GOP Lawmaker: Lynch Anyone Who Takes Down Confederate Monuments

SSG Warren Swan I would say instead of taking down the confederate statues, add monuments to the other side of the equation. Start with leaders of the underground railroad. The problem is that by sterilizing history, it can lead to a repeat. For example when I was growing up we learned about slavery, the civil war, and the horrors involved in it. We didn't learn about Japanese Internment camps in WWII. I didn't learn about those until much later, and I was horrified by it. We cannot sterilize our history. If we do, there will come a time when it is forgotten. Once it is forgotten, it can be repeated.
Additionally, slavery still exists. Even in the United States. They have given it the name Human Trafficing, but it is slavery. When young girls are brought to this country and forced to work in prostitution under threat of death, or Chinese pay a fortune to be smuggled into the country only to be forced to work off the remainder of their debt, slavery still exists. It has been sterilized and swept under the carpet. Until their is a major bust that forces it into the public eye.

PFC Jonathan Albano SSG Warren Swan I was actually going to post this, but was working on my thoughts to keyboard on this as it is a touchy subject and as one who loves history a bit of a personal debate.

SSG Swan I agree with you wholeheartedly in many respects and PFC Albano I agree with you in some.

1. The Civil War was more than just about State Rights when you add in that those "States Rights" included the right to own slaves. Lets not confuse or delude ourselves into thinking those rights were something other than what they really were.

2. The Civil War was also about economics as the Southern States was built on the backbone of Slave-Economics- so if you took away the slaves (so to speak) then you had the potential for a crumbling economy, thus a loss of economic and financial power. Mind you though, that a lot of this economic power did fuel the "industrial Northern States" in a manner of speaking.

3. Concerning Slavery in the Northern States.....slavery for the most part was Self-Abolished due to many of the effects of the revolutionary war over a period of times leading up to the Civil War....though not in the numbers as in the South, slavery was still present, but on a much smaller scale and dwindling under its own accord, so the Emancipation Proclamation would not have been needed per se for these states.

4. The Southern States were a rebellious bunch and the monuments being torn down, while an important part of our history, belong in a museum., never to be forgotten, ever present, but not an in your face reminder of what they really represent to those past and present affected by the antics of the Southern States.

5. I do not believe we should cleanse our history, nor do I believe the civil war and its intricate components should be averted from discussions in any manner or form. We must preserve our history as history should be preserved, not by glorifying those on the losing side......since when do we celebrate losers of a failed war? Case in point- look at Nazi Germany- the Nazis are still discussed, but all monuments, pictures, etc are not on public display to say hey isn't this portion of our history great? NO. It is where is belongs, in museums, history books and the like. Such should be the way of Slavery and that portion of American history, for if we keep celebrating those who sought to keep the status quo, we shall never move forward as a united nation.

6. Do I believe there should be monuments to slaves? That is a question I wrestle with constantly as from a personal standpoint, I believe that the descents of slaves are the perfect monuments and reminders (good or bad), while a the same time, I believe that the African-American museum is a great monument in itself. All in all, if a singular monument was made to commemorate those brought into bondage and all it entailed, I could support that, but not one in every state- that would be way too much and a slap in the face for many on either side of the argument.

One last thing- lets not gloss over he fact that slavery and bondage still exits in our country and in our states from human trafficking to some of the very laws (especially southern states) we fight (or have fought) to protect as a nation. The good thing is that for better or for worse, we are slowly growing, changing and becoming better as a nation despite the many missteps along the way.

I certainly do not agree with the suggestion that people who remove Confederate monuments should be lynched, although I also don't agree that they should be removed. Like it or not, they are a part of our history and, just because a particular group is allegedly offended about them, that does not justify their removal. If we remove everything that offends someone, we would have nothing left to remove. What needs to happen to those who cause such historical artifacts to be removed? They should meet the same fate and be removed from public office and replaced by people who actually use common sense and not bow down to offended liberal snowflakes who think their opinions take priority over everybody else.

I like what Alabama did ... Pass laws that protect monuments from being moved or destroyed because of "political correctness'.

What comes to mind when "lynching" is mentioned? For me, it is the Old West and the lynching of cattle rustlers, murderers, etc. I don't automatically associate it as a racial comment, although I certainly understand it could be construed as that, especially by people who look at everything from a racist point of view.