Like it or not the Confederate flag is here to stay.
In the wake of some LUNATIC killing nine people, everybody’s fingers are pointing at the Confederate flag as the reason for this tragedy. President Obama even said “Nigger” in some guy’s podcast over it – and that rocked the World for a few hours.
My girl Teresa Priolo of Fox 5 in New York reports that retailers are pulling the sale of all Confederate flag-related items. But that misses the point, which I will get to shortly.
Mike Florio over at ProFootballTalk.com had the most poignant piece I have read on the topic. His point is the Confederate flag represents treason against the United States. This is pretty much undisputed.
Without getting into slavery, states' rights, manifest destiny or any of the semantics that get brought up in this argument, one fact remains: The Confederate flag is not recognized as being official by any governing body in the World.
The Confederate flag has no place on or in any Federal or State building in this country. However, it is and always will be a very important part of this country’s history. More Americans died in the Civil War – 206,000 – than any other conflict in American history and it isn’t even close. It, and that flag, is something we and our future generations need to learn about.
With all of that said, we cannot eradicate the Confederate flag from our collective existence or history. The toothpaste is out of the tube and you can’t un-ring that bell.
What you also can’t do is stop selling the Confederate flag. You can try. You will fail. If Richard Nixon’s failed “War on Drugs” has taught me anything as an economist it is that supply will always meet demand.
As long as we have sewing machines, color printers and tattoo artists, the Confederate flag is going nowhere. There is at least one bar in every city in this country (and quite a few in New York City) with the Confederate flag hanging proudly. It is a gimmick and it makes money. So, it is not going to stop happening.
Unless and until, of course, consumers make their voices heard with their wallets. There is a cottage industry of bars, even in New York City – the most liberal city in this country east of San Francisco – for Southern themed bars. SEC football. Girls in Daisy Dukes dancing to Marshall Tucker Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. That ain’t changing.
If you think that a piece of cloth caused someone to kill nine people, you are delusional. Not only is the flag not the problem, you have to accept it as you accept the sky is blue. You can huff and puff but you are not going to blow the house down.
"KD"
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