The progressive movement which is nothing more than a one world globalist, socialist/communist movement want to rewrite history just like all communist’s do. What do you expect from these enemies of our constitution and our country. We need those statues to stay in place to remind us of what we never want to see again. They want to take down Thomas Jefferson’s statue and George Washington’s as well. Jefferson tried for 12 years to get legislation passed to allow slave owners to free their slaves but the Democrats would not let it pass. The Democrat party should be re-named the plantation party. They want black Americans to stay exactly where they are, controlled and on the plantation. I dare our black brother and sisters to look up the history of Margaret Stanger. One of Hillary’s mentors. Then they will see what the Democratic’s have done to black Americans for the last 50 years.
Dave F
7 years ago
More specifically whether they stay or go should be a democratic decision after a vigorous discussion over a long period of time. These historic monuments represent a part of history that will never be replaceable once gone. America needs to make sure we get such decisions right. US policy should never be made by mob rule and by an anti free speech violent movement such as Anti-fa and Destroy Trump. Clearly some of the historic figures remembered by the statues under attack were indeed great people despite some decisions we might not agree with when judging them from the perspective of 2017. It would be really good if these leftist detractors would examine their own hateful acts and remember Christ’s wisdom of “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!”
Kenny S.
7 years ago
Maybe they should be removed and then there would no reminder that slavery ever happened. Then we can All say “IT NEVER HAPPENED”.
Melody Mack Jordan
7 years ago
No, why now?? That was a different time in our history and no one today can relive those times. They fought for what they believed in and should be respected. General Robert E Lee was an outstanding man, and should be respected, along with all the other Soldiers that fought for the North and South. This will not end with the Confederate monument, fascist will want to destroy all of American’s history.
Douglas W Palmer
7 years ago
We live in a great country, we have freedoms unparalleled in any other country. One of our great aspects is that I don’t have to agree with another person, I can choose to disagree. However I must allow the other person to maintain his beliefs whether I agree or not. The problem we face today is that many want to push others around and force their way of thinking upon others with no regard for the other person. I am a veteran, I believe in this country. I believe God has put us here for a purpose. One purpose is not to tear down history, but to learn from it.
Wayne
7 years ago
Confederate Soldiers are U S Veterans and should be treated with respect!
It seems no one remembers that the Civil War was fought over State’s Rights, and that the issue of slavery was added on as the war progressed. In the 60’s our school’s history books changed American history to make it about slavery only. That is the problem now. Almost all people believe that all the South was adamantly for slavery, and all the North was against it. I wonder how many people know that Robert E. Lee did not have slaves, but that Ulysees S. Grant did have slaves? Would they be tearing Grant’s statue down too?
Bradley D. Cristy
7 years ago
I believe the U.S. has been invaded by an enemy force designed with the purpose of destroying the American way of life and produce a Revolution and transformation of our government without firing a shot. This did not happen over night. However the more they accomplish the more it becomes evident. True American patriot need to rise up; re-declare our Independence, and re-establish constitutional rule of law. To remove all records of our heritage, history, and roots from which we came is the preface to the accomplishment of the silent revolution of our downfall. Just think back to the blatant and unashamed lyrics of one of the early invaders when he said, Imagine a world with no reason to live or die for…no heaven and no hell…..” Pretty specific, but we didn’t identify it as a Trojan Horse. American Patriots need to rise up and take back our country and constitutional rule of law. ONE MAN CAN NOT DO IT ALONE—-FREEDOM IS NOT FREE—MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!!
John F Michela, a retired Illinois judge
7 years ago
The issue of secession was alive before 1860. Massachusetts, Connecticut thought about it. Jeff Davis supported Mass.’right to secede. Nullification proposed by John Calhoun was an attempt to save the Union, but his proposal failed.
Sadly slavery was the one issue that all thought could not be settled without secession and war. Sadder yet, the United States is the only “civilized nation” that could not solve the issue without war.
