Prattville Dragoons' Camp Meeting for July 2019 - The Attacks on Our Monuments

The Dragoons' SCV Camp 1524 meeting for July was held on Thursday evening the 11th at the Masonic Lodge in downtown Prattville.  1st Lt Harold Grooms led the meeting as the commander was late returning from out of town.  Former Chaplain Tom Snowden opened the meeting with an Invocation followed by the Salutes to the flags led by Color Sgt John Dennis.  1st Lt Grooms recited the SCV Charge to those assembled and then provided the announcements and upcoming events including the Forrest Birthday party at Ft.Dixie scheduled for Saturday July 27th.  Col. John Eidsmoe was introduced as the guest speaker for the meeting and he discussed the attacks on our historical monuments.  Col. Eidsmoe is the Senior Counsel and Resident Scholar for the Foundation for Moral Law in Montgomery.  He is an attorney and professor of constitutional law having taught at Faulkner University and Oral Roberts University.  Col. Eidsmoe served in the US Air Force and the Alabama State Defense Force. 

Col. Eidsmoe opened with the assertion that when discussing the dynamics of the War of Northern Aggression, one could similarly be talking about the Vietnam War or Korean War.  In the Korean War, propaganda was used against U.S. forces but they found that those soldiers who were either Christian or history scholars were difficult to brainwash.  If the populace does not know their history and heritage, the government and those seeking power can create a vision of what they want the society to look like by creating a distorted foundation of ideals and morality and the governing laws those entail. 

How far will the attacks go against the historical monuments in our country?  Will they seek to tear down the obelisk monument to Sgt. Floyd who was the only member of the Lewis and Clark expedition to die as their exploration was commissioned by the slave owner President Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase resulted in the exploitation of the native Indians.  But what about tearing down monuments to liberal icons?

The Christian cross used in monuments has been under attack but, while it is a Christian symbol of the crucifixion of Christ, it also has unique historical associations.  It is used in the U.S. military's second highest honor (behind the Medal of Honor) and is used in military cemeteries as a symbol of sacrifice. The American Humanist Association brought a case for the removal of these crosses and the American Legion supported by the Foundation for Moral Law fought this action and won with a 7-2 decision by the Supreme Court supporting the cross. 

The 2017 Alabama Monument Preservation Act was created specifying that no monument between 20 and 40 years old may be removed without the state historical commission approval and that any monument older than 40 years old can be removed at all.  Of course this law has come under challenge with a monument in a Birmingham park being obstructed by a plywood structure erected by the mayor's office.  The Alabama Attorney General has brought suit against the mayor but one Alabama judge issued an opinion that the law is unconstitutional even going so far as to say the monument represented the Confederate attempts to preserve slavery; so it wasn't a judicial opinion but an editorial opinion.  It is not the place of a judge to try to determine the cause of the War Between the States which had many causes including the issue of oppressive tariffs, preservation of the Union, a religious struggle of Calvinism versus Unitarianism and many other reasons.  The judge erroneously stated that the municipality had a right to freedom of speech (which is an individual's right per the constitution guarantees). 

Most of the Confederate monuments were erected in the late 1800s and early 1900s when Confederate veterans were dying and it was viewed as an appropriate time to commemorate their sacrifices.  Additionally the South was becoming more prosperous and so communities and individuals could afford the cost of these monuments.  In the 1960s, additional monuments were erected to observe the centennial of the WBTS not as racist symbols opposing Civil Rights.

Monuments are erected to recognize institutions, sacrifices, ideals and ideas, civic leaders and their actions.  Monuments promote tourism.  Monuments serve as an impetus for citizens to serve their country in the military or civic offices, to be recognized and honored for their service. They help historians in the study of human nature and past achievements.  Monuments are often voices of dissent (and perhaps should be listened to today).  Maybe it is a moral imperative to honor our past thru monuments. 

If they can rewrite history and create a myth of evil in the past and of our ancestors, they can attempt to erase that our country was founded on Christian principles and they can make the country atheist in the future.  He who controls the past controls the future and he who controls the present contriols the past.  Children are being taught to despise their heritage (as racist) in public schools.  Look at Germany which gave civilization the Reformation and the music of Bach but the National Socialists of Hitler brainwashed the citizenry and turned them from Christianity. 

A heritage is a wonderful thing but not to rest on but to build on.  Col. Eidsmoe expressed that he supports the Confederacy because Davis and Calhoun knew the Constitution far better than Lincoln and Webster.  He supports the military who are sworn to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic.  Unfortunately, the liberals view is that the Constitution is meant to be changed as a "living document" instead of as a firm unyielding foundation for our country in the past, present and future.