last 2 years) north of the Mason Dixon line. I find it very unfortunate that a few have taken an historic flag and associated it with hate, bigotry, etc. I have no idea what the best solution is, but I hope that we can all take the high road and avoid further arguments and fights, etc. Hopefully there will be a suitable compromise.

Please do not shoot the messenger, these are just my humble thoughts.

[QUOTE=vi
I find it very unfortunate that a few have taken an historic flag and associated it with hate, bigotry, etc. I have no idea what the best solution.

Please do not shoot the messenger, these are just my humble thoughts.[/QUOTE]


The flag is about Southern States fighting for the right to own human beings as slaves. How is this not haterd and bigotry, it's not about rebel pride or freedom of expression, it's about a time when NO man was created equal and thousands died for such a ridiculous notion.

If Marion county can fly the Rebel Flag, I want to start a recall petition to stop this insanity.

U didn't have a problem with it a month ago.

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A 20/20 post......gets you on the majority side.

:BigApplause:

Flag didn't do anything but just hang around..

When my POD arrives I will make sure to unpack my autographed diecast of the General Lee.

I'm with you there! Let me know if I can help you with the petition.

KeepingItReal: Insightful thank you.

There is a thread in Political Talk concerning our loss of freedoms and the confederate flag issue si mentioned.

Here is my view there is a social culture war between traditionalist and the new normal. The latter did what they do with any issue they wish to change
In this case they used the Alinsky tactic of demonizing the flag so they could get rid of it. I was reared in the liberal state of New York and in my view the Confederate flag always represented part of America.

I for one support Marion counties right to flag that flag and I the same vein I abhor spineless politicians who gave in to intimidation by a group that is systematic in stripping people of their individual rights and forcing them to obey rules that against their conscience and thus violating people's constitutional rights

For anyone that wants to dismiss Southern heritage (flags, statues, busts) remember this is just the start of a much larger format - first this then the American heritage. There is already a movement to remove the Declaration of Independence from view in the rotunda because of the word 'God'.
I'm basically from MN, so I was taught the Northern version of the civil War (actually the correct term is War Between the States - Congress approved). I have since studied it and the people involved and found out that I was taught - LIES.
We fly our Confederate flags proudly (there was more then just the one everyone says is bad - the rectangle flag is the Navy Jack flag, and the square one with a white border is the Northern Virginia Battle flag). My husband's 2nd Great Grandfather was a Lt. in Northern Virginia, and my 2nd Great Cousin was a Dragoon in SC - and that family was from CT. So just because your family was in the north, you might have had one that fought for the south. After all slavery did start in the north in the 1600's.

Thank you for letting people know this fact, and only 8% of southern people had slaves. The last slave to be freed was in the NORTH! People in the south were slowly emancipating 75 years BEFORE Lincoln's speech. If slavery was the cause of the war why did he bring it up 2 1/2 years AFTER the war started?

To me, the Confederate flag is a symbol of a time in U.S. History steeped in shame. I really cannot understand why someone would want to fly it. That being said, I do believe that an individual has the right to fly that flag as much as someone who feels the need to show patriotism by flying our national flag. However, it does not belong on government grounds, any more than the Nazi flag does or a POW/MIA flag does. If it is not an official, current flag of the state or this nation, keep it private. So, State flag, yes. Old Glory, most definitely. Stars and Bars, no.

I suggest people read The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States before trying to revise history.
It WAS about slavery.

The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States

Fortunately South Carolina has voted to remove the confederate flag from the state house grounds after two days of debate which went into the overnight hours.

No, if you look at history you will be they started putting tariffs on the South in the 1820's. It was about economics. Lincoln is his own words said he didn't want to go to war with the south because who would pay for the US government then. Because at the time the south was paying 75%+ in the economy.

Question for you: Why doesn't anyone ever retire to the north?

Shameful action
 

:BigApplause:
Excellent summary, red witch.
I can't believe an agency in this day and age would vote to brandish a symbol of bigotry and hatred on government grounds. I cannot understand how they could think it is a good idea

I'm confused. Does this somehow justify the cruel and inhuman practice of slavery, or indentured servitude for that matter.

The Confederate battle flag not only is offensive to a large segment of our tax paying population, for good reason, but it represents an act of clear and aggressive treason against our nation. If it represents your heritage for which you are proud, then fly it on your property or put it in a museum, but don't ask the taxpayers to pay to fly it, and don't be offended when those of us who support this grand union are appalled by it.

I never, ever, thought of the flag as a symbol of slavery. I just thought of it as a symbol of the rural south.

