In An Imperial Age, Whatever Displeases Caesar Will More Likely Vanish

       

And Southerners only have themselves to blame, according to the historian Shelby Foote in 1970.

By Sidney O. Smith III 

Presenting a counterfactual often helps one gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of history.  It can shine a light on different aspects of the past not as well known and, on rare occasion, point to a path to follow for a better future.  In logic, a counterfactual is based upon the conditional, “if we had known…”

Following the horrendous murders of nine Christian martyrs at Emanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015, I would like to present to you for your consideration a counterfactual.   It is derived, at least in some measure, from conversations I had over the years with a very well educated Southerner – a public servant from the WWII generation who loved the South but, throughout his career, found himself diametrically opposed to militant ethnic nationalists who waved the Confederate flag.  

The gist of these conversations – and I am extrapolating – was that the “Confederate flag” (the design of the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia) was a military flag and not a political one.    Organizations and institutions in the past should have taken steps to ensure that it remained a battle flag that reflected the values of the officers of the Army of Northern Virginia.  Such did not happen, and  once the flag fell into the hands of Southern politicians in the middle of the 20^th century as well as militant ethnic nationalists (from around the nation), much harm ensued both in the South and around our country. 

The damage that this historical development caused is many faceted and consists of several potentially disastrous dimensions that may yet unfold, particularly in light of the Roof Massacre at Emanuel AME.  But since my focus remains on US foreign policy, I will try to show one potential danger that looms ahead.   As I will demonstrate with examples at the end of this essay, because the “flag was stolen”, to borrow from Shelby Foote, some Southern symbols that can help prevent the rise of a national surveillance state are no longer part of our collective historical memory.  And further attempts by a central government to erase in its entirety the collective memory may represent one more lockstep towards an authoritarian government ruled by a Caesar. In 1973 Arthur Schlesinger warned us of the rise of an Imperial Presidency in the United States, and due to our foreign policy since 9/11, this historical process towards an all powerful executive has rapidly accelerated and, indeed, may be complete.

But if the American people are content (or happily sedated?) -- for now -- with  the idea of a strong central government and the current state of affairs, then so be it.  Nonetheless, one should remain aware that those intent on the rise of a national surveillance state probably are delighted that all of us (including, most certainly, myself) are more easily distracted these days by the numbing triviality of entertainment when more ominous changes are, perhaps, quietly afoot.  And much mischief can take place when a country falls into too much discord.

 So, with that in mind, I will leave it to the reader to decide the importance of these symbols from the South.  It is entirely up to you.  But at a minimum, one should question the ultimate intent of a few of those clamoring the loudest and demanding that the central government eradicate, in its entirety, the collective memory of the South. 

A closer look at the counterfactual  

If the South and this nation had known, it would have been preferable – far preferable – that long ago, the “Confederate flag” had become an exclusive insignia associated with the US Army and worn by certain officers after a specific military ceremony. 

The purpose of this kind of ceremony was to signify that those now wearing the military insignia, which incorporated the design of the battle flag, would fight and, if necessary, die consistent with the core leadership values of the officers of the Army of Northern Virginia. Accent on “officers”.   The insignia thus would become a distinguishing feature of one’s uniform.

To illustrate: think of someone like George C. Marshall, the soldier and statesman.  Marshall graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1901, so clearly he was steeped in the traditions of the South.  He was a decorated soldier and became President Franklin Roosevelt’s right hand man during WWII as US Army Chief of Staff.  He later became Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State.  In 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the Marshall Plan.

Now, in the counterfactual, imagine that he wore the exclusive insignia that incorporated the Confederate flag, and most Americans at the time knew that he did. In other words, most Americans would have associated the Confederate flag with Marshall, the statesman and soldier.  But do this from the perspective of 1955 and not 2015, which is an arduous, perhaps overwhelming, task for a few.  Again, 1955, not 2015.

         
        

       

 
      

This approach –   incorporating the Confederate flag as a military insignia of the US Army -- would have offered numerous benefits to our country.   As the decades rolled on, this approach would have memorialized, institutionally, the leadership qualities that, in turn, would have offered a different and complementary perspective for those in the US Army.  During the mid 19^th century “war”, the South had to engage in different military tactics and the odds were long to begin with.  It is a different type of military heroism, and one that complements the extraordinary heroism of those who fought and died for “the Union” and summed up nicely by Shelby Foote:

Staying with this counterfactual, at some point in our history during the 20^th century – I cannot pinpoint exactly when because race relations is an evolving transformation – those officers in the US military who wore the insignia, who were better educated than most Southerners and who had the opportunity to see more of the world could have pointed out that these hard core segregationists did not represent the leadership qualities of the officers of the ANV and what they stood for.  In other words, at some point in history, officers in the US Army, wearing this insignia, would say to those who stole the flag, “Not in my name and not under this insignia”.

