Dear editor:
I am also retired and living in Arkansas. I disagree with everything Paul Reilly wrote (July 24, 2015), but I will defend to my death his right to write them.
It was the Confederate States of America, the Confederacy, not the "Confederation." Mr. Reilly wants us to swallow a bitter pill, and that doesn't appeal to me at all. To quote a line from a famous movie, "Just a little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down." We don't have to use the phrases "many Southerners say" or "people say" -- there are history books which tell the true story. The Confederate Battle Flag was never the official flag of the CSA. It was developed because the official flag looked so much like the official flag of the USA that it was hard to identify the enemy troops on the battlefield (for both sides).
"If people still ... " "they are free to believe what they wish." Mr. Reilly, I was free to believe what I wish when I was born, because I am a citizen of the USA. The same freedom was guaranteed in the Constitution of the CSA. What I believe about anyone's goals, attitudes and actions has nothing at all to do with my freedom to believe what I wish. You are certainly free to do the same, but let it be known that I count myself among those who disagree with you.
Fly it high and proud.
Perpetuate the positive.
M. Wayne Spencer
Hot Springs
Editorial on 07/26/2015