[doryfunk]

'And Rep. Mackay was just foolin' when he said, "There was only one reason for putting the flag on there, like the gun rack in the back of a pickup truck, it telegraphs a message."'----

No, he wasnt fooling. The problem is that both you and the current general assembly completely missed the message being sent. The flag symbolises the willingness of the South to fight against a tyrannical federal government that had overstepped its constitutional bounds.

[flyervet]

Exactly. They believed that federally mandated equality for blacks was tyrannical and unconstitutional, so they adopted a symbol that showed their opposition and defiance of the government on the civil rights issue.

The 1956 flag had as much to do with memorializing the Confederacy as the 1876 flag had to do with granting women the right to vote.