[@Penny], [@Smash]

I am not defending Confederates explicitly. The mindset means nothing to me, but the act of destruction [i]does[/i]. Instead of taking the time to point out the flaws of history, educate people, visit these monuments, these battlegrounds, these tombs, and speak on the facts of them, they have taken the coward's path. They would rather just destroy and bury the past than look to it to learn how we have failed or succeeded. It matters nothing, not one ounce, how recent any of these things are because they are symbols. You can look to them to better understand not only the people who erected them, but also what they mean.

The term "slippery slope" has all but been forgotten in our time because we are into it so deep we can no longer realize how much further we are plunging. We can no longer see the hole, only the darkness of it.

Without being poetic, what do I mean? I mean that once you start down this road there is little coming back. Should we now tear down the Great Pyramids because the culture who made them abused and exploited slaves and worshipped a "heathen" pantheon? Is the Washington Monument now suddenly offensive too? What about the fact it was commemorated and commissioned long after George Washington was physically relevant? Should we consider how offensive the Vietnam Memorial might be to the Vietnamese? Is the Lincoln Memorial any less important to history because it does not accurately portray the man?

It has nothing to do with supporting "Southern pride" or the Confederacy. I am a Westerner, where the whole concept of North and South as ideals are alien. They are not my culture or have any real relevance to me as an individual.

The real issue, the very heart of my objection is that this is a meaningless gesture. It is pandering and slumming to people who, up until recently, had no real issue with these statues or their symbols. It has only become a matter of political convenience and social justice to focus on them. It is destroying far more than anything it is creating.

[@Skepic]

I have to agree from a martial standpoint that the destruction and domination of the Confederacy by the Union would have been the best choice if that had been the goal. But this was never the goal, not even from the start. An intellectual man could tell you that defeating and destroying your enemy down to their identity is the most intelligent option, but a wise man would tell you reconciliation and the reunion is more important.

Hindsight will forever be in the favor of those in the future, but the objective was not to defeat and control the Southern states and their rebels. It was more important to the people of the time to reunite the United States, a philosophy by which I abide. It was a classical example of Americans waging war on a moral matter rather than a factual matter. We have done this time and time again throughout history, with recent history proving this best; it would have been strongly in American favor if we had completely dominated Afghanistan and Iraq and destroyed not only the enemy, but it's sympathizers. We do fight in such a manner though; it is not our battle identity.

However, we as the United States do not wage that war. Especially not when the President at the time was assassinated and his message, emphasis and objective was to reunite. It made it a just war then in the eyes of the public, who then largely wanted to see his message carried out. His death convinced more that he was speaking the truth. It is in part the reason Abraham Lincoln is so martyred now.

The recency of the topic has no meaning to me. In many ways, even with that motive, history has proven who is right. Did they erect those monuments as a way to combat the Civil Rights Movement? Very likely, the time frame and rationale of being a "good rebel" suggest it. But who won that war? The American people, again. If anything it stands as good testament to the character of the nation.

We should focus not on the destruction of what we find offensive, rather we should focus on the constructive, such as bettering our historical education and dedication to the National Parks and Historical Sites of the country. The majority of the nation agrees, even with that Left-leaning poll's inherent bias.