Many of those who fought and diedfor the CSA were dirt poor, did not own slaves and had little in common with the “Gone With the Wind” south. They fought for each other, for Marse Roberts and for southern rights.
When the war ended the dream died, the issue of secession was settled, slavery ended and these United States became The United States. The great tragedy was the assasination of President Lincoln, the rise of the radical Republican vengeance on the south, the failure to elevate the former slaves through education and help to adjust to the demands of freedom. The poor whites and blacks were manipulated by reconstruction and all spiraled downward.
I fear that the manipulation continues. The less privaleged of the south need to stand as one to defend those of the 1860s who fought and died for a dream that was flawed, and defend those who suffered from slavery, a failed reconstruction and the dastardly rise of Jim Crowe.
Let us love one another, let us tolerate our shared past, and pray God bless the and these United States.
Larry
7 years ago
The groups that wants to destroy the statues of the south and history, the work of free people who put them up after the civil war, are attacking statues and other items in the north too, wanting them removed. What it is a bunch of small groups is trying to destroy the United States from within, a piece at a time. Soon they will attack the capital in DC, wanting to tear the capital down because they will say a slave helped to build it. These group are at war and it is getting worse, first the statues, testing to see which places are with them and who is not.
RAS
7 years ago
When dealing with progressives we have to keep in mind that we are dealing with people not interested in facts or established truths. They respond like cultist to rational arguments or denial when confronted with the evidence of their failed policies; so save your time an breath. The attack on our monuments and history is just another attack on our traditions. In order to bring down a society it is necessary to destroy its identity. Revising history and discrediting our past is just a step in the process. One recalls the job that Winston Smith had to do for “Big Brother” in the Orwell novel “1984.” The only thing that seems to work against progressives is to ask them specific questions about history, policy and the people that formed their movement; most of which they won’t be able to answer. The tyrants they attribute to conservatives are if fact their founders. Transference; go figure.
Dusty
7 years ago
It is part of our American History. We are letting a few who don’t care about anyone or anything but themselves destroy what is nothing more than history. It stands for nothing more than that today.
Roc29
7 years ago
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
–George Orwell
Let’s stop the history changing propaganda. To deny history is a way to insure its repeat.
Neil Bjurling
7 years ago
One major problem that these protesters in our streets is that they do not know the history of our country. Like it or not good and bad it’s our history and cannot be erased by the the removal of some statues. Do they know that the majority of southern soldiers did not own slaves? As noted by other comments the civil war was fought over states rights.
Pat Castleberry
7 years ago
It should be left up to the voters to make this decision! I’m assuming tax dollars paid for these statutes so in essence the voters own them. Therefore, the removal or non-removal of these statues should be voted on by the taxpayers during an election when voters go to the polls. The decision should not be left up to a radical leftist group or one political party!!!!
M. Rust
7 years ago
I watched a travel show a couple of days ago about a country (Bulgaria I think) that had once been occupied. Instead of destroying their communist statues when they became un-occupied, they put them all in a park so that people could walk amongst them and reflect on the history of their country, the good and the bad. Destroying them doesn’t change the past. We should teach the history as it happened and talk about all of the mistakes that were made by our ancestors. Hopefully teaching the next generations how to consider the past while planning the future of this country. My Father died in Korea in 1951 while defending this country and to protect his family. I pray that he did not die in vain.
Robert Miller
7 years ago
No they should not be taken down or placed in a museum this is history a bloody war but people fought for what they believed in on both sides. In today’s world their values would not be honored but this was in a time when values where different. We must not ignore history or we are doomed to repeat it. Was dropping the A bomb right? No but there were other things to consider the saving of at least 100,000 American lives. Perhaps some of the current generation’s family ancestors. Maybe those families would not exist today. In the short sense War is a terrible thing.
