Even though I’m a son of the South, born and bred, and normally quite proud of that fact, I do admit that there are often things that good ole boys from the south do that embarrass me no end.
Waving the confederate flag around and wishing for the “good old days” is one of those things. A lot of people seem to want to say that the confederate flag stands for a lot more than slavery, things like the southern way of life, the genteel sense of pride and honor that our great-great-grandfathers may have exhibited in the face of crushing losses to the Union.
Horseshit!
For one thing, I bet you could round up the first 100 “good ole boys” you could find across Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, either of the Carolina’s or Georgia – and not a single one of them would know that the flag they fly so proudly from their pickup truck was not ever the true Confederate flag. The one most often flown, and the one shown all over the news lately is actually General Robert E. Lee’s battle flag and was never flown over a Confederate state capitol.
Yet, for some reason, this version of the confederate flag is the one that everyone knows, and in fact is the one used by such organizations as the Confederate Sons of America and seen on various state license tags.
The Confederacy actually had several flags in it’s short five year lifespan. The one used first, and longest was simply called “The Stars and Bars”, and flew over all the state capitals in the south from 1861 through 1863. It had 7 stars in a circle on a blue field and 3 stripes of alternating red and blue. I doubt many of my redneck brethren recognize this flag as a true symbol of the Confederate States of America, but in fact it is only the first of three such “official” flags.
The other two flags flew for shorter periods, the next one was mostly white, and was where the first appearance of the more familiar Saint Andrews Cross on red appears, but it didn’t last long as it looked more like a white flag of surrender if the wind didn’t blow and unfurl the flag from the pole.
The final flag was a simple modification of the mostly white field that added a blood red vertical strip down the end of the flag. I suppose it 
looked a bit better when hanging limp on a pole, and was likely truly spectacular when flapping in a stiff breeze, however the point I wish to make to the rednecks I know and still manage to love, is that the flag they are so used to promoting isn’t even truly the real one.
There were lots of good things about southern culture of the mid-19th century. Just as there were unique and special things about the culture of New England or the mid-west or any other region of our nation, but the Confederate Flag didn’t exist until the North and South went to war with each other, and despite everything we might like to think, the primary reason was over slavery. You can’t put enough perfume on that pig.
At the same time, the current craze to burn and bury anything and everything to do with the confederate flag is just silly. It’s a fact, it’s part of our history, and we need to keep it tucked away somewhere to remind ourselves of that shameful period and of just how bad things got. It’s just like Germany trying to hide the fact that Hitler existed. You can’t make it go away, no matter how invisible you want it to be.
Sure, symbols of the confederacy do not belong on or in public property such as Statehouses or lawns, but they surely have their place in museums and in historical displays. They also have their place in our educational system – where we teach our children that at a point in our history our country came very close to falling apart. We should teach ourselves that these are symbols of failure, that they are symbols of hate, and that they are examples of our short travel down the wrong road. That’s what good these various symbols can do – and for that reason, they need to continue to exist.