The Las Cruces Tea Party won a float contest at a July 4th parade a couple of weeks ago-- with a flag display representing the history of the area, and one of the flags was a reproduction Confederate flag. This set off a storm of protest from other political groups and I was following the comments on the web site for the local paper there, the Las Cruces Sun-News' "Sound-Off!" column for the last couple of weeks. Last night, after reading some very harsh comments from a particular person from the New England area I had to say something. I have to say some of the local defenders of the float were very good in it's defence against a throng of abuse- mostly claiming that the Tea Party was neo-Confederate. I'll summarize what I wrote-- I just kept it factual. Mine was the last posted. I pointed out...

1. The South Carolina's secession issue was over the of slavery extension.
2. The Civil War issue was over the issue of federal coercion.
3. The warring sides were split down political lines- Republican vs Democrat.
4. Northern Democrats believed slavery was protected by the Constitution. Their leader, Senator Douglas, was a slave owner, with a large plantation in Mississippi.
5. It was Lincoln's war.
6. That the men who carried the Confederate flag most likely were Democrats.

The next day...across the board... ALL comments were removed by the paper, as if there was never any debate. Coincidence?