CONFEDERAPHOBIA: 1865 VS. 2015

When Robert E. Lee surrendered his army on April 9, 1865, it ended the most bloody conflict in American history (before or since).  Approximately 500,000 Americans had died during the bloody conflict.  The country was literally torn apart, physically, politically and economically.

On the evening of April 10, 1865, jubilation came over the city of Washington, DC.  When President Abraham Lincoln appeared, the merry-making crowds chanted, "Speech, speech, speech!"  Lincoln stated that he would deliver a speech the following day, on April 11, after he had prepared.  He turned to the military band and asked that they play the song "Dixie."  Lincoln said, "It is good to show the rebels that with us they will be free to hear it again."

Two days later, Lincoln would be dead.  His conciliatory policies toward the fallen South would die with him.  Radical Republicans, led by Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, would seek to punish the South for the damage of the War.  Even in this post-Lincoln environment of hatred for the South, nobody disputed the gallantry of the Southerners who fought for the defeated Confederacy.

154 years later brings us to the year 2015.  Today, there is much more hatred toward the corpse of the Confederacy than there was in 1865.  We choose to look back 154 years and reopen all the wounds of the War Between the States, to no one's advantage--unless it leverages divisive politicians who dare not allow the sectional and racial divisions that keep them in power to heal.

If, during the brutal reality of 1865, Lincoln could call for the playing of "Dixie," why now, in 2015, must we call for the destruction of Confederate flags, Southern culture, and even movies and video games with Southern references?  

As many have recently pointed out, the South lost the War.  Why then do they insist on shooting their prisoners?

In another post, I will attempt to address why post-modern liberals (and some neoconservatives) want to burn the Confederate flag.  Why is the current irrational Confederaphobia so rampant?  What is it they really fear?