[quote=@Vilageidiotx]
 I don't think American Style Freedom™ is synonymous with mob rule... [/quote]

I don't think it is either. I think it is synonymous with representative rule, an indirect form of mob rule in which the government represents the people, and hopefully retains an awareness that this is its function, to work out the will of the people.

A government made of the people, by the people, for the people, after all, ought not oppose the people.

[quote=@Vilageidiotx] But if you want to turn this from "The Government of South Carolina behaving poorly" to "The people of South Carolina are behaving poorly.", than whatever floats your boat I guess. If it makes you feel like you got tons of American Style Freedom™ everywhere, go for it.
[/quote]

Dat dry wit tho

I'm not purporting a need to feel good by pointing fingers at the culprit I desire to; if you think I am, you've misunderstood for a reason I do not understand. Perhaps I've worded my post in a duplicitous manner. I meant to address the implied policy that seems to lie beneath the discussion here, which is whether the flag should be an unlawful item. The fact that a government uses it to represent itself and has done so for upwards of a hundred years is a point of contention now. It has been a point of contention, too. This was brought up decades ago.

That was why the governmental role was and is relevant; the government which represents the people should not defy the people even if the wishes of the government appear benevolent. I'm only meaning to say that in resolving this issue, the people of South Carolina ought to be the deciders.

The people should have the right to decide what represents them.

Making this about racism or popular perception thereof is just running down a rabbit's hole, I think. This isn't and shouldn't be about how the rest of America views the confederate flag. It should be about whether South Carolina wants the flag to represent them. We should be listening to what they think right now, not what we (provided we are not south carolinans) think.