I really do think people are making too much of it. I am a northerner and my husband's ancestor captured the last flag at Appomattox. Everyone I know hates the mere mention of slavery. But history DID happen.

I think it may be the folks who have not seen the confederate flag much in their life, such as people from the Northeast who didn't grow up with it flying here and there in their childhood.

I think political correctness is getting entirely out of hand. It isn't a symbol of hatred to me, and if it were people would have been up in arms before over it.

I was saddened AND angered greatly just like everyone I knew when that hateful young man killed those good people in Charlotte. I was moved and changed when I heard the survivors forgiving the shooter. I think part of grieving is anger and the anger was directed at that flag and someone wanted to do something symbolic to make things better or show tribute.

That is my take. Hatred exists in human hearts and symbols are important but sometimes we go tooooooooo far.

Flying the Confederate "battle" flag makes no sense. It's like advertising to everyone that you got a severe ass kicking.

:a20::a20::a20:

I thought this was a temporary measure to appease all the complaints they were getting from Marion County voters. The Commissioners plan to take it down once they have some kind of memorial set up for Confederate soldiers and their flags as part of a trail showing all the flags flown in Florida. Confederate flag flies again in Marion County after public... | www.wftv.com

Maybe you should read the column in the Daily Sun today; Thomas Sowell.

If the Confederate battle flag was part of our heritage or history, then let's fly the British union jack, too.

Question
 

Would this even be a discussion here or anywhere else had that nut-job not posted a picture of himself holding a gun in one hand and the rebel flag in the other? I think you can thank the media for much of this, if not all, since they couldn't wait to put it out there and start stirring the pot.

Gracie's right......PC is the biggest offender in this entire nation.

There is a high school back home and their team is known as the rebels and they fly this "offending" flag. At least 3/4 of their football team is black and they are proud of both their school and their team...excellent record as well.

Many don't know this, but the first Confederate flag resembled the Stars and Stripes so closely; remember, there were not 50 stars then and the ones they had were in a circle. The first Confederate flag was almost identical. Many died from friendly fire on both sides because they could not tell who was who from a distance. Thus, the change. The Stars and Bars is actually a battle banner/flag, not the Confederate flag. Rebel is short for rebellion.

You from the Northeast?

Bumping my own post.

Sorry I walked on your post Dilly.

I will add that in the middle part of the U.S. in rural areas, we would see the confederate flag on barns and out buildings occasionaly, in Ohio close to the Mason Dixon line. It is just a symbol of the rural south to many of us. It is being made more out of than it should be.

No one that most of us know in this day and age would promote slavery or racial hatred. The confederate flag is to many a symbol of the part of the country that many grew up in and love. That is ALL.

:BigApplause:Thank you for mentioning this. Brilliant man, Thomas Sowell. Been reading him for years. BTW, Does the Japanese, Iraqi or Russian flag fly over the United Nations building in NYC...a taxpayer-supported edifice? Oh, wait...they ALL DO!

Amazon.com has banned all Confederate memorabilia from its site, but not ISIS. So who's kidding whom about political effrontery or insensitivity?

Amen!!:BigApplause:

Comparing the flags that fly over the United Nations building with a flag that flies in Ocala is questionable. The US is only one of many countries that supports the UN.

As you all know, I am from Texas. Some of my ancestors fought in the Confederate Army (they were LONG gone before I came along so that means nothing to me other than being an ancestor). That being said, I have never associated the "Stars and Bars" battle flag with slavery or segregation (segregation was the norm when I was growing up in Lubbock). It (the offending flag), to me, just meant "from the South". Period. Amarillo has the Tascosa High School Rebels and that just means they are one of the harder teams to beat. Period.

Actually you are incorrect. The fight was about states rights and the right to secede from the Union. Slaves were held in both the North and the South. The way the flag is going to be displayed will be in a historical context. I see no reason it should not be displayed as they intend.

When the person said they wanted to move I thought they wanted to move to Marion county. To bad because there is no reason that the flag cant be flown any where by anyone that wants.

Glad to see some of the posters are actually presenting the facts instead of the fiction. Thank You.

The Confederate flag to me is a symbol of "States Rights vs Federal Rights".

Certain states did not want to be told what to do, by the federal government.

A divisive symbol of a war, that ended 150 years ago.

Time to let it go........ we are all Americans, that should be united, not divided.

I would suggest you re-read it again. Its is about states rights.

I didn't realize so many posters lived in Marion County.

The UN Building is an American taxpayer-supported structure. What's good for the goose...