Robert Miller
7 years ago
, I do not believe the statues of the southern fighters should be taken down and destroyed. It is history. These brave fighters fought for what they believed in, you may not agree with their beliefs but this was the beliefs at the time. Both sides should be remembered for what they did, one side farming society which could not be done without the slave labor (like the labor done by foreigners today mainly Asian and South American) . The other side operating a manufacturing society which incidentally .War is a very nasty operation. The other side was in the business of manufacturing which was a very dangerous occupation. The A bomb dropped on Japan helped save at least 100,000 American lives. What about the Japanese well they were monsters and this was War. Those Americans were fighting for what they believed in if it was not for the decision to drop The bomb perhaps some of your ancestors would not have had this generation. War is Hell but monuments serve to honor the believers whichever side you were on.
Steve Cole
7 years ago
Why stop at removing statues. The confederate states should be placed in exile and banned from the United States and all it stands for.
Jeffrey Schaub
7 years ago
If we remove the lessons and symbols of the past, we are doomed to repeat history. “Presentism,” the judging of the past events utilizing the standards of the present, is a propaganda technique used by the 1918 Soviets and other dangerous ideologues, and it is an absurd and meaningless pursuit. It is a propaganda technique that has no logic and is merely the poisonous snake oil of dangerous people. The most recent manifestation of militant Presentism I can think of is the Taliban’s decision that ancient monuments deserved to be by artillery of ancient monuments considered irreplaceable. The monuments demonstrate how far we’ve come, and if cities and governments allow them to be either destroyed or taken away, they are falling victim to those who would cry that absolutely no progress has been made in race relations since the Civil War, and that is patently ridiculous. We should resist and fight the left’s efforts to erase our past.
Neil DeBoer
6 years ago
Little known fact is that General Robert E. Lee did not believe in slavery. The only reason he joined the Confederacy is so he would not have to command troops against his own neighbors, relatives and friends. I don’t think many people that think he was a racist are aware of this. More knowledge of history and less attention to Progressive SJW propaganda would go a long way towards people getting along better and less volatile political discourse. But it seems that the Progressive SJW crowd loves to lie and stir up ignorant young people.
Chuck
6 years ago
Another example of revisionist history. The conflict that raged had the result, through the shedding of much blood, of taking this nation a great distance down the road of affirming the human race as the race of one blood no matter the color of ones skin. Unfortunately there are factions in and out of our government that continue to fan the flames of bloodshed for their own agendas.
The progressive movement which is nothing more than a one world globalist, socialist/communist movement want to rewrite history just like all communist’s do. What do you expect from these enemies of our constitution and our country. We need those statues to stay in place to remind us of what we never want to see again. They want to take down Thomas Jefferson’s statue and George Washington’s as well. Jefferson tried for 12 years to get legislation passed to allow slave owners to free their slaves but the Democrats would not let it pass. The Democrat party should be re-named the plantation party. They want black Americans to stay exactly where they are, controlled and on the plantation. I dare our black brother and sisters to look up the history of Margaret Stanger. One of Hillary’s mentors. Then they will see what the Democratic’s have done to black Americans for the last 50 years.
More specifically whether they stay or go should be a democratic decision after a vigorous discussion over a long period of time. These historic monuments represent a part of history that will never be replaceable once gone. America needs to make sure we get such decisions right. US policy should never be made by mob rule and by an anti free speech violent movement such as Anti-fa and Destroy Trump. Clearly some of the historic figures remembered by the statues under attack were indeed great people despite some decisions we might not agree with when judging them from the perspective of 2017. It would be really good if these leftist detractors would examine their own hateful acts and remember Christ’s wisdom of “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!”
Maybe they should be removed and then there would no reminder that slavery ever happened. Then we can All say “IT NEVER HAPPENED”.
No, why now?? That was a different time in our history and no one today can relive those times. They fought for what they believed in and should be respected. General Robert E Lee was an outstanding man, and should be respected, along with all the other Soldiers that fought for the North and South. This will not end with the Confederate monument, fascist will want to destroy all of American’s history.
