Civil war politics; flags and monuments; no law broken; hypocritical justice

Civil War politics

Jerry Patterson painted Lincoln as a white supremacist in his Wednesday commentary (“We must know history better before we begin to sanitize it”).

That was never Lincoln’s focus. Over and over, Lincoln stated that he would do anything to keep the nation unified.

Having said that, I think Patterson’s suggestion is a good one. The Confederate battle flag should not be flown at Southern capitols.

I don’t think the statues of Confederate heroes have to be removed. They are part of our history.

— Anne Jones, Arlington

In comparing President Lincoln to Confederate leaders, Patterson fails to see the distinction of treason.

The U.S. Constitution defines treason as levying war against the government and aiding and abetting its enemies. By that definition, every Confederate soldier in the Civil War — as well as every political leader — was a traitor.

But no one was executed for treason, and President Jefferson Davis was not even tried.

Should we erect monuments on government property to those who took up arms against the United States?

— Fred Darwin, Arlington

Thank you, Jerry Patterson, for reminding us that Lincoln — far from being the abolitionist many seem to think he was — was just another politician after all.

Robert E. Lee was by far the greater man, willing to risk all in what he had to know was a losing cause.

Those who live in the United States in the 21st century and have not studied history have swallowed the idea that the Civil War was about slavery.

The real reason for the Civil War was really about much more. Indignation in the South (an agricultural economy) had been building for years over the excessively high tariffs on manufactured goods imported from the North (an industrial economy).

That is what it was all about. As Lee is quoted as saying, most planters and the Southern states knew that slavery had to end.

— Richard Myers, Fort Worth

Flags and monuments

Leave the Confederate flags where they are.

If we’re going to recall the things that happened under the Confederate flag, let’s take a look at what happened under the Stars and Stripes:

The Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee, massacres, starvation, seizure of Native American lands, reservations, killing off of food sources, many broken treaties and the near-destruction of a whole people.

Also, let’s not forget the Iraq War, a war that should never have happened. Tens of thousands killed.

— Jerry Hightower, Boyd

On the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary, there is a park to which communist-era monuments have been consigned.

Called Memento Park, it has interpretive plaques that provide context for the statuary of the communist period. There is a lesson here for U.S. cities and states that have Confederate monuments.

Collect the monuments in one place and update them with interpretive plaques putting the sordid history into perspective. Call it “Heritage Park” or something similar.

Add monuments to leaders of the civil rights movement and to the victims of slavery and Jim Crow. Inscribe the pedestals of Confederate heroes with their misdeeds as well as their accomplishments.

In other words, view these monuments to a lost (evil) cause as a teaching opportunity, preserving whatever artistic merits they have to offer, and give meaning to the mantra of “history, not hate,” so often repeated by proponents of the Confederate battle flag.

— James Burt, Fort Worth

No law broken

The writer of a Wednesday letter (“Gun signs”) feared that he had committed criminal trespass because he did not see the “No guns” sign on a bank he entered.

It is not criminal trespass for a holder of a concealed handgun license to enter a business with a sign that is not enforceable under Texas CHL laws.

— Ken Ratley, Bedford

Hypocritical justice

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia proved what a hypocrite he is in his diatribes about the court’s rulings on the Affordable Healthcare Act and gay marriage.

These were from the man who was instrumental in ignoring the law, precedent and his own arguments in ruling to stop the recount in Florida in the 2000 presidential election.

— Warren M. Lynn, Fort Worth

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 7:09 PM with the headline "Civil war politics; flags and monuments; no law broken; hypocritical justice."