Its a bit early to celebrate. The long-overdue trashing of racist iconography is a small price to pay for carrying on the real mission, which is to enrage and mobilize the residual racist constituency to support the economic agenda of the Conservative Bund and its extreme right wing. This may look like a victory against bigotry, but it is purely symbolic; its more of a disciplined but orderly retreat to a second-line defensive position.

The real purpose of racial division is no longer historical prejudice, but to keep salaries low by dividing the work force (pitting poor whites against blacks in a race to the bottom for salaries) and unifying the knuckle-draggers under one banner so they will vote consistently and reliably against their own interests. That banner may have been trampled underfoot to cover this latest strategic withdrawal, but nothing of real significance has been surrendered along with it. The objectives remain the same, divide and conquer the work force to keep salaries down and unemployment (and profits!) up, and indoctrinate the Bubbas into blaming their declining standard of living on blacks, Mexicans, immigrants, foreigners…and Liberals–anyone except the Job Creators. The leadership of the Right is not motivated by racism, they could care less about skin color. The real issue here is economic class and how it can be preserved by appealing to its very victims to collaborate in their own exploitation.

I’m old enough to remember when the “Confederate battle flag” was not a popular symbol of Southern resistance. Oh sure, we had all seen pictures of it in school textbooks, along with all the pseudo-historical smokescreens laid down to cover up the obscenity of slavery (States Rights, economic rivalry between the Industrial North and Agricultural South, small government, local control, yadda yadda). But the flag started showing up big time when the Civil Rights movement started picking up steam, and when it became clear that the times they were a-changin’ in the South. The battle colors of the Army of Northern Virginia became co-opted as the symbol of the Klan, Jim Crow, the White Citizen’s Councils, and the rest of the political infrastructure erected to keep the South segregated. So much for Pride, History, Heritage, Tradition and the rest of that sanctimonious smegma. When that battle was lost, those battalions were issued new uniforms and shifted to a new front to fight for a new cause. There was even a name for it: Nixon’s Southern Strategy.

The Confederate flag will not disappear. It will lose State support and historical legitimacy, but it will be marketed privately in mass quantities, appearing on everything from beer mugs to tattoos. There’s a name for that, too: merchandising.

But then I started paying attention to the reactions of Southerners, and it calmed the blood considerably. Gov Nickey Haley (R-wtf?) is calling for the flag to be removed from the State Capitol grounds; and though it’s predicted the state Leg will defeat her, I wouldn’t assume they really represent South Carolina–the GOP is notorious for packing legislatures through gerrymandering and voter suppression. And little Lindsey Graham jumped strategically on the bandwagon.

Earlier today WalMart announced it’d be removing the Confederate battle flag from all merchandise in its stores.

Little while ago I saw a headline about the head of the Mississippi GOP calling for the thing to be removed from their state flag. I had to admit I was shocked when I saw the Mississippi flag: . Lots of similar headlines searching google news.

Nothing out of Georgia yet. They were clever, and might slide by, because they used the original “Stars and Bars” verbatim plus their state seal, knowing most people assume the Battle Flag to be the Confederacy’s national flag.

I don’t think we outsiders have to lift a finger, ER. I think the Confederate Battle Flag has suddenly acquired all the cachet of that symbol you posted, and with Southerners running from it as fast as their pudgy little legs will take them, the Battle Flag won’t be long for this world.

Except as the self-identifying emblem of defiantly racist assholes. Which will clear the air considerably, don’t ya think?