In 2017 Democrats attack their Civil War counterparts/caption
Why are progressives clamoring to remove many of Americas mementos dedicated to the Old South? Generations later can remnants of Civil War Democrats cause active psychological harm"? That seems highly unlikely. However whats real is the targeting of Robert E. Lee J.E.B. Stuart and Jefferson Davis. If thats the liberal standard for destroying their icons who has caused more recent and lasting damage than Barack Obama? Therefore isnt it logical for them to purge both ancient root and modern branch? Yet fear not President Obamas safe from their revisionist historical pruning. Its only his antebellum counterparts who find themselves on the chopping block.
Lets pull some contextual threads from this spidery progressive web shall we? Reportedly Democrats in Alexandria Virginia want to rename a main thoroughfare Jefferson Davis Highway. Also they want to move a statue on State Route 400 of a Confederate soldier Appomattox" to the comparable obscurity of a nearby museum. Erected in 1889 is the presence of this unarmed Southernerlike the street named for the Confederacys presidentsuddenly noxious to the average commuter? Do they trigger so much daily trauma that theyre right to nix them? Not to be outshone Fairfax County is embroiled in a two-year debate to strip Confederate General Stuarts name from one of its most racially diverse high schools. Their dragnet is not local however its a monstrosity cast widely across state lines as far as Louisiana.
As the lefts revisionist hysteria is never satisfied Stuarts famous contemporary General Robert E. Lee is targeted in both places. Atop a pillar since 1884 his towering figure was removed from its New Orleans perch last Friday after 133 years. (His was not the first to fall. On May 11th the powers that be removed a statue from the Jefferson Davis memorial there. On Saturday a displaythe word LOVE"was found on its vacated platform.) Only time will tell if his Virginia likenessmutely astride his majestic horse in Lee Park since 1924will suffer the same loving" fate. As the land was specifically donated to showcase this Southern soldier is it right to unseat him after 93 years? Whats more horrible here destroying the vestiges of progressives 19th century past or the wasteful expenditure to taxpayers of $300000 to do it?
Doesnt all history have a worthy place simply because it happened? How can eradicating the lessons that shaped our collective cultural experience ever be the right" thing to do? Isnt the mind-set to wipe clean the landscapeof old dignitaries names and harmless inanimate objectsreally a fascist desire to ban ideas themselves? (Will these safe space liberal do-gooders" advocate Fahrenheit 451"-style book burning next?) Obviously their predecessors dual stains of slavery and segregationnever acknowledged or owned by them hereafterare of lasting shame. Well frankly they should be. Hence their current self-serving agenda to simply airbrush monuments out of existence.
To this end their go-to narrative is one of distraction and manipulation. To the muddleheaded the dishonest proclaim often repeated nonsense: America is secretly racist"! In the same vein as Trump Derangement Syndrome" liberals have kind of a politically-motivated hysterical blindness. What of the widespread advancements since the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights movements? A prominent trendthe black is beautiful" paradigm shift of the 60s and 70sdoesnt matter? Heck these naysayers dont even acknowledge the cultural significance of the former occupant of the White House! So concrete facts of societal progression are meaningless to them. Only their deluded aim to erase transgenerational political sins.
Seriously its been 152 years since the end of the Civil War! Only misguided spendthrifts waste todays public funds to purify" the past. Obviously historical footnoteslike the name of a road or a school or four statueshave no magical power to corrupt anything of the now. What relevance to the day-to-day life experience of Americans do they really have? Very little if any. In fact their only intrinsic value are as markers showing where America has beenand how truly tolerant she has become!
Despite these ridiculous assertions racism is not infused in the bronze edifices resembling long-dead Southerners. Likewise its not found in the hearts of persons striving to preserve them either. Interestingly only Democrats self-hatred persists with the passage of time. That liberal malady is seen in their psychological projection of guilt upon the rest us whose ancestors never owned a slave. Clearly thats a problem better suited to the analysts couch then the political realm. (On a related note can our country be correctly viewed as innately sexist" as Hillary Clinton is the latest nominee of her partyand the winner of the popular vote?) All elements described above encapsulate the schizophrenic thinking pervading every level of the Democratic Party.
In truth tangible proof of Americas well-establishedand ever-expandingpattern of embracing and celebrating diversity is everywhere! What of commonplace interracial marriage or the recent legalization of gay marriage? So is it fair to automatically demonize a Republican simply for expressing a history-protecting impulse? Virginias firebrand GOP gubernatorial hopeful Corey Stewart recently said:
Theres all kinds of things that offend people but that removal doesnt make it right. That doesnt make it so fix the past. This the statue of Robert E. Lee is a part of our history; if you dont like our history thats too damn bad."
Well precisely. Whats crystal clear is the Democrats have a cringeworthy history. Understandably theyre desperate to annihilate any reminders of the irrefutable and indefensible. Chief among them is their sole ownership of two infamous institutions: Virginias antebellum past (read: slaveholding) and white supremacy (read: creating the Ku Klux Klan). As Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union his party has a duty to safeguard the other sides artifacts for posterity. Without them as silent witnesses falsely tarring conservatives with their own ongoing record of misdeeds becomes easy. If successful all that would remain is a nebulous war of words for progressives to dominate. As George Santayana wisely advised: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Ironically destroying Americas Confederate past also diminishes her freedom-loving future.
David L. Hunter is an Associate Editor at Capitol Hill Outsider and a Newsmax contributor. Hes on Twitter and blogs at davidlhunter.blogspot.com. He is published in The Washington Post The Washington Times FrontPage Mag and extensively in Patriot Post Canada Free Press and American Thinker.