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If there are so many interpretations of just what the history behind that flag means then how can any one group say, with any certainty, that flying it has only one meaning?

You can fly whatever flag you want to on your own property. But people are going to ask questions. They're going to wonder about what you mean by flying that flag. They may argue with you or be angry or shocked, or roll their eyes or laugh at your gigantic flag. So it cuts both ways. You can't fix what this is going to mean for everyone either. There will be discussion and debate, and no body can say how things will end.

There's a paradox involved here. You could make a good case for flying the Confederate flag over cemeteries, battlefield parks and monuments. It would serve strictly as a tribute to those who fought. But those are often public or semi-public property, and people who oppose the rebel flag have every right to complain and petition for a change. Nobody can stop you from flying the flag on your own property, but there's no compelling or generally accepted reason for flying a giant Confederate flag over I-65.

This giant flag is not a tribute to the fallen in a place where they fell or where they lie. It's making a more general and extreme statement. That statement may be "We're putting up this flag here because we can't put it up elsewhere." I think a lot of people would understand that and even accept it. Unfortunately the statement may also be "This is still the Confederacy" or "They fought for the right cause." A lot of people will object to that and rightly so. While they can't do anything about it directly, keeping the discussion going is a valid way of expressing their disapproval.

One thing Confederate flags symbolize is four years when Americans went to war and killed each other. The losses of that era are something we ought to commemorate, and the SCV may have a good case for flying the flag over cemeteries and battlefields. But I'm not sure it's a good thing to be reminded on every morning commute that the country once fell apart into violence.

Maybe I'm wrong on that. But so one-sided a symbol says a lot more than that. It commemorates one side, rather than the both, and one does have to wonder what the message there is. The message seems to be that Alabama is still Confederate, but what does "Confederate" mean? And what if you or I live in Alabama but aren't particularly Confederate? We can't take the flag down, but we certainly won't be cheering these guys on.

Another thing the CBF symbolizes is opposition to desegregation in the mid-20th century. When some people say that we ought to side with the Confederates in their struggle against federal authority, one has to wonder how far they're willing to go in that struggle. Other people who remember the civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s do wonder just what some groups mean by flying that flag.

The flag may also be a symbol of Southern regionalism -- or nationalism. That's not always a benign thing. If we all flew regional or ethnic or racial or religious flags in place of our national flag, it would be a sign that we'd entered a more dangerous epoch of national dissolution. Having seen how long-standing ethnic conflicts have torn apart other societies we'd be fools to encourage them here.

One of the concepts associated with the more radical neo-confederates is "kinism," the idea that you look after your own "kin" first -- and perhaps last as well. At first glance it may look pleasant enough, but it can be a very dangerous ideology in a country with a population as varied as our own. If I drive past a flag that explicitly excludes me every day, it can be a real cause for concern for me at least.

You could make a good case for flying the Confederate flag over cemeteries, battlefield parks and monuments. It would serve strictly as a tribute to those who fought. But those are often public or semi-public property, and people who oppose the rebel flag have every right to complain and petition for a change. Nobody can stop you from flying the flag on your own property, but there's no compelling or generally accepted reason for flying a giant Confederate flag over I-65.

The phrase "over 1-65" is merely journalistc license.

It would be physically impossible to build have a large enough flagpole on property adjacent to the highway with a long enough and light enough flag to literally fly "over I-65".

Even if it were, the death an destruction that would ensue when the wind died down and such a monster flag draped over I-65 would make such a project totally out of the question.

This is a privately owned flag flying over private property. The property just happens to be view property "adjacent to" I-65.

It is, in effect, the functional equivalent of a billboard and billboards seldom have "compelling or generally accepted reasons" for being where they are.

That being said, I have never been a fan of giant flags, even giant Old Glories, being used as the functional equivalents of billboards.......I immediately associate such flags with used car lots and I do not believe that flags should be used as promotional gimmicks.

I do not believe that many Southerners advocate flying a regional flag "in place" of the national flag.

Regionalism and regional pride are firmly established in the history of the United States. So much so that, prior to World War One, it was the norm to fight not only under the national flag but also under the state flag and even ethnic flags.

The current problem is that Southerners are now the only group in America that is being told that they must only have a generic national heritage and should put aside all notions of regional heritage.

Even Mexicans who have been in this country for three days have a big party thrown for their group all across America, come Cinco de Mayo, to celebrate a battle fought by Mexicans angainst Frenchmen on Mexican soil. By contrast, a Southerner, whose ancestors have been here since Colonial times must never show any interest in his regional heritage lest he be deemed Politically Incorrect.