The trend on the Republican line is repugnant.
It seems that it would be accurate to start referring to it as "The Republican Flag." It would seem the majority of Republicans would agree with that and I think that symbolically it would represent the real nature of the partisan divide much better. Edit: My first badge; thank you kind stranger.
It certainly has little to do with Southern Pride anymore. You see people proudly flying it all over the US. I think it's more about the distinctions that exist in the US--metropolitan vs. rural, progressive vs. regressive--and how these line up with other political divisions. The flag has come to represent "country pride", but the people that claim that sort of pride are also heavily Republican. It's just the same political, social, and geographic differences that have already existed in the US for the last 30 and 40 years attached to a new issue, and people are incapable of seeing eye-to-eye on this issue (just like every other political debate in the US).
I don't really think that stands up well against the reasons for flying it and adding it to state flags. (in response to the civil rights act, for god's sake). It's been pretty well covered on reddit - but the AskHistorians threads and faq were the most persuasive to me. I was inclined to believe as you do. Now I view it quite differently. Certainly the idea of embracing a symbol that's deeply offensive to many when there are many other symbols that could have been used that would have been equally evocative.
I hope I didn't sound supportive of flying the Confederate flag or anything like that--wasn't my point. I guess I just feel that the identity of those who embrace and support the Confederate flag has drifted from a strict Southern Pride definition to a more flexible identity that falls in line with a lot of different social, political, and geographic divisions in the US. I mean I've lived in the North all my life and you see a fair number of people with Confederate flags on their cars or their hats or whatever if you get out of the cities. Do you have a link to the AskHistorians post? I'd be interested to read it.
well, there are a number. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/search?q=confederate+flag&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all And some actually support your view. --- https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3cg2sq/ama_john_coski_author_of_the_confederate_battle/ Sorry, can't format links properly, my eyes are drifting in different directions atm. Must sleep. :)