unfortunately can still be lost."

There are a lot of issues from the Civil War era that are unresolved to this day. Although, the Civil War was a time when the battle of ideas came to resolution with warm lead and cold steel, the battle for many of these ideas goes on. To me, to really explore this issue, I have to look at, but also beyond the obvious issue of slavery to understand the passions that motivated people in their respective causes during that war.

What lessons can we take with us?

Some areas for discussion on this are:

-The continuing debate over the Confederate Flag as a symbol and it's meaning

-The role of the Federal Government vs State Governments

-The controversial 14th ammendment to the Constitution

-Civil liberties, civil liberties, and civil liberties


I am getting the feeling that our democratic process is becoming more and more like one of those dysfunctional families at Thanksgiving that agrees not to talk about any of their grievances for the sake of feeling like a normal family. It might make for a nice appearance, but the issues are still burning when everyone gets back into their cars and heads home. All that it took last time was John Brown to spark the powder keg.

My questions for this forum are:
-How deep are we willing to explore these and other CW era issues in order to find consensus in how we all feel about where it is appropriate for Democrats and Republicans to stand on them today?

-Can an honest discussion about these passionate issues head off a potential John Brown moment before the groundwork is laid for one?