Since words mean things, we should be clear. The first Confederate flag was the Stars and Bars, but that was to close to the Stars and Stripes of the United States. The next was the Stainless banner, with the familiar red St.George's cross with the 15 stars representing the states in the Confederacy. The third was the Blood Stained Banner, similar to the Stainless banner, except the far end of the flag had a single wide red stripe.In battle, however, the Confederacy used the more famous Confederate battle flag, the red flag with the blue diagonal stripes, with white stars. The Southern Cross.
When I got to the South, I was stunned by the amount of Confederate Battle flags I saw. Actually, I lived in the South already, in Virginia, but I did not really ever see the flag. In Texas, I still see it quite a bit. About five years ago, I went to a stock car race. The infield was a see of Confederate Battle Flags. Two years later, I saw none. NASCAR wants to go from a Southeastern sport to a national sport, and the CBS is not welcome in many of those states.
Let me be perfectly clear. To those who fly the CBS, it is about heritage, not hate. This, of course, excludes people like the skinheads and the Klan. I do understand why people are offended by it. You can make the case easily that the war was about states rights. There had been talk of secession many times before, and South Carolina was always ready to go. There were different issues each time, but slavery was the over arching issue.
If you watch Jon Stewart, there is probably no hope for you. The distressing thing is that ao many people consider that real news, He claimed that the soldiers fighting the war were fighting for slavery. Not true. The slave holders in the big plantations were not doing much fighting. Instead, they were safe and sound, far behind the battle lines. The vast majority of the soldiers who marched under the CBS had no slaves at all. These were subsistence farmers who had to hunt and fish for protein. Slavery probably did not mean much to these soldiers. I wonder about Stewart. He has the credentials to be smart. I beleive he might be bright, but is just to lazy to get the facts straight.
I do not think that the CBS should be flown over public buildings, with the exception of Civil War monuments to Confederate soldiers, as well as battle fields. You cannot demand that a man take down a CBS on his own land.