Again, I cannot tell you when because racial attitudes have changed and will continue to change not only in the South but also around the nation.  Nonetheless, during the civil rights era, the more educated white Southerners historically were the ones much more likely to take a stand against the segregationists.

But as we all know, the riff-raff – those reflecting the worse of the South and, let’s not forget, the nation -- stole the flag, making it nary impossible at this point in history for the “flag” to reflect the values of officers of the ANV, honoring the dead and signaling the Jeffersonian idea of fighting tyranny.

Dire warnings from Shelby Foote in 1970 and the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1956

 

This counterfactual appears consistent with the underlying theme offered in the essay, “Militant Ethnic Nationalism.  Be Forever Gone.  E Pluribus Unum”.  And in the comment section to that essay, Mark Logan (from the Pacific NW) on 28 June 2015 at 03:01 pm, kindly offered an additional quote of Shelby Foote that supports the argument.   This quote is so relevant that it warrants repeating again for the reader’s consideration.  Here is the entry left by Mark Logan:

Shelby made some comments about the symbol in and [an] interview with AEI some years ago, here they are, and they certainly support your citation of his views.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~odyssey/Quotes/History/Shelby_Foote.html

Cut and paste:
"In 1970 you wrote of Klansmen who had appropriated the flag: 'I tell them to their faces that they are the scum who have degraded the Confederate flag, converted it from a symbol of honor into a banner of shame, covered it with obscenities like a roadhouse men’s room wall'. Is the Confederate flag today still degraded, or have the recent assaults on it given it a new dignity? "

"It’s still mainly abused and absurdly defended. And I understand blacks’ feelings when they see the Confederate flag. The real villains are Southerners who knew what that flag truly stood for and allowed yahoos to carry it. We should have stood up and said that those people ought not be allowed within 100 yards of the Confederate flag, let alone use it as a symbol for all they were doing. But we didn’t."

The United Daughters of the Confederacy saw the same problems as Foote, and they did so 14 years before Foote’s quote from above.  In 1956, it opposed the changing of the Georgia State flag to include the Confederate flag design.  According to Wiki: “Opponents to a change of the flag stated that incorporating the Confederate battle flag into the design would be too sectionalist, counterproductive, and divisive…”

In other words, too political.

The UDC’s opposition to the change in the Georgia State flag in 1956 surprised me as well.  But in 2000, the State Government of Georgia published a report on the history of its State flag, placing the 1956 change into context.  Written by Alexander Azarian and Eden Fesshazion (names that may suggest how Georgia has changed, in my opinion, for the better), the report states (I am omitting footnote numbers):

When the flag change was first proposed, it received resistance from groups that one would think would have highly favored the change – various Confederate organizations including the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). “They made the change strictly against the wishes of UDC chapters from all the states that form our organization,” said Ms. Forrest E. Kibler, legislative chairwoman of the Georgia UDC. Ms. Kibler also pointed out that “eighteen different patriotic organizations in Georgia had asked the legislature not to make the change.” If the proponents of the flag change had been inspired to add the battle flag to the state flag as a tribute to Confederate soldiers, why would the numerous Confederate veteran organizations be opposed to such a move?

In other words…in 1956 the battle flag was now in the hands of politicians, which never leads to much good.  (For more info, see Congress).  And Georgia did the right thing to change the State flag in 2001.

Using the Counterfactual as Tool to Look over the Horizon 

This “theft of the flag” has several consequences, and the potential repercussions are potentially dire. As I have mentioned earlier, my primary focus is on how to prevent the rise of a national surveillance state – basically a tyranny – as well as to prevent the continuation of horrendous imperial wars of choice that, if left unchecked, will lead to a nuclear holocaust.   And there are symbols from the South that could help prevent the unthinkable.

Those who stole the flag all but erased this collective memory but they do exist buried under all the images of militant ethnic nationalists (from around the nation) waving the flag.  One example of course is the Virginia State flag with its motto of Sic Semper Tyrannis.  This flag appears perfectly suited as a symbol to fight the rise of a national surveillance state.

But there is another example and I will end this essay by describing it. It is the words of the Roman Statesman Cato seen at the base of the Confederate statue at Jackson Circle in Arlington National Cemetery.  The Jewish Confederate sculptor, Moses Jacob Ezekiel designed the statue.  The quote of Cato is as follows:  Victrix Causa Diis Placuit Sed Victa Catoni.

