Good post. I think secession for slavery was pushed by a few plantation owners and the poor man had to fight that war for them. I think most Confederate soldiers fought because they had a sense of duty to protect their homeland. All the more reason that secession for slavery was so wrong. I wouldn't vote for removing the Confederate flag either. Two minor points of disagreement. :^)
I think the Southerners are great people and I vacationed down there recently to defy the NAACP, drove a NASCAR, spent a lot of money. Jesse Jackson et al are no different than slaveholders.
This may have been misunderstood. The slaveholder secessionists used the poor Confederate soldier's sense of duty to protect the homeland to fight for the slaveholder secessionist slavery cause. That's what made it even more wrong.