Because of that I have no personal attachment or sentiment attached to the Confederate Flag. In fact I think my earliest recollections of it at all was probably the car from Dukes of Hazzard or maybe seeing it in a movie or on a Lynyrd Skynyrd album.
What I have taken to heart is the recent controversy as some kind of a remedy for what happened in Charleston. We have entered into a very weird and strange world where there are actually people who think that by getting rid of that flag that it will help in some way from such a tragedy from ever happening again. It does not even remotely address the problem and seems to be just another "shiny" thing that liberals--and now some Republicans who seem to want to maintain some sort of cultural-pop relevance--are chasing after. To me, it's like blaming someone who left their bathtub running for causing the damn to break.
There is also a free speech issue. The first amendment wasn't put there to defend only the speech we like, it was put there mainly to protect the speech we don't like. The First Amendment is our forefathers guarantee that we WILL be offended. Part of America's Constitutional crisis, however, is that things that people find offensive are being labeled "hate" and moves are being made to make anything labeled "hate" as illegal. In fact I have seen firsthand where even efforts to defend the Free Speech is labeled "hate" speech.
Should the Lord tarry..and things continue as they are...American freedoms will become less and less. And let me be clear, I mean "freedom" and I am not addressing rights. The demand for rights is usually doubled edged. My demand for "rights" often comes at the expense of someone having to give up theirs and vice versa. So, the demand should always be for freedom.........but "rights' in the name of freedom is, to me, like cheap grace. It sounds good, but it truly doesn't help. Who gets to decide whose rights trump whose rights? Freedom accepts the fact that the forefathers of our country understood very clearly and PROMISED that we WILL be offended. Your liberty depends on how you respond to offense.:-)