We live in a great country, we have freedoms unparalleled in any other country. One of our great aspects is that I don’t have to agree with another person, I can choose to disagree. However I must allow the other person to maintain his beliefs whether I agree or not. The problem we face today is that many want to push others around and force their way of thinking upon others with no regard for the other person. I am a veteran, I believe in this country. I believe God has put us here for a purpose. One purpose is not to tear down history, but to learn from it.
Confederate Soldiers are U S Veterans and should be treated with respect!
https://www.truthorfiction.com/confederate-soldiers-are-considered-u-s-veterans-under-federal-law/
It seems no one remembers that the Civil War was fought over State’s Rights, and that the issue of slavery was added on as the war progressed. In the 60’s our school’s history books changed American history to make it about slavery only. That is the problem now. Almost all people believe that all the South was adamantly for slavery, and all the North was against it. I wonder how many people know that Robert E. Lee did not have slaves, but that Ulysees S. Grant did have slaves? Would they be tearing Grant’s statue down too?
I believe the U.S. has been invaded by an enemy force designed with the purpose of destroying the American way of life and produce a Revolution and transformation of our government without firing a shot. This did not happen over night. However the more they accomplish the more it becomes evident. True American patriot need to rise up; re-declare our Independence, and re-establish constitutional rule of law. To remove all records of our heritage, history, and roots from which we came is the preface to the accomplishment of the silent revolution of our downfall. Just think back to the blatant and unashamed lyrics of one of the early invaders when he said, Imagine a world with no reason to live or die for…no heaven and no hell…..” Pretty specific, but we didn’t identify it as a Trojan Horse. American Patriots need to rise up and take back our country and constitutional rule of law. ONE MAN CAN NOT DO IT ALONE—-FREEDOM IS NOT FREE—MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!!
The issue of secession was alive before 1860. Massachusetts, Connecticut thought about it. Jeff Davis supported Mass.’right to secede. Nullification proposed by John Calhoun was an attempt to save the Union, but his proposal failed.
Sadly slavery was the one issue that all thought could not be settled without secession and war. Sadder yet, the United States is the only “civilized nation” that could not solve the issue without war.
Many of those who fought and diedfor the CSA were dirt poor, did not own slaves and had little in common with the “Gone With the Wind” south. They fought for each other, for Marse Roberts and for southern rights.
When the war ended the dream died, the issue of secession was settled, slavery ended and these United States became The United States. The great tragedy was the assasination of President Lincoln, the rise of the radical Republican vengeance on the south, the failure to elevate the former slaves through education and help to adjust to the demands of freedom. The poor whites and blacks were manipulated by reconstruction and all spiraled downward.
I fear that the manipulation continues. The less privaleged of the south need to stand as one to defend those of the 1860s who fought and died for a dream that was flawed, and defend those who suffered from slavery, a failed reconstruction and the dastardly rise of Jim Crowe.
Let us love one another, let us tolerate our shared past, and pray God bless the and these United States.
The groups that wants to destroy the statues of the south and history, the work of free people who put them up after the civil war, are attacking statues and other items in the north too, wanting them removed. What it is a bunch of small groups is trying to destroy the United States from within, a piece at a time. Soon they will attack the capital in DC, wanting to tear the capital down because they will say a slave helped to build it. These group are at war and it is getting worse, first the statues, testing to see which places are with them and who is not.
When dealing with progressives we have to keep in mind that we are dealing with people not interested in facts or established truths. They respond like cultist to rational arguments or denial when confronted with the evidence of their failed policies; so save your time an breath. The attack on our monuments and history is just another attack on our traditions. In order to bring down a society it is necessary to destroy its identity. Revising history and discrediting our past is just a step in the process. One recalls the job that Winston Smith had to do for “Big Brother” in the Orwell novel “1984.” The only thing that seems to work against progressives is to ask them specific questions about history, policy and the people that formed their movement; most of which they won’t be able to answer. The tyrants they attribute to conservatives are if fact their founders. Transference; go figure.
