From: schmidt@nimbus.larc.nasa.gov (Eric Schmidt)
Subject: Re: Confederate Flags
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  USA
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 13:27:04 GMT
Followup-T0: KARLIN@BNLCL6.BNL.GOV (07850_LS) message of 29 Jul 92 10:36:21 EDT 

In <3838@bnlux1.bnl.gov> COWAN@ANL.GOV writes:

> If the Virgina National Guard feels that 
>the 4-year period between 1861-1865 was their proudest moment (as opposed
>to, say, the War for Independance) it would seem that the "national" flag they
>served under would be as appropriate as a battle flag.
>
>-----------------------------------
>P. L. Cowan	COWAN@ANL.GOV

It would seem to me that it is not appropriate for a military unit or state of any nation to incorporate into it's flag the flag of a "nation" that in truth was nothing more than a rebellion that was put down.The Confederate flag may be a symbol for the "ideals of the Confederacy (spunkiness,self-suffiency, independence, etc.)" (Hugh Pritchard) but we must always remeber that these are the ideals of those who are christened rebels by their own actions and that the United States is the thing they were rebel

ing against and not just just for slavery but also for some of the more basic precepts of government such as the right of the states to secede from the union and whether the states or the federal government were to be the ones controlling the nation.The Confederacy and all it stands for is the destroying of the Constitution and the way of life presently enjoyed by all Americans, not only the blacks.When a rebellion fails that rebellion may be an important part of the nation's history yet it is not appropri

ate for government agencies, by this I mean military units (regular, reserve, or national guard) states, or any other official group, to include such things as the rebellions flag in theirs.It also does not seem appropriate to consider the leaders of such a rebellion as heroes.The south has practically deified a number of the Confederate generals and various others.Although I have only the respect for the ability of General Lee I do not feel that a man who had sworn in oath to defend the Constitution again

st all enemies foreign and domestic and then went on to lead a rebelling army is worthy of theworship that he gets from many people.In fact this has gone so far that in northern Virgina, between Richmond and Washington D.C., there is a Stonewall Jackson shrine, not a museum or memorial, both of which would have been more appropriate, but a shrine as if he were some sort of god incarnate.
	I also don't see how a unit can claim that the proudest moment was that time when they actively rebelled against the government that they were created to protect. Seems kind of unsafe for that government, not to mention self-destructing to the unit being as the unit was created to protect the government and yet claims that it is proudest of when it didn't makes the unit sound like a bunch of hypocrites, "I will protect you, but that time I fought was the proudest moment of my life." I wouldn't trust them 

to guard my back.

Christopher Almquist
"A hero is a man who got to scared to run away and somehow lived through it all."
						Duke Borric ConDoin



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