STARS and BARS

This mess with the Stars and Bars, the Confederate flag, will not go away as easily as Ferguson. There's a lot of history behind it and not all of it refers to slavery. Think: States' Rights and economics.

My limited reading on the Civil War led me to interpret the motives of both sides to be: a) economic; and b) States Rights. The issue of slavery challenged both these premises. States should have the right to determine their own laws, so if they want slavery they can have it. The economy of the South was mostly agrarian and the way the states could stay competitive was by using cheap (free) labor.

While slavery was the catalyst, the economy and way of life that it supported was threatened by freeing the slaves.

"(Lincoln's) basic goal was to turn the war from a political focus to a morally based focus ..."
"... it did exactly what Lincoln had hoped, changed the war from a political conflict into a moral struggle ..."

By doing that there was no acceptable defense for slavery. States' Rights and their economy were swept aside. Slavery became the beard.

Modern example: "I think Obama is a lousy president" gets you "Aw, you don't like him because he's Black; that's racist".


Figured I'd do something with the only area of our country that ain't gonna bow down, kiss somebody's ass.

I'll tell you something, they know who King James and Uncle Sam are.

Girls Raised In The South.