It's Confederate History Month in Dixie

[PanzerJaeger]

Although I wasn't born in America, I have a lot of sympathy for the Confederacy and for Confederate soldiers particularly. Despite the current politically correct, revisionist environment that paints the war as a battle over slavery, the vast majority of Confederate soldiers had never owned a slave. Slavery itself was a state's rights issue, and trying to separate the two does a disservice to the complex political undertones of the era.

In any event, they were excellent soldiers who fought for principled leaders and a noble cause. Their loss led the United States down, in my opinion, a regrettable path towards centralization of power in the federal government that was directly contradictory to the principles in which the nation was founded.

As an American, I have no problem reconciling the celebration of their battlefield successes and the unique antebellum society they cultivated with the injustices of slavery. Those who cannot usually stand to profit from their objections. The controversy over the confederate battle flag is a good example.