TKC SUNDAY SPECIAL!!! AMERICAN FIGHT AGAINST CONFEDERATE FLAG MIMICS ISIS TERRORISTS DEFACING RELIGIOUS ICONS!!!

The struggle for equality and freedom continually suffers the vengeful wrath of human nature.

This week the Supreme Court granted marriage rights for same sex couples in a remarkable demonstration that this nation leads the world in unprecedented freedom for its citizens. Alternately, elected officials across the nation succumbed to fear and identity politics with knee-jerk dictates to remove a mostly meaningless flag of the long forgotten Confederacy from public view.

The Confederacy has no soldiers, no legislative body and they're without an association of any real consequence within the sphere of American politics. Still, the demand for a removal of the Confederate flag consumed politically correct elected officials who gave into a mob of professional victims rather than understand the consequence of pandering for support against unpopular or even obsolete symbols, ideas and expression.

A flag, a cross, a picture are nothing more than mere representations that have no real power. Human nature and our base instinct to suppress, deface and destroy any alternative viewpoint is far more dangerous than inanimate objects.

While many Americans claim that "love wins" as they trumpet the marriage equality decision from the Supreme Court, in the same breath they actively work to suppress a mostly forgotten remnant of a defeated republic that most people fail to understand in any real historical context. In much the same way, our politicos and activists mimic terrorists like ISIS who deface the historic symbols of lost religions in their lands or vandalize conquered Christan houses of worship with their black banner of death.

Argue circumstance but realize that the reptilian human instinct to suppress and destroy any offending artifact connects both ISIS and the more strident detractors of the Confederate flag with an irrefutable commonality that should send chills up the spine of any true supporter of liberty, equality and Constitutionally protected freedom of expression.

Remember that Muslims have suffered a great many atrocities at the hands of Christians during The Crusades alone. That's not counting the occasional American "smart bomb" which sometimes accidentally lands in a school full of innocent children. The principals of Buddhism seem in almost direct opposition with the far more uptight and rigid Koran, especially as interpreted by terrorists renowned across the globe for decapitating their enemies. Similarly, there is no debating the legacy of the Confederate flag and the many acts of evil that were carried out in the name of American slavery (in addition to so many white underclass soldiers dying for a lost cause that didn't benefit them any more than the slaves in bondage).



And of course, the fact that some murderous coward who recently was arrested and charged with committing a horrific rampage in a church full of innocent people was depicted waving a variety of flags also deserves mention in this discussion inasmuch as others point out that the popular chain of gyms represented in a t-shirt he wore has thankfully escaped any connection -- Forgive the minor point but every symbol in the public discourse has some kind of meaning. 



To bring this home to Kansas City, we should rightfully celebrate our place in the struggle for equality and note that Mayor Sly James literally sang the praises of a same-sex marriage Supreme Court victory on the day of the decision. Jolie Justus is Kansas City's first openly gay council member and she will soon arrive at City Hall -- A place which already recognizes marriage equality in terms of pension and health benefits. In that same breath, in the recent election Kansas City was so averse to confrontation and any real active Democracy that a direct challenge to the Mayor was opposed by vested political interests. Accordingly, the public was equally repelled by the process, largely disenchanted with the lack of real choices or authentic representative Democracy and most voters avoided the polls altogether.

Active debate and opposition to mainstream political ideas is so widely discouraged in Kansas City that votes are often decided before any ballot is cast by gerrymandered election districts and a myriad of deeply entrenched special interests which dominate communities and neighborhoods citywide.



And so any casual observer should realize that freedom in Kansas City and throughout the nation is far more fragile than anyone would care to acknowledge. There remains a war against unpopular speech, expression and symbols in which a peculiar sense of entitlement and victimization mutates into a rallying cry to attack, suppress and ultimately destroy any alternative viewpoint. Call it the pecking order in practice or maybe just proof that politics is simply one of many ways to establish dominance and power. In the end, we cling to an innate sense of right vs. wrong, The Constitution and hopefully our faith to save us from a destructive yet seemingly universal human instinct that seeks to destroy the source of any disagreement.