Rep. Garrett says Confederate flag vote is about free speech. It isn't (NJ)

[struggle4progress]

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on June 03, 2016 at 4:45 PM
updated June 03, 2016 at 4:48 PM

Like New Jersey's resident fanatic, Scott Garrett, the Confederate flag is a shameful reminder of bigotry, does not represent us and should be taken down.

Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that Garrett recently came to its defense. When Congress voted to ban federal spending at veterans' cemeteries where this flag is flown over mass graves, he was the only New Jersey representative to oppose it.

Garrett has long been a crazy extremist. He voted against providing health care for 9/11 responders, opposed aid to Hurricane Katrina victims and refused to urge Congress to help the victims of Sandy.

He's made no secret of his anti-gay bias, thinks rape victims should be banned from getting abortions and even opposes child safety locks on guns ...

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/06/rep_scott_garrett_says_his_confederate_flag_vote_i.html

[SheilaT]

1. The Confederate flag is about slavery. And about

treason.

Pure and simple.

I wish the Confederate flag were totally banned. I wish people would understand what it actually stands for, and stop paying lip service to some bullshit about cultural values. Those cultural values were almost exclusively about chattel slavery. Nothing honorable about that.

I'm old enough to recall the Centennial of the Civil War. I lived in northern New York State at the time, and I remember being a bit confused about the sudden message that the Civil War wasn't really about slavery, but was about some amorphous thing called States Rights. Somehow, quite bizarrely it seems, the south really won the Civil War by changing the dialogue. I can't quite figure out how they did it, but they did. And the were wrong. Totally and completely wrong. The Civil War was about slavery. It was about whether or not those whose ancestors had come from Africa were full participants in this country's amazing journey.

Sometimes I think about what it might have been like, had people from Africa emigrated here more or less the same way as people from Europe: freely, on their own, starting a new life. It's hard to imagine what those immigrants might have brought to this country, had they come here because they wanted to, not because they were crammed into the hell holes of the slave ships. What might we have avoided? What might we have gained?

[SCantiGOP]

2. There is an element of free speech here

But it is not what he says.
He has a constitutional right to place the flag on his private property, including his car (as long as he is confident that a black State Trooper walking up to his car will not be as racist as he is).
Free speech has nothing to do with what symbols should be displayed on government controlled land.