Sons of Confederate Veterans have a role in modern America
America faces a crossroads very similar to those prior to Fort Sumter. More government, less nationalism, maybe socialism, which way do we go?
by Mark Vogl
Tuesday, February 2, 2010What is this guy talking about?
Well, I will try to explain. It will only take ten short paragraphs.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans (S.C.V.) is a fraternal organization composed of male descendents of the men who served in the Confederate Armed Forces during the War for Southern Independence. Their emblems include the controversial Confederate battle flag. Their core responsibility is articulated in a charge given to them by Lt. General Stephen D. Lee which calls on them to defend the heritage, honor, and reputation of the Confederate soldier and the Cause they fought for.
The Cause they fought for was individual liberty, state’s rights, the original Constitution and the right to secede. In essence, Confederates fought an aggressive Union which would not allow the states to exercise an accepted right of secession. This right had been exercised by all the original states when they withdrew from the government of the Articles of Confederation, and entered the present day United States of America. Further, the Tenth Amendment reserved all powers not addressed in the Constitution to the States and people respectively. And lastly, the new union was formed as each individual state entered the union.
So, despite the military victory of Grant and Sherman, and despite the victor’s interpretation towards secession, the fact is that secession remains a right of the states, and a political alternative which some day will most likely be exercised.
Why the S.C.V. deserves a chair, not at the table, but right next to it is so today’s policy makers see the colors of secession, the Confederate battle flag as they attempt to find the future for America.
America is caught in a vortex of highly controversial issues, many with no real compromise. You either kill an unborn infant, or you allow it to be born, for the infant there is no middle ground. You either allow homosexual marriage…even if you call it something else, or you don’t. Either a person has a right to health care or they don’t.
In the past, liberals have sold policy initiatives in half loaves, calling for compromise. But today, that sales strategy is burned out. We have seen the compromises develop into full blown, expensive, not effective policies. We have seen compromise go the way of the Missouri Compromise as socialism now raises it’s ugly head in the form of national health care and government ownership of private business.
Americans are done with hearing about how government can solve the problems, when all government does is continually make new problems, add taxes, and never accomplish much. Further, Americans have watched the federal government act negligently with respect to its primary duty…ie., protect the homeland at the border. The tens of millions of illegal immigrants have only expanded the need for government social services, increased health care costs and chasllenges, overwhelmed our education infrastructure, and filled our prisons. Illegal drugs flow over the border like a rushing river.
Whether you are a Democrat watching blue states vote red, or Republicans waiting their turn to take over the reigns of government, one thing is clear. Americans are out of patience, and want the solutions they have repeatedly called for. America is a new America. Not the America of the mid 20th century, or the world leader of the Cold War. We are now just one nation among many.
Are we a great nation? We can be. Should we lead in the world? Sometimes? But we are not the Super Power of an earlier era. We are no longer the wealthiest nation. We no longer have excess money to fix every problem in the world. We have to make choices. Real choices, with real ramifications. Washington is not where those answers are. They had their chance and through Clinton – Bush – Obama they have demonstrated they can’t do it, are headed in the wrong direction, and we don’t want ’em any more.
The S.C.V. should be present so as to remind politicians that the American people don’t have endless patience. The S.C.V. is the very best living example, as the War for Southern Independence Sesquicentennial rapidly approaches, that if the federal government can’t find a way, the states and the people will.
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