does this flag offend you?
i am curious, does this flag offend you?
our history books and teachers SUCK. for so many years, this flag was a flag of shame, and for most people in america it still is.
going back, as an adult, and learning about the civil war, the causes of it, what happened politically, legislatively and in reality, has been a wonderful journey ... although i am angry with my parents for not knowing the history of this nation, with my teachers and schools for not teaching me the truth, and for the emotional spin people who don't know the truth put on this flag in particular.
did you know, the north declared war? yes, the federal government, and the representatives of the remaining states declared war on the states that decided ... 'we do not consent to be governed by this government.'
do you remember this ... "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." - Declaration of Independence.
so, the north said, we don't care that you don't like our government, you can't leave ... you cannot choose who governs you. slavery was an issue of emotional charge ... much like terrorism is an issue of emotional charge.
and if the people of the state of south carolina could decide 'we do not consent to be governed by the united states of america on a federal level', then too so could the people of all the nation. and rather than reconcile the differences, they went to war to force a way of government on people without their consent ... or, at best through coerced consent.
today, we experience coerced consent each day of our lives in this nation.
look around at your life, and see the ways you do things because there's a law that you don't agree with, but that you follow just because if you don't, you will be penalized.
this was never supposed to be a nation of penalized people, yet we do it every day of our lives ... accept penalties and interferences with our daily lives to deal with those penalties ... to what end? so its easier later? its not going to get easier later ... consent must be given to how you are governed ... they assume you consent ... but you don't have to.
be an american ... live according to the government you consent to be governed by ... it is your right.
the battle flag of the south, when they were a sovereign nation, invaded by a nation that would seek to impose a form of government to which they did not consent.
my new battle flag ...
peace & harmony,
elaine
'freedom must be exercised to stay in shape!'
posted by elaine x @ 12:38 AM
4 Comments:
Yes, well, sorry, but to me, as someone who has also read his history, this is the flag of secession, the flag of rebellion, and the flag under which fought an army which was raised to protect the "right" of one group of human beings to own and traffic in other human beings.
It is the flag that has been co-opted by groups which stand for hate, bigotry, discimination, rape, torture, and murder. It represents values that are antithetical to the Constitution and to what America is all about. Who carries and waves and wears this flag now? Those who hate. Those who would separate us. Those who hate immigrants, Blacks, Jews, gays and lesbians, Muslims, and Christians with whom they disagree. If Robert E Lee was a "noble man" who served beneath this flag, it has since been stripped of any nobility, if it ever had any. Because Lee, for all his genius and charm, was a traitor.
It offends me, yes.
interesting ... and yes ... i do agree with you in what it has become, it is the flag of those things ... but that's not what it stood for in the beginning.
what i found so interesting in my research is that the issue of slavery was only a hot emotional button that was being pushed for political reasons. a handful of people in the north considered slavery to be an abomination ... but most people ... they could care less. but 'the war on slavery' in the 1860 election was much like the 'war on terror' in the 2004 election.
the real issue the south had with the 'union' or the federal government, was their extension of federal power over land, money and resources over the state and the individual. "the war on slavery" was the emotional button, that occupied most people's mind while all kinds of legislation was passed that increased the control and ability of the federal government to unilaterally usurp the will of the states and the people.
I do not see how Lee could be considered a traitor ... Lee was a general of an army of a state that claimed its sovereignty from the federal government of the United States for some very important issues ... most of which we are seeing played out in our contemporary news headlines.
Mr. Bush ... that man should be charged and convicted of treason and crimes against the states and the people of the united states of america.
For me, this flag has been transformed through a reviewing of history without the propaganda spin of the 'winning' side ... this flag stands for "I do NOT consent!" Imagine how history can be viewed from the eyes of a fundamentalist Christian Republican looking at the 'noble war on terrorism' that Mr. Bush is fighting to "save America" ...
that's what happens with history, we were not taught about the powers that were expanded by the federal government during the Civil War, how Amendments to our Constitution were passed without proper votes ... we were taught that the civil war was about slavery ... it wasn't, any more than this war in Iraq is about protecting america.
Personally, i believe that separation from this federal government that is asserting its control over the consent of the states and the people is a good thing. If we are not going live by the principles, I would rather not be associated with it.
i hope you had a great vacation!!!
peace & harmony,
elaine
'freedom must be exercised to stay in shape!'
Quakers opposed slavery early on. While some Quakers owned slaves, most did not. Many of the founders of the faith ooposed slavery from the beginning, and said so in the founding documents of the faith. Quakers were amongst the first abolitionists, in Britain and in America. These included members of my family (father's side), way way back in early Pennsylvania.
One of my Mennonite relatives (mom's side) left his faith to fight for the Union, in opposition to slavery. All of this is part of my past, and I am proud of it.
Yes, if a poll had been taken in 1860, most Northerners would have left slavery alone, for economic reasons. Point taken. That does not include abolitionists. To say that these folks used this sissue for "political purposes" is to misrepresent their beliefs. Slavery was an institution that existed in direct opposition to their religious beliefs.
Lee, along with the rest of the Confederate military leadership, left the army of the Union - the Constitutionally constituted, legal standing army of the Republic - to take up arms in an army of sedition. You can't phrase it any other way. They had a choice: stay with the Union or fight for their states. They chose the latter. They may have been "men of honor" in the eyes of many, but the bottom line is that if someone other than Lincoln had been president at the time, someone who was more interested in vengence than in healing, they all would have been shot.
so true ... its hard to speak to those who work for justice ... whether the abolishionist of those times, the war protesters of ours ... and your point is spoken like a true Republican ...
i guess my point is ... when you had a time then like we have now ... where the federal government is breaching the principles of the declaration of independence, and ignoring the constitution which is *supposed* to empower those principles, how do you dismantle the government (as stated should be done in the declaration) but to secede and to protect yourself from what would then be an invasion of a foreign nation of a sovereign state?
that was the biggest breach of the principles of the federal government of "consent by the governed" and, since after the war everyone was made a citizen of the federal government by the highly controversially adopted 14th amendment ... we lost america then ... her founding principles crushed in a war of might makes right.
that is the america we live in today.
that is why this flag no longer offends me in its purest symbol (although it still makes my insides turn upside-down and angry for all the symbols it has taken on to mean).
peace & harmony,
elaine
'freedom must be exercised to stay in shape!'
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