The Confederate Flag Should Be Banned

My purpose today is to support the legal banning of the Confederate flag. At first blush, I appear to be destroying a fundamental & celebrated freedom within the United States: the freedom of speech & expression (expression as interpreted by the Supreme Court over the years). However, I assure you that I am, in fact, encouraging a deeper love & respect for the ideals & rights of American citizens than my opponent in his protection of this piece of historical iconography. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ First of all, a couple of minor definitional/resolutional concerns: 1) Since banning is only addressed in the sense of illegalization in general, I would like to clarify that the banning would happen, most naturally, on a state level. As with flag burning, the banning of a flag at the federal level is highly unlikely, and most laws concerning individual expression come from individual states. Hence, we can assume that my opponent is referring either to a single state, or to all states banning the Confederate flag individually. 2) Then, we have to deal with the fact that no actor was specified. Mind you, if we are planning on making laws, then clearly the actor would most likely be a state's congress or voters. However, I will specify, since my advocacy necessitates it. We shall assume, for the purposes of the debate, that the referendum process is used, and that the author of a Confederate flag ban would put the ban, as a piece of legislation, on the ballot using the mechanisms for his or her state. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now, onto my advocacy: Consider the state of the nation. For the last 8 years or so, American civil liberties have been systematically and steadily drained from the citizenry under the guise of national security. We've gone from the freest nation in the world to "no liquids on a airplane exceeding 3 oz." Homeland Security, combined with the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, has successfully robbed citizens and foreigners alike of the most basic judicial & civil rights that once made the US a stand-alone amongst the first world. The US government can detain its own citizens for indefinite periods of time without warrant or charge. US Military personnel, armed to the teeth, can conduct involuntary searches of your person and vehicle. The federal government, until 2007, could force private telephone & data companies to turn over private phone & email conversations. Seized and incapacitated by increasingly manipulative fear rhetoric and a false sense of security, Americans have forgotten what it means to fight for their rights. http://www.washingtonpost.com... http://thomas.loc.gov...:] Banning the Confederate flag will produce the impetus that the American people need to begin this fight anew. The Confederate flag is embraced by millions for its historical & cultural significance. Reenactments of Civil War battles occur yearly in the southern regions of the US. The Civil War is still a huge part of every American's heritage, Union or Confederate. This is what makes this symbol so adequate to the task of relighting America's fire to fight. http://www.sonofthesouth.net... Considering the powerful iconic nature of this flag, any state laws that ban its ability to be displayed will result in protest and court challenges. Considering the powerful iconic nature of this flag, the court case will be comparable to others that have shaped the civil rights movements of America's history. While presidents, even those who are most eloquent, have yet to inspire America to reclaim its rights & ideals, this action will lead to an inevitable reaction that will re-energize the citizenry to stand up for what is rightfully theirs. http://www.law.umkc.edu... (note the fight for rights that ensued for decades over "desecrating" symbols like flags, draft cards, military uniforms, etc.) In summation, banning the Confederate flag will, in the long-term, actually increase civil liberties, not only because the inevitable court challenges & protests will reinstate the flag as a symbol of free expression, but because it will remind US citizens of what they've lost, and will encourage US citizens to fight for other freedoms long since forgotten. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Onto my opponent's case: As an overview, I'd like to state that my opponent's case directly establishes why the Confederate flag is the perfect object to ban for the desired Pro reaction. If the symbol is not great enough, and is not a large enough part of our culture, then the necessary clash will not be produced, and no noticeable change would occur. If we attempted to rouse citizens into fighting for civil rights with something obscure or only respected or understood by a handful of people, the affirmative advocacy would fail miserably. The only contention I really wish to question is his 4th, regarding the intrinsic value of the flag: While flags are only cloth & dye, every cultural symbol has "intrinsic meaning," if I understand your use of the term. Culture is learned; no one would know what this flag meant if we didn't see it in history books and flying over people's homes (my relatives hail from Arkansas, and there's hardly a house without one displayed in my grandmother's home town). It is this intrinsic value that makes the symbol worth keeping around for all of these years, and it is this intrinsic value that will encourage everyone flying a Confederate flag to stand up for their right to fly it when banned. Thank you, and I look forward to my opponent's response.