On the May 12th 2011 an article appeared on NKY.com written by Mike Winn, about the Sons of Confederate Veterans trying to get a heritage license plate to honor the fallen confederate solders.
The original news story can be found here: http://nky.cincinnati.com/...
My original post about this on Kos is here and includes my letter to My U.S. Representative Geoff Davis KY 4th (R) to whom I wrote just because of his names similarity to the Confederacy's president. (Anybody else see the irony?) I also have written to express my opposition to this license plate to other state and federal public officials in my spare time.
I expressed my opposition to the plate to the "officers" of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Then received several replies including three lengthy revisionist history lessons from the group’s leader, Basil D. (Bazz) Childress Commander of the Kentucky Division Sons of Confederate Veterans. These are long and a bit too confused to post mostly because he replies in the body of my email to him. Still, his emails were a distressing journey through the philosophy of a confederacy plate supporter and he calls me a Puritan/Yankee/Hegelian/Marxist/Fascist, which kinda hurt.
Here is the Sons of Confederate Veterans Website
I would however, like to it share the one of the other replies to my concerns, from a member Mr. Donald Shelton it is “somewhat” rational and defends the groups efforts to have the state of Kentucky issue the Confederate license plates. It is the main body below for you to consider the groups defense of the need for these plates. I share this because while it expresses his anger to me, it attempts to defend the need and reason for Confederate License Plates in Kentucky. He obviously put thought into this effort, and I would have to concede more than I put in my letter to him. Please consider his points.
The question I pose to you the reader, within the framework of the First Amendment:
"Is there a good (or really any) reason that Kentucky should issue Confederate Plates"?
Mr. Shelton's and the Sons of Confederate Veterans point of view follows below...
Mr. Ramsdell,
God bless you, and I pray help you overcome your distress.
To help guide you in that direction:
There are, in fact, nearly 200 actual sons and daughters of Confederate soldiers still living among us, though the fact that there are no real Daughters of the American Revolution still living doesn't seem to have caused any distress or confusion over the fact that the DAR are still descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers.
Kentucky was, in fact, a Confederate state. It was admitted to the Confederacy in December of 1862 (after the Kentucky Secession Convention in Russellville), had a Confederate state government, was represented in the Confederate Congress and the 13th star on the Confederate flag (take your pick - battle flag, 1st, 2nd or 3rd National) is for Kentucky. Most importantly, over 40,000 Kentuckians served in the Confederate armed services, all volunteers. Truly Kentucky's sentiments were divided, but to say that Kentucky stayed a Union state in the same way you would say Maine stayed a Union state is completely inaccurate. Kentucky was occupied by the union army and forced to stay in the United States, Maine was not.
It may be now the 21st century, but honor and valor have no time limits. Apparently neither does the question of the role and size of the federal government, as that question remains quite relevant in the 21st century.
You claim that I claim that the battle flag had nothing to do with slavery. I would appreciate it if you not make up such things, as I have never made such a statement. Nearly every aspect of antebellum American life, in all the states, was affected by and had something to do with slavery - economically, socially, politically, culturally and even morally (though northerners who morally objected to slavery were a tiny percentage of the population, and Southern emancipation movements had only modest effects). However, the U.S. flag had much more to do directly with slavery than the Confederate Battle Flag. It was under the U.S. flag that slaves were imported to this country, under the U.S. flag that Lincoln proclaimed slavery safe (and proposed a 13th amendment to the constitution to permanently protect slavery), and it was under the U.S. flag that West Virginia seceded and joined the United States as a slave state in 1863. It was even under the U.S. flag that slavery existed after the War. The Battle Flag, on the other hand, was the flag of soldiers who fought and died to protect their homes and families and the constitutional foundations of their revolutionary forefathers, and was not the flag of the Confederate government.
Your final thrust seems to be that our time should be spent doing something you define as better, such as helping out with recent natural disasters - though it is unclear whether you think the unworthiness is in a civic organization applying for a vanity plate, or in a civic organization honoring veterans. Maybe you object to both, but this means in order be true to your convictions, you have spent time writing to all the organizations behind Kentucky's nearly 100 specialty plates (over 1/3 of them military related) to likewise chastise them, and have written to every veterans and descendants organization to also tell them to quit wasting their time. Clearly you are unaware of the SCV Distaster Relief funds, which are used to help in times of natural disasters, including the current ones (and we get money where it's needed a lot faster than the government), or that the vast majority of SCV members do their work after finding time to provide for their families, volunteer at their churches, and participate in numerous other civic organizations. In this light, it does seem the ultimate irony that you would spend time complaining about all this, rather than spending that time doing something yourself about the current disasters. The world is made up of those who do, those who do nothing, and those who complain about it. Those who do may not get everything right, but God uses those who do, whereas those who do nothing and simply complain are useless to Him. To put it another way, one could spend their time in protest to the SPCA that they are wasting their time on animals when the world is filled with suffering humans and babies murdered through abortion, or one could simply decide for themselves where to put their own efforts rather than wasting time protesting.
In this world there are countless interests and activities, and no one will agree with all of them, but God uses us where we are at; I once saw a performance by a hula dancing club - something that could be easily criticized under your criteria as a waste of time - but I quickly noticed that this group had different ages, different backgrounds and races, and different physical abilities, and didn't look like a typical group of luau performers at all. Then they began with prayer and turned the performances in to a Christian ministry. Turns out they do this not only in public performances, but nursing homes, homeless shelters, etc. etc. Starting a hula club might seem like a waste of time to some, but not to God when it is given to Him. It is our constant prayer that God use our SCV activities - be it the little noticed things like cleaning cemeteries, doing research, writing books, speaking to groups or the media favorites like vanity plates - for His will, and in that prayer we remain comfortable that God will guide us to the best use of our time and talents.
While we are comfortable where we are at, it seems that your are not - you declare disaster relief a higher calling, yet spend your time in a cause to change the choices of others. I pray that you find what you are looking for - the real task God has chosen for you to take on to make the world a better place.
Don Shelton
Ky Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans