In the interests of avoiding extremism or excessive "political correctness," I would like to propose the following policy on symbols of the Confederacy or Nazism being displayed in public places. Local, state and federal governments and politicians may want to use these guidelines.
1) If any nation or group has fought a war against the United States of America,
AND
2) If that war lasted for over two years,
AND
3) If more than 100,000 Americans died in that war,
AND
4) If the US has not since the time of that war declared the US had been the "wrong side" in the war;
THEN
Symbols honoring, commemorating or otherwise sympathizing with that mortal enemy of the United States (or leaders of that mortal enemy) should not be maintained on public property in the United States.
- - - - -
Hmmm. Was that too radical???
One might think simple patriotism would prevent any ambiguity about this issue.
Symbols of the Confederacy refer to people who were willing to kill vast numbers of American citizens in order that these Confederate generals and politicians stop being American citizens. These Confederates were not only dissatisfied with the United States of America - they were willing to fight a long, bloody war to escape from a United States they found so intolerable. When the American people elected Lincoln, these Confederates wanted nothing to do with accepting the results of an election.
It's now 150 years later. How can any town or state want to use public property and/or tax money to maintain symbols honoring these people who rejected elections and committed mass murder against the United States and its citizens? Do these towns and states find the US intolerable and wish they weren't part of the US today? If not, why would they honor those who did?
We can paint a similar picture of Nazis and those who don't condemn them. If the US had never participated in WWII, the argument against Nazis wouldn't be as closely associated with patriotism. But the US did fight in WWII. When someone fails to condemn today's Nazis, we can ask them: Would the world have been better if the Nazis had slaughtered all of the US soldiers attempting to land in France on D-Day? Are they indifferent to which side won WWII? If they believe America was on the right side in WWII and they're glad the US won the war, then why wouldn't they condemn those who go around with swastikas, Nazi salutes, and pictures of Hitler?