You could rememer all those who died for an economic system which shits on them. To remember how expendable young men are, and how the wealthy tend to usethem to protect their wealth and power. But you'd have to take a radical anti-war stance which is rather rare in ccapitalistic societies.

@Brad, I looked up Free State of Jones on Wikipedia and don't see how it supports your point. It looks like typical resentment against a military that is exploiting local people. If the Confederate Army had been supplied from elsewhere, the local Mississippi folk wouldn't have been upset -- at least according to the premise of the film as written in Wikipedia. Also, the film is fiction (although it is based on historical events) so there's that.

I don't think war memorials glorify war, in fact they have quite the opposite effect on me at least. It is why I think they should always be kept and respected.

And gathered at the Cenotaph
All agreed with hand on heart
To sheathe the sacrificial knives

No. The right of a State to secede is part of the Constitutional compact. If a State can accede, then it has the sovereign authority to secede. The federal government is not the sovereign under our system. The people of the several States are the sovereign. Accepting the logic of this viewpoint is not "treason," unless you think the First Amendment must be limited to control our thoughts. Maybe the feds need some thought police to come arrest me for these treason-ish thoughts. That's your view of America?

@eturnage: cite the section of the U.S. Constitution where the mechanism for secession is described.

Absence of mechanism does not make it impossible, just tricky.

Secession is not a right the states bear. When you're in, you're part of the process for good, an opt in program. Those who set up the constitution forgot to explain how someone would get out once they got in, and screwed over centuries of secessionists for it, especially in South Carolina.

But, as I stated, there SHOULD be a process to allow it that keeps in mind how dire of a decision secession is.

The UK leaving the EU is similar. A few sentences leave much detail to be worked out.

Texas v White is not going to be overturned, so secession is very impossible.

The fact that secession is *not* an expressed option is indicative of how dire it is.

^ just that the circumstances were either not imagined, or not considered likely

^^ impossible under current constitution, but that can be changed.

BTW Brainbomb: no, unless you are in favour of thought crimes.

If you want to amend the constitution to allow secession, GO FOR IT.

Or you could just leave and pick your favorite other country. :P

Today you can watch live as a statue to Racist Robert E Lee us removed. Thank god we live in a country to chooses to remove tasteless filth from our public the South lost and murdered thiusands of innocent ancestirs if modern day African Americans. To have any other opinion on this than one of fairness and equality fir the victims means you hide behind a free speech argument to veil your evil racist views.

This is a triumphant day where we as a people stand up against racists hiding behind baseless protection of history arguments.

Robert E. Lee rejected Lincoln's offer to lead the Union forces because Lee was more loyal to his state of Virginia than the country. Had Lee truly been "Country First" he would have been a real patriot. Republicans of today should take heed.

We wish the best for the country, but if the country falls, then the State at least must be protected from falling with it.

@leon, Lee doesn't deserve credit for trying to save Virginia when it (together with the other seceding states) caused the threat to the country. Kind of creates a bad incentive don't ya think?

I'm talking about States' righters today. States need to protect themselves from the degeneracy that pervades in America.

What degeneracy are you referring to? Probably nothing to do with free speech. I know that you support self-expression. So, again, you should be good with LGBT rights. Are you referring to someone's "right" to deny service to someone else?

Trump sure is degenerate.

The concept of degeneracy is so 16th century. If no one is harmed people should be able to do whatever, especially in the privacy of their homes.

"Robert E. Lee rejected Lincoln's offer to lead the Union forces because Lee was more loyal to his state of Virginia than the country. Had Lee truly been "Country First" he would have been a real patriot."
The Union of that day was much more loosely based in a federation. The federal government was mostly just a government, and people in general felt more loyal to their homes and their states than to the federal government. Lee in no shape or form should be faulted for how and why he chose the side he did in that war.

Lee should be faulted. His wife was George Washington's granddaughter right? If anyone should be country first it was Lee.

Washington fought for independence from a monarchy and was rewarded with election as president until he didn't want it anymore. Washington was a general and a farmer. Robert E. Lee's decision to fight on the side of the Confederacy wasn't something he necessarily prided himself in. He fought for Virginia. Virginia was his home. Where he grew up. Where his family was. Home and state pride were what mattered in the 1860s. Those were the values of the day. A big federal government was not something of the day. People considering themselves "Americans" wasn't even a massive thing. The state came first. He was a Virginian.

Lee hated the concept of slavery with every fiber of his being, and he was well aware fear of it being dismantled by Republicans was what drove states to want to leave the Union. But his home was one of those states. And abandoning and fighting against his home was a shameful concept to him.

So Lee caved to the tyranny of the majority of Virginia. And he deserves plaudits for that?