Victrix Causa Diis Placuit Sed Victa Catoni. The victorious cause was pleasing to the gods, but the conquered cause pleased Cato.  To many people, including Moses Jacob Ezekiel, this Latin phrase meant that the cause of the United States as an imperial power may have pleased the gods of government (Caesar), but not those who believed in a republic (Cato).

Is anything more apropos in this day and age than these words?  Are there any words more consistent with the ideas of our founding fathers?  If “Southerners” do not have the wherewithal to appreciate these words at Arlington National Cemetery because they are too busy watching sports and listening to the likes of Lindsey Graham, then maybe “Northerners” will.  

Returning to the counterfactual (if we had known…),  it would have greatly behooved the UDC in 1956 to have declared unequivocally and continually every year, up to the present and beyond, that one should associate the Confederate flag only with the words of Cato (and the State flag of Virginia) and no longer with militant ethnic nationalism.  The UDC knew that the State legislature of Georgia was up to no good when it changed the flag in 1956 in an attempt to preserve de jure segregation.  It also would have helped if State Legislatures, particularly following the 1962 USSC decision Baker v. Carr (one person, one vote), had done the same through resolutions.  Such was not the case, obviously, and today we find ourselves “too sectionalist, counterproductive, and divisive”.

Shelby Foote was correct: Southerners only have themselves to blame for desecrating the best of their culture.  And by following the likes of Lindsey Graham, Southerners are only throwing into the dustbin a tradition that could have helped prevent the rise of the national surveillance state.  In foreign affairs, this tradition could have helped prevent the rise of the imperial war machine – Eisenhower’s military industrial complex writ large.  The Imperial war machine is intent on world domination but only catastrophe will ensue --one that will have disastrous effects on people of all races. 

Lest we forget, in an Imperial Age, if people of any race or culture displease Caesar, they are more likely to vanish. 

The author has occasionally commented under the name “Johnny Reims” at Sic Semper Tyrannis. 

Comments

[LeaNder]

Again, great you are back up there Sidney.

Waiting for the Greek decisions, which is a bit odd, considering that above 80% want to remain in the EU, and no one really realizes what Yes: OXI or NO: NAI, ultimately means.

Thus: I stumbled across a report on the Ukraine.

Since it is the federal flag is a topic here, I wondered about this flag somewhere in the background, looks pretty similar. But what the hell is its historical genesis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Novorossiya

Looks, pretty similar on first sight doesn't it?

Wikipedia helps a little.

[Sidney O. Smith III]

LeaNder

Thank you. After I posted this I started speculating whether or not George Marshall in drafting the Marshall plan was effected by what happened in the South (US) after the war. He didn't want the same to happen in Western Europe, in other words.

Who knows...anyway, hope you enjoy the rest of today (early evening) in Germany. I plan to do the same here in the USA.

[ISL]

Thanks for your writing, SOS,

I recall visiting with a friend from an old family, cemeteries in North Georgia and we video-d the neatly aligned small plots next to those of mom and dad through well into the 60s (searching for the final resting place of a branch of the family tree).

Perhaps unsurprisingly there has been nada discussion on the existence of southern pride - one of those fist fights the north recalls through the haze of politically expedient memory, I suppose.

[LeaNder]

same, same, a friend from Korea used to say. ;)

I mixed OXI and NAI up. The list of course starts with NO, which is OXI and ends with NAI, yes. You may know more then we considering time zones. ...

Resolved some system (IT) issues, which is not bad.

Take care.

[Sidney O. Smith III]

Thank you, ISL. I am of the belief you can be about anywhere in the USA and find something beautiful.
North Georgia??????
Again, thanks.

[Adam L Silverman]

The Marshall Plan was designed to prevent a replay of what happened after WW I, where the Allies won the war and lost the peace because of the conditions that were set as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. At the point of time where Marshall was being educated on US history, the Dunning School's interpretation of the Civil War and Reconstruction was in the ascendant among historians and presented as the mainstream interpretation and understanding of that time period. The Dunning School based understanding of the Civil War and Reconstruction did not carry any useful lessons to be learned for post WW II reconstruction of Europe and Asia. The Dunning School, which was itself a revision of the history, has itself been revised by more recent historical analysis and historiography, though it tends to still be the predominant popular recounting of the time period. For an excellent handling of how America's understanding of the Great Rebellion changed over time, I highly recommend David Blight's "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory" .

[confusedponderer]

Blight is the lecturer on the civil war in the Open Yale courses.

http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5DD220D6A1282057&feature=plcp

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Thank you, Sidney, for another thoughtful and nuanced post.

