Movements are driven by kooks a lot of the time. They're the ones with the energy.
But Douglas Wilder, a decorated veteran of the Korean Conflict has taken objection to some displays of Confederate flags.
I'm not saying I agree with Wilder's politics, but you're way too apocalyptic about this issue.
This is something that responsible people are going to sort out, not the end of the world.
Douglas Wilder is a left-wing Democrat, so no doubt he’s not very high on Confederate displays.
Would you say that a reasonable way to decide this issue would be to submit it to the voters of Virginia? Ditto for similar flag controversies in South Carolina, Georgia, and elsewhere?
In another post, you asked if more moderate conservatives such as Bush, McCain, and others are out to replace Old Glory. The answer, of course, is no. They aren’t out to replace Old Glory. But conservatives of their type could very well end up helping to bring such an outrage into being.
The 1965 Immigration Bill was supported by a majority of congressional Republicans. None of them intended to create a multicultural, balkanized America filled with millions and millions of illegal aliens demanding welfare and amnesty. But they helped bring it about because they were too cowardly to vote no. Everywhere they looked, there was a Democrat, a “civil rights” activist, or a liberal news reporter, screaming “racist! racist! racist!” at anyone who opposed the 1965 act. So they mostly voted for it, enabling it to pass. They surely had to know that bill was a nation destroyer, but they all went back to their districts and said it was only a modest proposal, and that Ted Kennedy assured them it wouldn’t alter the nation’s demographics.
Over in Britain, Enoch Powell was a rising star in the Tory Party. One day he went to the floor in Parliament and gave a speech warning that massive immigration from the Third World would lead to violence and bloodshed. Labor Party members and liberal news reporters howled “racist! racist! racist!”. Powell didn’t back down, but his conservative allies did. They denounced him, endorsed bringing in a ton of Muslims, and the rest is history.
The race card is the most virulent tool the left has, and they use it very aggressively and very successfully. It takes a very brave individual to resist it. Do I think moderate conservatives WANT to scrap Old Glory or purge our Founding Fathers? No. But do I think they’d vote for allegedly modest proposals knowing that they COULD lead to those results a decade or two down the road? Damn right, they would, if the sponsors of those “modest” proposals are jabbing their fingers in their faces and screaming that anyone who votes no is a racist. They’d vote for the proposal, and quietly hope against hope that the left will be satisfied and won’t use the precedent to launch an attack on Old Glory or James Madison.
All I can say to those “moderate” conservatives is, good luck! They’re gonna need it.