{"id":1341,"date":"2015-07-12T23:16:36","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T03:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2015-07-12T23:19:54","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T03:19:54","slug":"a-reply-to-jeff-jacobys-analysis-of-the-confederate-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2015\/07\/a-reply-to-jeff-jacobys-analysis-of-the-confederate-flag.html","title":{"rendered":"A Reply to Jeff Jacoby’s “Analysis” of the Confederate Flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cconservative\u201d Boston\u00a0Globe <\/em>columnist, Jeff Jacoby, thinks that the Confederate flag is \u201canti-American,\u201d \u201can ugly symbol of oppression,\u201d \u201cthe most poisonous ideologies in our national history,\u201d \u201cracial bigotry and victimization,\u201d \u201cracial hatred,\u201d and \u201cthe right of white Americans to buy and sell black Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The flag is also \u201cthe banner of slaughter\u201d that \u201crepresents armed rebellion against the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the interest of intellectual and moral cogency, I offer the following points for Mr. Jacoby\u2019s consideration.<\/p>\n

First, Jacoby has succeeded in resolving the single most complex, controversial issue in our nation\u2019s history into a verdict that can fit into a hashtag or bumper sticker: The Confederates fought for \u201cracial hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

On its face alone, it is painfully clear already that Jacoby prefers the ad hominem attack for thoughtful argument.<\/p>\n

Second, despite the \u201cpoisonous\u201d cause that he assigns to the Confederates, Jacoby doesn\u2019t doubt that legions of \u201cmen and boys\u201d were \u201cnoble\u201d in having \u201cfought with courage and died with honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a perhaps impossible position to defend. If the Confederates\u2019 cause was the unmitigated evil that Jacoby says it was, then the Confederates were evil. However, if the latter is true, then they were ridden with vices, <\/em>not the virtues <\/em>that Jacoby attributes to them, for virtue is the stuff of good character, and those with good character can\u2019t defend \u201coppression,\u201d \u201cracial hatred,\u201d and the like.<\/p>\n

Third, in light of the facts that well over 90 percent of Confederates didn\u2019t own any slaves; of the six percent that did own slaves, half owned no more than five slaves per person; and free blacks <\/em>fought alongside <\/em>their white counterparts so that the Southern states could secede from the Union, Jacoby\u2019s assertion that Southerners sacrificed all for nothing more or less than \u201cthe right of white Americans to buy and sell black Americans\u201d is patently absurd.<\/p>\n

Fourth, even assuming (counterfactually) that slavery is the only reason that Southerners wanted to secede, either they had a right to secede from the Union or they did not. The South\u2019s critics, like Jacoby, invariably make two claims that, at least implicitly, contradict one another: (1) The Southern states\u2014and by implication, any and all states that contracted to be party to these <\/em>United States of America\u2014had no <\/em>right to secede; (2) The Southern states had no right to secede for the reason of slavery.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, if (1) is true, then it matters not whether the South\u2019s reasons for wanting to secede were odious or noble. All that matters is that it had no right to secession. But if (2) is true, then the implication is that there is <\/em>a right to secession, <\/em>but this right can be exercised only for morally sound reasons, i.e. reasons that others<\/em> find acceptable.<\/p>\n

Both (1) and (2) can\u2019t be correct.<\/p>\n

If Jacoby and company maintain (1), then there are no states. <\/em>A state, being a sovereign agent, must have the right to secession, for the latter is nothing other than the fundamental right to freedom of association. To deny this right is to deny a state\u2019s sovereignty over itself\u2014or to deny that it is <\/em>a state.<\/p>\n

If Jacoby and his ilk maintain (2), then, again, they deny the very existence of states. To repeat, there can be no genuine right to freedom of association\u2014a right to secession\u2014if a state must seek permission from others before it is allowed to charter its own destiny.<\/p>\n

Finally, only if Jacoby assumes that morality is a one-size-fits-all kind of thing can he pass judgment upon those Southern whites who fought for the Confederacy. But if morality consists of timeless universal principles, then by those standards we must condemn just as forcefully those Southern whites who founded America<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Washington, Jefferson, Madison and many others\u2014massive<\/em> slave holders\u2014Jacoby must affirm, are at least as<\/em> guilty as their Southern descendants for promoting \u201cracial hatred, \u201coppression,\u201d and all of the other hideous charges that Jacoby levels against the men and women of the Confederacy.<\/p>\n

By his own reasoning, Jacoby implicitly demands that we cleanse our nation of all reminders of our Founders.<\/p>\n

To avoid this conclusion, Jacoby could say that it is unfair to judge Washington and company by the moral standards of today. There are, though, three problems with this move.<\/p>\n

First of all, if this claim is correct, then, contra Jacoby\u2019s starting point, there are no universal timeless moral principles: Moral standards are historically and culturally-specific.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, if it is unfair to judge the Founders by the moral standards of today because there are no timeless universal principles (like \u201cnatural rights\u201d), then the Founders were wrong when they enshrined such principles into the Declaration.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, if it is unfair to judge the Founders by the moral standards of today, then it is unfair to judge the Confederates by the moral standards of today.<\/p>\n

Jacoby has some thinking to do. And while he\u2019s at it, he should pray to God that millions of white Southern men and women (and some black Southerners too) don\u2019t read this breathtakingly offensive piece of his.<\/p>\n

If they do, they may think that his thoughts on them and their ancestors represent those of the GOP.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u201cconservative\u201d Boston\u00a0Globe columnist, Jeff Jacoby, thinks that the Confederate flag is \u201canti-American,\u201d \u201can ugly symbol of oppression,\u201d \u201cthe most poisonous ideologies in our national history,\u201d \u201cracial bigotry and victimization,\u201d \u201cracial hatred,\u201d and \u201cthe right of white Americans to buy and sell black Americans.\u201d The flag is also \u201cthe banner of slaughter\u201d that \u201crepresents armed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Reply to Jeff Jacoby's "Analysis" of the Confederate Flag<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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