While I would not advocate making the display of Confederate symbols into a national campaign issue, it is a very clear indication of how one views the people of The South, Southern heritage, and Southern culture. While Barack Hussein Obama is aggressively hostile to Southerners, the Massachusetts-native nominee of the party of Lincoln has made his beliefs known also.
I have no winning alternative to offer, but well over a decade ago, I stopped voting for the “lesser of two evils” and cast my vote for Constitution Party candidates. I would ask that you take another look at the post titled, “Lost Causes” when considering what you will do on election day. Is your one vote really going to make a difference in the outcome? No, of course not. Then why would you be willing to give your vote to anyone other than a candidate who you truly believe is the man best qualified to lead the nation in the way you believe it should be lead?
A Southern gentleman does what is RIGHT – not what is expedient. Our ancestors fought for the Lost Cause because it was the right thing to do. We have a noble heritage to uphold. Voting should be a moral decision not a political decision.
Edited to add:
For another perspective on why voting your conscience makes practical, real-world sense, read “Voting Strategy 2004 – When the Lesser of Two Evils is No Longer An Option“. Although this was written for the 2004 election, the principles still apply. In the interest of disclosure, I played a major role in writing this document.
I trust you will allow a guest from the Eastern side of the Pond to make an observation on the matter of voting, although I am not qualified to vote in any of the states of the USA.
The judgement that any and every voter needs to make is whether his choice will have a chance of being elected, and the difference between the other candidates likely to be elected. Here in the UK, we have had a choice of three parties, Labour, which is the party of organised labour and has a social democratic position. Liberal which varies from pretty much extreme free market all the way through to being left of the Labour party, and Conservative, which are pretty much akin to the Republican party in the US. No Conservative would ever vote Labour, and no Labourite would ever vote Conservative. the Liberals are a much smaller party. Except that we now have the United Kingdom Independence Party or UKIP. UKIP would have us withdraw from the European Union and would roll back much of the state, and because of this draws its support mainly from disaffected former supporters of the Conservative party. Each constituency elects a single Member of Parliament to the House of Commons. The constituency in which I live has a high profile Labour MP, who, in 2010 beat the Conservative candidate by 1100 votes. The UKIP candidate polled 1500 votes. The question each elector in this constituency needs to ask is whether the difference between the Labour party and the Conservative party is sufficiently large that it warrants voting for someone who is your second choice effectively (Conservative when you personally would prefer UKIP) because the other side might well cause so much damage to the county, like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown (who are often referred to as B-Liar and B-Ruin on the web) that the country would never recover. If you think that I am joking, consider that under the “Tax Credits” scheme introduced by Gordon Brown, a family could be receiving benefit called tax credit when there was a family income of around $120,000 per annum. And no, that is not a misprint, I mean One Hundred and Twenty Thousand dollars per annum. You are paying tax with one hand and receiving benefit with the other. Is it more important to ensure that such people are kept away from the levers of power or do you keep your conscience pure and allow them to be elected because the alternative loses too many votes to your preferred party? It brings to mind the old adage that there are two things to keep clear of the making of, sausages and laws.
Thank you, Fred – we sure appreciate your input. Getting the perspective of one who can look at things with a bit of distance is always helpful. I used to be an avid short wave radio listener for that same reason.
I wish the situation were clear-cut enough that I could say with absolute confidence either, “Vote for the candidate who will do the least damage” or “Never vote for the lesser of two evils.” In life, there are no easy answers – only difficult choices.
I have edited the original post to include a link to a “Voting Strategy” document that provides some insight into why strictly voting your conscience makes good sense from a political strategy standpoint.
I would like to know why is the Confederate flag such a problem now? I swear these politicians are running out of things to talk about. To blame a flag which was used to represent a government many years ago is absurd. I understand why they are doing it and i find it as such an underhanded move to stir the black vote to go with Romney because of the slavery stigma the Confederate flag has. Even after the Civil War Blacks were still treated as lower class citizens. Not till the “60’s” were their civil laws in place to protect Blacks from being discriminated against.
I know there are Northerners who look at the South with disdain and i don’t really know why. A few years back my parents moved from NY and settled down in VA. They love it down there! I have gone down to VA many times and i love it as well! The wide open spaces, friendly people, the laid back atmosphere and of course the good ole southern hospitality keeps me coming back. There is actual freedom down there unlike up here in NY. Hell i went to a sporting goods store and saw all those shot guns and rifles i was in awe of it. You don’t see that in NY unless you go waaaayyyy up into the country.
Blaming a flag for the misgivings of a country shows me that these so called leaders don’t want to talk about the real issues. What about jobs, economy, the free market, inflation, the rise of gold, FIAT currency talk about that and not about a flag!
Politicians can be devious, but they are not stupid. They use what they know works on people. The masses base their actions on their emotions rather than on logic and facts, so that is what politicians (and others who lust for power) use. They can get their constituents stirred up with something that diverts their attention from real problems.
When we’re talking about issues involving race, these emotion-driven tactics have an additional attraction. In addition to reaching Blacks on an emotional level, invoking the Confederate flag tells them that the horrible condition of Black society is not their fault – it the fault of those evil White Southerners. It is far easier to just blame others for one’s problems than it is to face those problems head on and solve them. The politicians are only too happy to play along with the game.
What is lost in so many discussions such as this is the fact that racial issues are, for the most part, power struggle issues. The “Black team” knows how to take full advantage of the emotion-driven guilt of the “White team”. This is all about money and power, and has little to do with questions of right or wrong, good or bad, honor or dishonor. That is why racial strife will never end – there is simply too much at stake.
As I have done since I started voting back in 1988, I will write in myself for President. I have one vote in the last six elections.
I go to the polls to vote my local politicians, those that are more likely to have my community’s best interests at heart. I put in significantly more time to research the School Commissioner then that of the President of the United States.