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Originally Posted by Neal Stevens
I disagree. Maybe legal precedent (a flimsy and temporal pretext) says the Union is perpetual and, what that other is, now, but that could easily change. It's nuts to think that the US is a big backer of self-determination all over the world but not at home.
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But it's not a "flimsy and temporal" legal precedent that says the Union is perpetual. It's the Constitution that does, and the Articles of Confederation before that. Salmon P. Chase:
"(The Union of the States) was confirmed and strengthened by the necessities of war, and received definite form and character and sanction from the Articles of Confederation. By these, the Union was solemnly declared to 'be perpetual.' And when these Articles were found to be inadequate to the exigencies of the country, the Constitution was ordained 'to form a more perfect Union.' It is difficult to convey the idea of indissoluble unity more clearly than by these words. What can be indissoluble if a perpetual Union, made more perfect, is not?"
If you want to throw out the Constitution and say screw you guys, we're outta here, that's one thing. It could be the will of the people. It could be the right thing to do. But you can't say it wouldn't be treason and destroying the existing governmental structure, and no state has the
legal right to do it. So someone stating that is not a "historical revisionist guy" and Freiwillige should still check his facts and history before calling someone such. Q.E.D.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakkels
Well as a non American I'm no expert. And what Mookie said looks to make sense. But I always wondered what that flag exactly means nowadays. I mean I know it was the flag of the south in the Civil War, but what is it's meaning now? Does it just represent a general feel of rebellion? Or does it have a racial connotation too?
I'm just curious since I see this flag coming up in movies and series now and then and I always wonder what it is exactly that it stands for?
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It is indeed a symbol of general rebellion. It's used, as Neal said, in a way to make the statement that "you're not gonna tell us what to do if we don't like it, and we'll resist up to and including going to war over it." Some would say that they don't mean it as advocating slavery, but the way I see it, the history of that flag and slavery are so intertwined as to be inseparable. It was an ugly time in our nation's history, and nothing to be romanticized or celebrated.