Whenever I read the meme "military industrial complex" I cringe because of its incomplete and therefore misleading nature, and for what might have been. It's been known for decades now that although early drafts of President Eisenhower's Farewell Address used the words "military industrial CONGRESSIONAL complex," the third word was edited out at the behest of the President's chickens**t political advisers. With three days left in his term what possible political damage could it have done to the outgoing administration to hold up a mirror so that the members of Congress would be forced to look at a reflection of their corrupt institution? This is another example of the sort of missed messaging opportunity that is the thrust of your post. Unfortunately,
memes are difficult to change once they become entrenched in the public mind, as both of these situations have demonstrated so far.

[ex-PFC Chuck]

For those who aren't familiar with it, President Eisenhower's Farewell Address is still worth reading today, 55 years after it was delivered.
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm

[Sidney O. Smith III]

ex-PFC Chuck
You are absolutely correct. I had read before the phrase "military industrial Congressional complex" but didn't know the history behind the final editing like you do.

You make a great point.

Hopefully people will take a closer look at what you wrote. Thanks.

[William R. Cumming]

Thanks SOS for this brilliant post!

[HankP]

Sidney -

Very interesting post, but to be fair, since no one
"owned" the flag I don't see how anyone could have prevented its use (or abuse) for anything. People might have complained, and that might have made a difference, but a legal restriction on the use of the flag would have been worse for our civil rights and likely wouldn't have changed anything. Sometimes culture is bigger and stronger than any well-meaning intervention.

[BabelFish]

The best trout fishing I've ever experienced was just north of Dahlonega. A gorgeous part of the world.

[Sidney O. Smith III]

Babelfish
Dahlonega? Next I will hear about hiking to the top of Yonah Mtn.

Glad you enjoyed the fishing. Lots of retirees now in that area and they seem to like it.

I know those parts but have moved on.

Dahlonega is a very attractive place these days, in part because of NG College. This time of year Dahlonega has a tradition of placing next to the streets Crosses with large US flags for all the people that attended NG (Military) college and died in War. They will have the name plus the war written on the Cross. Hundreds of US flags lining the streets. Makes for a patriotic sight.

Here I found a photo.

http://blog.osbornbarr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/079.jpg

I probably should grab a camera and go there for some pics.

Again, many thanks.

[Fred]

Sidney,

I will see if I can complete my thoughts tonight, but I must disagree with your selecting this particular quote of Shelby Foote's. I think you should have chosen Faulkner: "For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon..."

It is aspirational, this desire for liberty and personal responsibility. To be a man, just as your forefathers were.

[Sidney O. Smith III]

Hi Fred
Fascinating quote. Probably sounds better and, perhaps more meaningful, coming from you than me.

BTW,I am not very well read re: "the war" except what I have learned here. Not well read at all. Nonetheless, I keep thinking of Chickamauga after Longstreet broke through. Looks mighty "Cannae" like to me (for the CSA), strategically and tactically. Seems important that both Forrest and (I believe) Longstreet signed off on a written note critical of Bragg.

Heroes on all sides in that endless tragedy still echoing today. Check out the heroism of the Federals at Cheatham Hill at Kennesaw.

Thanks a lot for the insight! (I may be out of pocket for awhile).

Sid

[Donald Johnson]

I'm not one of the lefties who uses the word traitor to describe people like Lee because it strikes me as anachronistic. But the Confederacy was about slavery and the end of Reconstruction was about reimposing white domination and this happened because white Northerners didn't care. It didn't happen because white riffraff imposed it against the will of the elites, Northern or Southern. I enjoyed Foote's trilogy and can understand why people want to honor the valor of their ancestors, but they were fighting for a bad cause. I wish it had been chiefly about fighting a national security state and imperialism, but white Southerners wanted to defend slavery and expand its reach.

It would be nice to have some symbol with historical resonance that could represent anti-interventionist foreign policy, but the Confederate flag seems like a pretty unlikely candidate at any time.

[Sidney O. Smith III]

DJ
Did you read the essay? Hint: Sic Semper Tyrannis as a symbol. Anyway, read this:

http://tinyurl.com/ob85a7w

And good luck.

[Fred]

DJ,

You mean a symbol with historical resonance like the one that flew over the US for eighty years (before the civil war) while it was a unified federal republic where slavery was legal?

[Sidney O. Smith III]

Fred
You are very prescient. (I believe that is the right word.) I hope people highlight your comments because history may vindicate your comments. If not, they certainly make one think.

BTW, thanks for the Montmartre reference in the other thread. Moulin de la Galette. Maybe one day.

Even Babak may go for this:

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/renoir/moulin-galette/renoir.moulin-galette.jpg