Conservatives are taking their fight against the new cultural puritans to new levels.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) took to the House floor on Thursday night in support of an amendment that would ban federal funds from being used to take down statues on land under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department.
“There should be no funds allocated to remove any monument and there’s no necessary reason to remove the monuments,” Greene stated.
She went on, “This is the Democrats’ and the Biden administration’s effort to erase our history, just as they have done to the statue of Robert E. Lee. This is an outrage. This is exactly what they do in communist countries and the Democrats want to accuse us of book burning while we try to get pornography books out of our children’s schools? The Democrats will do nothing to stop their attempts to destroy our nation’s history and we must protect it.”
Watch the video below:
Greene: This is the Democrat and Biden administration's effort to erase our history, just as they have done to the statue of Robert E. Lee. This is an outrage. This is exactly what they do in communist countries pic.twitter.com/H5i4Uxbkx5
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 2, 2023
The desire to protect a statue of Lee is somewhat understandable. As a historic figure, he is unique in his motivations.
Historian Allen C. Guelzo pointed out in his biography of Lee, he did not support slavery or think there was a Constitutional basis for it. Still, he knew fighting for the Confederacy would protect the institution.
Yet his sense of duty to his state of Virginia and an unwillingness to fight against fellow Virginians led him to join the Confederacy.
At the end of the Civil War, Lee did a service to the country by surrendering and not trying to prolong the conflict despite what he saw as barbaric and cruel behavior by the Union Army.
Conservatives argue Lee’s sense of duty is a noble part of his history and something that should be admired. However, they apparently declined to ask an important question: Does a sense of duty absolve you of the part you play in fighting to protect a wicked institution?
For Greene, that appears to be the case. During her first run for her House seat, Greene stated she would leave up a statue of Satan or Adolf Hitler.
Some other conservatives do not go that far, still, they expressed reverence for Lee. Far-right commentator Kingsley Wilson shared a story about a statue of Lee of being melted down and wrote that he was “one of the greatest Americans to ever live.”
One of the greatest Americans to ever live… sacrificed on the altar of Critical Race Theory https://t.co/uAmLYB7FuP
— Kingsley Wilson (@KingsleyCortes) October 26, 2023
As mentioned above, Lee’s desire to end the war rather than cause more bloodshed and his effort to restore peace after the war is noble.
But that does not negate the fact he took up arms against the United States and was a traitor. He sought to break apart the country his own father fought to establish during the American Revolution.
Robert E. Lee may not have been the staunchest advocate of slavery or even succession at the beginning of the Civil War. In fact, he argued against war. However, he was far from some passive character acting without any agency.
Conservatives should not be getting all bothered by a community deciding they do not want a statue to a traitor in their town. And to try to cast him as one of the “greatest Americans to ever live” in defense of his statue is simply insane.
Robert E. Lee’s memory will live on in history with or without a statue.
And there are plenty of hills for conservatives to plant their flag on when it comes to taking down statues of historic figures. Sometimes, you just have to draw the line between standing up for heroes and traitors.
