<!–

–>

January 23, 2024

In 2020 Congress created the Naming Commission, to review Confederate names and iconography on DoD installations.  In August and September of 2022 — right in the midst of congressional reelection season — the commission issued its final report.  In the preface to that report, the commissioners proclaimed what, in their view, it meant to “commemorate” a person, group or other entity:

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609268089992-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”); } }); }); }

Commemoration elevates an act, event, or individual by bestowing it with communal esteem and honor… The best commemorations highlight individuals, movements and moments that epitomize the highest values of our present and motivate us as we shape our societies of the future… Commemoration celebrates, affirms, and extols… Commemoration is about who we strive to be.

Then, the commissioners unloaded this bombshell:

In passing the 2021 William M. “Mac” Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act, the United States Congress determined that Confederates and the Confederacy no longer warrant commemoration through Department of Defense assets.

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609270365559-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”); } }); }); }

Presumably then, the Naming Commission — an agent of Congress — has determined that any aspect of Confederate service or accomplishments of Confederate soldiers are now unworthy of “communal esteem and honor” by today’s American military.  The commissioners didn’t come out, place themselves on record and specifically say that Confederates are unworthy of respect.  But, the flow of the text and the specific language used in the preface makes their intent — and presumably that of Congress — crystal-clear.

“Politics makes me sad sometimes.”  That statement is from Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.  What specifically made Reynolds sad?  “[T]he ongoing game of Civilizational Jenga that our ruling class is playing.  One by one, they’re withdrawing the supports of civil society, in a process that will inevitably lead to a collapse.  They’re taking what was a very robust society, and consuming all the safety margins, bit by bit.” 

What triggered his sadness?  The removal of the Reconciliation Memorial from Arlington National Cemetery.  It is, according to Reynolds, “a post Civil War memorial marking a return to American unity.”

As David Strom writes: “Speaking practically, history has shown that even though the Southern states rose against the federal government, over the past century, our most patriotic and self-sacrificial defenders of our country have come from citizens of the South. Tearing down the reconciliation monument is spitting in the face of the memory of these citizens’ ancestors and a rejection of recognizing the complications in America’s history. It is, in other words, both offensive and stupid. I say this as an admirer of Lincoln’s cause and a strong opponent of the Southern ideology.”

“[T]he American experience of reconciliation after one of the world’s bloodier and more divisive conflicts,” said Reynolds “is one that perhaps ought to get more attention. Instead, it is being erased.  There’s little enough of reconciliation in today’s politics.”  And that makes Reynolds sad.  It should make all of us sad.  And irritated — at Congress.

In the linked Substack article, Reynolds seems to point the finger of blame at the Biden administration (“the Biden Administration is removing the Reconciliation Monument”).  But Congress owns the Naming Commission, and everything associated with it. It created the commission and, most importantly, reviewed and approved its recommendations. It is the culprit that caused this latest iteration of “civilizational Jenga.”