Why confederate monuments and flags should be OUTLAWED. And I am a CONSERVATIVE!

I am a conservative white male that has a very unpopular opinion among other conservatives: all Confederate monuments and symbols should be outlawed.

For the last 150+ years, people across the nation have clinged to their "historical pride" in the. They claim that confederacy stood for states’ rights and American freedom. In this post, I am logically going to explain how the Confederacy, in more ways than one, was similar to wait for it… Nazi Germany. Additionally, I will explain the stark contrast in the attitudes and laws of southern states and Germans and modern-day Germany. All of this will lead to one conclusion: all confederate monuments and symbols ought be outlawed in the United States.
As everyone knows, the world was brought to its knees when war erupted across the globe in WWII. In 1933, a young man with a powerful voice, dark vision and a small mustache was elected chancellor of Germany. Just a few years later, he began systematic enslavement and mass murder of millions of people. While racism is not the only reason countries, like the United States, went to war with Germany, race was EVERYTHING to Adolf Hitler. In his most famous work, "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle), Adolf explained, in painful detail, that the Aryan race had a right to all the land in Europe and, eventually, the world. He called Jews, gypsies, blacks, Arabs, and others, "parasites" that were "Lebensunwertes Leben" (unworthy of life). This, he used as justification for the existence and expansion of the Nazi State. With all of this, Adolf Hitler was a deranged man that won over the hearts of millions and crushed the lives of millions more. But, more importantly, race was EVERYTHING to Nazi Germany thus, race was EVERYTHING in WWII.
The Confederacy, no doubt, was the exact same way. It does not take much logically insight or inference to understand the attitudes of the Confederate Founders. The Atlantic, in their article entitled “What This Cruel War Was Over” pulled direct quotations from official historical documents of various southern states and leaders that explained their reason for succession. Here are a few:
• Mississippi: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world.”
• Louisiana: “The people of the slave holding States are bound together by the same necessity and determination to preserve African slavery.”
• James Hammond: “Our slaves are black, of another and inferior race. The status in which we have placed them is an elevation. They are elevated from the condition in which God first created them, by being made our slaves.”
The Confederate states literally based their entire existence off RACE! Does this sound like anything else you might know? I’ll give you a hint: It sounds exactly like ADOLF HITLER! The Civil War was not fought over states’ rights or the economy of the south, it was fought over slavery, and the Confederacy agreed. Thus, Nazi Germany and the Confederacy existed for the exact same reason.
Now that it is clear that the Confederacy is equivalent to the most hated group in history, Nazis, let’s move on to how Germany laid out a clear precedent for the rest of the world. In Germany today, all Nazi symbols, such as the famous Nazi salute and flag are strictly forbidden. USA TODAY, in “The birthplace of the Nazi movement has less tolerance for neo-Nazis than the U.S.” told the story of two Chinese tourists being arrested for posing in front of the parliament with their arms hoisted in salute position, Nazi style. This is not to say that Germans want to ignore their past either; they take it head on. Germans understand the brutality of their ancestors and the sins of their country. They, more than anything, want to ensure that no country, especially Germany, ever repeats the mistakes of times past.
Former confederate states, however, have a much different outlook on their dark past. The Washington Post, in their article “On Confederate monuments, the public stands with Trump”, reported that 54% of Americans believe that the Confederate Flag stands for “southern pride” while only 26% believe that it is a “symbol of racism.” This number is staggering! While Germans understand their dark history, Americans try to change it; even though they both existed for the same purpose! But wait, it gets worse; more and more confederate monuments are being built, many of which, by the KKK! Mother Jones, in their article entitled “The Real Story Behind All Those Confederate Statues” display a dark truth of the timeline in which monuments were erected. The graph below displays the massive increase in the 1910s, when antisemitism and other forms of racism were rampant, and in the 1960s, during the civil rights movement.

Are you sickened yet? When the nation began making strides in the right direction, others wanted to move in the opposite. These monuments are praising despicable people. They are not “preserving history,” that is what museums are for. As it seems, Americans do not want to accept the fact that what their ancestors did was wrong. They do this by shrouding the dark past of the Confederacy and their ancestors in a false truth. Think of the hypocrisy this type of behavior displays to the rest of the world.
• We are willing to go to war to fight racism, but we turn our back at home.
• We claim to the be beacon of liberty while supporting a symbol of slavery
• We condemn Germany’s past and ignore ours
There is no doubt in my mind that the Nazi Party stood for the same things that the Confederacy stood for. What is disgustingly different, however, is the attitudes of the two countries. While it is too late to prevent the monuments from being built, we can begin repairing this country by tearing them down one… at… a… time.