It is part of our American History. We are letting a few who don’t care about anyone or anything but themselves destroy what is nothing more than history. It stands for nothing more than that today.
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
–George Orwell
Let’s stop the history changing propaganda. To deny history is a way to insure its repeat.
One major problem that these protesters in our streets is that they do not know the history of our country. Like it or not good and bad it’s our history and cannot be erased by the the removal of some statues. Do they know that the majority of southern soldiers did not own slaves? As noted by other comments the civil war was fought over states rights.
It should be left up to the voters to make this decision! I’m assuming tax dollars paid for these statutes so in essence the voters own them. Therefore, the removal or non-removal of these statues should be voted on by the taxpayers during an election when voters go to the polls. The decision should not be left up to a radical leftist group or one political party!!!!
I watched a travel show a couple of days ago about a country (Bulgaria I think) that had once been occupied. Instead of destroying their communist statues when they became un-occupied, they put them all in a park so that people could walk amongst them and reflect on the history of their country, the good and the bad. Destroying them doesn’t change the past. We should teach the history as it happened and talk about all of the mistakes that were made by our ancestors. Hopefully teaching the next generations how to consider the past while planning the future of this country. My Father died in Korea in 1951 while defending this country and to protect his family. I pray that he did not die in vain.
No they should not be taken down or placed in a museum this is history a bloody war but people fought for what they believed in on both sides. In today’s world their values would not be honored but this was in a time when values where different. We must not ignore history or we are doomed to repeat it. Was dropping the A bomb right? No but there were other things to consider the saving of at least 100,000 American lives. Perhaps some of the current generation’s family ancestors. Maybe those families would not exist today. In the short sense War is a terrible thing.
, I do not believe the statues of the southern fighters should be taken down and destroyed. It is history. These brave fighters fought for what they believed in, you may not agree with their beliefs but this was the beliefs at the time. Both sides should be remembered for what they did, one side farming society which could not be done without the slave labor (like the labor done by foreigners today mainly Asian and South American) . The other side operating a manufacturing society which incidentally .War is a very nasty operation. The other side was in the business of manufacturing which was a very dangerous occupation. The A bomb dropped on Japan helped save at least 100,000 American lives. What about the Japanese well they were monsters and this was War. Those Americans were fighting for what they believed in if it was not for the decision to drop The bomb perhaps some of your ancestors would not have had this generation. War is Hell but monuments serve to honor the believers whichever side you were on.
Why stop at removing statues. The confederate states should be placed in exile and banned from the United States and all it stands for.
If we remove the lessons and symbols of the past, we are doomed to repeat history. “Presentism,” the judging of the past events utilizing the standards of the present, is a propaganda technique used by the 1918 Soviets and other dangerous ideologues, and it is an absurd and meaningless pursuit. It is a propaganda technique that has no logic and is merely the poisonous snake oil of dangerous people. The most recent manifestation of militant Presentism I can think of is the Taliban’s decision that ancient monuments deserved to be by artillery of ancient monuments considered irreplaceable. The monuments demonstrate how far we’ve come, and if cities and governments allow them to be either destroyed or taken away, they are falling victim to those who would cry that absolutely no progress has been made in race relations since the Civil War, and that is patently ridiculous. We should resist and fight the left’s efforts to erase our past.
Little known fact is that General Robert E. Lee did not believe in slavery. The only reason he joined the Confederacy is so he would not have to command troops against his own neighbors, relatives and friends. I don’t think many people that think he was a racist are aware of this. More knowledge of history and less attention to Progressive SJW propaganda would go a long way towards people getting along better and less volatile political discourse. But it seems that the Progressive SJW crowd loves to lie and stir up ignorant young people.
Another example of revisionist history. The conflict that raged had the result, through the shedding of much blood, of taking this nation a great distance down the road of affirming the human race as the race of one blood no matter the color of ones skin. Unfortunately there are factions in and out of our government that continue to fan the flames of bloodshed for their own agendas.