I grew up Southern and am proud of my Southern roots, but I never felt strongly one way or the other about the Confederate flag. If pressed, I would likely lean towards the “Heritage not Hate” justification of allowing folks to adorn it in whatever way they see fit.
That changed about 10 or so years ago when I had a friend at the house and we were playing darts. The set I happened to pick up had flights with the Confederate flag on it. My friend, who is Jewish, stopped in his tracks and said, “I find those offensive.”
I was shocked. The last thing I would ever want to do is invite someone to my house and then insult them, especially with some indication of supporting racism – that’s not me. I threw them away right then and later tried to think it through. And this is what I determined:
The Confederate flag didn’t offend me as a symbol for the heritage of the Old South. But while I wasn’t looking, the flag was hijacked: taken hostage to work for racist groups who weren’t thinking of the Old South and did not represent my beliefs. Whether it was right or not, the flag now represented hatred to many people in our country – and because of that I had to abandon any association I once had with it.
Turning to 2018, we have another hijacking occurring right in front of us. The extreme left is taking over the Democratic Party. I am a conservative but I have been watching with amazement good friends of mine that are holding fast to a party that no longer represents their beliefs.
Violent protests, the calling by leaders to confront Trump supporters in public, Antifa, the treatment of now Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh, plays and frequent public references to assassinating our President, and the list goes on. Never have I seen such rude and ruthless treatment of one American to another.
These aren’t anomalies, my friend. This is your new Democratic Party. And there you are, your Hillary for President signs tucked neatly away in the garage, and not one word of resistance to this do you utter.
Please quit telling me, “I am a Democrat but I don’t support those actions or tactics.” Those actions and tactics ARE the Democratic Party. You cannot separate yourselves from it just like I couldn’t separate myself from the Confederate flag and its symbolism for racism.
If your conscience doesn’t drive you to denounce the party, how about realizing that all of this destructive hoopla is having the opposite effect of its intentions?
Every time the left goes on one of their violence-ridden crusades against something Donald Trump is doing, they lose … usually embarrassingly. And when they lose the Democratic Party sees more and more people walk away from the nonsense.
As people continue to leave, those that stay behind desperately holding on to their party colors become more isolated as the extreme left – the nut jobs who are willing to risk this country’s survival on one single social issue. Others who stay are minorities who have been told by generations before them that the Democrats are the only ones who look after their interests and the Republicans are racist and evil. Was it all a lie?
Wake up! Do something – take a stand. Show with your feet that you aren’t just a sheep following the flock. I don’t care if you go to the Republican side or not – start your own party, become an independent, but stop supporting these new Democrats and their destructive, unhinged behavior.
You are better than that, you are smarter than that, and while you sit there with paralysis by analysis, you are contributing to a new standard of political acceptance — violence and hatred.
Mike LaTella
Peachtree City, Ga.
