Confederate Memorials Endorse Treason And Racism

Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans.

A private citizen can be a Confederate supporter, but the U.S. Government must not be. Confederate statues, or any other Confederate memorabilia for that matter, do not belong on government property, with the exception of museums, because not only are they off-putting, but more importantly, they endorse treason.

In the U.S., private citizens, on their private property, should be allowed to fly any flag or let any statue stand (unless public nuisance law is at play). Such freedoms should not be abridged for virtuous-abstract reasons: we are the land of the free, liberty for all, etc. But more importantly, such freedoms should be allowed because it would likely be unconstitutional to violate them. In our country, the First Amendment allows us to burn Old Glory, so why would it disallow private citizens to display Confederate flags on their property? Personally, I despise the Confederate Flag; it makes me uneasy every time I see it. However, I respect the Constitution and understand that for me to have the right to legally decorate my property as per my liking, I must respect others’ rights to do the same. For example, if I wanted to hang a cross on my front door, I wouldn’t want the government to have the right to rip it down because others were offended.

When it comes to government property, however, the rules are different and Confederate symbolism should not be glorified. There are no concerns of free speech in this context. The First Amendment does not apply to the government as it does to private citizens. In other words, the First Amendment limits the government’s regulation of private speech, but it doesn’t discuss the government’s own speech. Thus, when it comes to statues and flags being on government property, it is strictly a matter of policy preference.

Looking to policy, it is vacuous to think that it is shrewd to exhibit Confederate memorabilia on government land because such memorabilia is offensive and simply treasonous.