Confederate Sympathists In Gray Uniforms At 4th Of July Parade Prove Social Bankruptcy

I find it interesting that the recent arguments about the ethical bankruptcy of enduring Confederate symbolism come at this time. Not necessarily in the same way as my previous criticisms have stated, but from a personal standpoint.

A week from Saturday, one year will have passed since a trip my wife and I took to see her family. From all over the United States, the Crow clan converged on Salem, Indiana — an empty place with staggering populations of corn and Mennonites. After arriving late on July 3, my wife and I went to bed. We woke up on the morning of Independence Day, got ready, then drove to the next town over — New Pekin — for their 4th of July parade.

I had absolutely no idea what kind of logical bankruptcy I would be viewing on that uncomfortably warm morning.

I cannot recall how much time had passed before the parade became disturbingly paradoxical, but I remember a string of student advertisements, a mayoral motorcade, some tractors, and people chucking candy at the assembled crowd.

Then, as the sound of marching slowly tapped my eardrums, I seriously thought I was having a stroke.

logical bankruptcy
Photo I took during the New Pekin 4th of July parade, 2014

I was shocked. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I remember thinking: what kind of moral bankruptcy is this?

I made sure my wife and my brother-in-law were seeing the same thing I was. Their faces were also etched with concern and confusion. All I did for the next few moments was snap additional pictures.

I couldn’t believe it. There were so many things ethically, logically, and socially wrong with what had taken place, and as far as I could tell, my wife, my brother-in-law, and I were the only people at this celebration of American independence who saw that.

Beyond the obvious, that celebrating Confederate treason is intellectual and social bankruptcy, the idea of this taking place on Independence Day is stunning. Do these people really believe it’s reasonable to dress like traitors during a parade celebrating the most American of American holidays? Is this supposed to be a slap in the face of the American government? A kick to the shin of American history?

Or are these people just so imbued in intellectual bankruptcy that they are completely unaware of the asinine statement they are making?

Worse than that, in what is probably the most egregious sin taking place in the photo above, there are two children in this line. This parade showed the crowd that hate and bigotry and other aspects of the bankruptcy that is Confederate commiseration have been passed down to another generation. These two kids will come of age at a time when their Gray uniforms, their battle flags, and their “southern heritage” will be considered venomous and propagandist — akin to the Swastika.

These kids have been victimized by the men who dressed them on July 4, 2014. They have been indoctrinated into a culture that celebrates the moral bankruptcy of traitors, racists, slave-holders, and white supremacists. They are directly associated with a culture that killed black men for sport, strung them up on tree branches, lit them on fire, and cut off their smoldering body parts to take home as trophies.

These kids are a continuation of America’s greatest sin. I am saddened that they, down the line, may have children of their own who might march in a parade celebrating their nation’s independence with the uniforms and mentalities of the traitors who failed an 1860s insurrection.

Robert could go on about how he was raised by honey badgers in the Texas Hill Country, or how he was elected to the Texas state legislature as a 19-year-old wunderkind, or how he won 219 consecutive games of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots against Hugh Grant, but those would be lies. However, Robert does hail from Lewisville, Texas, having been transplanted from Fort Worth at a young age. Robert is a college student and focuses his studies on philosophical dilemmas involving morality, which he feels makes him very qualified to write about politicians. Reading the Bible turned Robert into an atheist, a combative disposition toward greed turned him into a humanist, and the fact he has not lost a game of Madden football in over a decade means you can call him "Zeus." If you would like to be his friend, you can send him a Facebook request or follow his ramblings on Twitter. For additional content that may not make it to Liberal America, Robert's internet tavern, The Zephyr Lounge, is always open