Thank you SPLC for reminding us how important it is that Texans pass a Monuments Protection Act. It is instructive to access the link to the SPLC web page and read their revised report "Whose Heritage," which is a veritable battle plan to eradicate Confederate history from the public consciousness of America. The revised report also implies a plan to pursue organizations which have sponsored monuments in the past like the United Daughters of the Confederacy (include here the Children of the Confederacy).

History provides us with horrendous examples like Nazi Germany, Mao's China, Bolshevik Russia, Pol Pot's Cambodia or the civil war in Yugoslavia, that cultural and historic cleansing is always just the opening move of a well-scripted battle plan.

Once the "symbols of hate" are destroyed or removed, the next phase requires the relentless pursuit of individuals, organizations and institutions leading to an accompanying neutralization or destruction of museums, libraries, independent media outlets, mosques, synagogues and churches. Once the backbone of civil society has been broken, there is no one left to stop the ultimate phase--the final implementation of ethnic, class or ideological cleansing.

Scapegoating and the "Big Lie" are the favorite tools of the enemies of freedom and pluralism. Taint an entire group or class of people with an infamous lie and half their battle is won. The most blatant example of this today is the current stigmatization of anyone who commemorates Confederate veterans, honors Robert E. Lee, or displays symbols of Southern culture and heritage as a proponent of white supremacy, torture and murder.