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Excellent post! It has not gone unnoticed that the tyrants of revisionism and political correctness hate the south. The south has been mocked and reviled in the depictions of Hollywood and in the rhetoric of puffed-up politicians. The anti-American organizations that foist themselves on the American people under the guise of civil rights have become the self-appointed standard bearers leading the charge against all things southern and shouting the battle cry of "racism", a word unequaled in its capacity to weaken the knees of the strongest among us. Even among FReepers there are a handful of sanctimonious blowhards who seem to exist to disrupt the threads where southerners gather to celebrate our heritage, history and identity. Why?

Your post addressed some of the reasons very well. I suppose to some the flag is one of rebellion as your post suggests, and I would agree with that under certain circumstances, but I see it more as a banner representing a fierce independence, an independence of spirit which defined the earlier days of our country, which led the south to later refuse the north's move away from the Constitution, choosing rather to be a separate nation, an independence of spirit which refused every attempt to dilute its culture and belief in itself. It is that independent spirit which has withstood to this day the assaults of intolerance in the name of "tolerance" and refused to surrender its rights of free speech. That flag and the spirit it represents shines a light in the darkness of history and holds up a mirror to the face of hypocrisy and the image is unbearable to those whom it condemns, who think that the answer is to destroy the mirror. But I say that we need to hold on to that flag now more than ever. I have heard it said that we southerners can't let go the past. I beg to differ. It isn't that we refuse to let go of the past; it is that we refuse to let go of hope for the future. As long as that flag flies, there is hope that America will rediscover what made her great and reject the tyranny that has come upon us from within and without.