By Randy Rossi -
The Illinois Review article reporting on Lake County canceling the 28th annual Civil War Days was important, accurate, and insightful but it lacked one thing. It did not express the outrage that any informed patriot would feel about this disgusting and “politically correct” attack on our brave ancestors. More than 600,000 Americans died and 1,200,000 were wounded in the Civil War to free the slaves. Cancelling this event is a perfect example of cowardly “Political Correctness” which attacks truth and justice. Instead of celebrating the bravery of our ancestors who fought for freedom and gave their lives and/or blood for that freedom, these cowardly politicians focused on Confederate flags instead of those brave Union soldiers that fought for freedom. This is a massive insult to our brave ancestors.
But it is even worse than that. Based on news reports I have read, at first Angelo Kyle said he wanted to cancel the Civil War Days this year because of those Confederate flags and other controversial issues regarding the Civil War (real or imagined). But he got so much grief that he backed off and let it continue this year hoping it will be cancelled next year. Then suddenly the story switched to “safety concerns” and the Civil War Days were again cancelled this year. But I have read that the Lake County Sheriff has said that they are not aware of any threats or anything else that would involve “safety concerns” at the event. If this isn’t pure politics, what is?
We must all remember history so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past and celebrate those heroes that fought for freedom. You can’t remember the victory of Abraham Lincoln’s Union Army (Republicans!) that freed the slaves unless you also remember the Confederate Army (Democrats!) that fought to keep slavery. Cancelling this important event just because of Confederate flags kills the remembrance and celebration of freedom under the American flag. Our children must be taught the harsh lessons of history so that they can learn from them, not shielded from them making them “snowflakes”.
26 members of my family fought with the Union Army to free the slaves and based on statistics, 6 of them died and 13 of them were wounded. We just celebrated those brave ancestors last week at a family reunion in southern Illinois and it broke my heart to come home and see that Lake County just insulted our ancestors that gave their lives and/or blood to defend our values. Have we become such sensitive and fragile “snowflakes” that we can’t deal with history and celebrate our brave ancestors? Shame on you Lake County Board of Commissioners! You represent everything that has gone wrong with our culture and the continuing decline of Illinois politics. If you don’t have the courage to celebrate freedom and our brave ancestors that gave us that freedom because of this pathetic political correctness, why would any informed patriotic citizen vote for you?
