It Was Never About Statues…VA Senate Passes Bill To Strip Daughters Of The Confederacy Tax Exemption

When the Left started removing Confederate statues, many conservatives -- myself included -- warned this wasn't about statues and that it wouldn't stop there. We were attacked as defenders of slavery, Nazis (um, okay), confederate sympathizers, and racists. Between then and now, statues of the Founding Fathers have been removed (they weren't Confederates, which is what we were told this was all about), they've been melted down a statue of Robert E. Lee after saying it would be put in a museum, and Arlington National Cemetery decided to remove the Civil War Reconciliation Monument. It was never about the statues. It was about the uprooting of history and punishing those who don't get in line. More proof: the VA Senate recently passed HB568, which will strip the nonprofit group Daughters of the Confederacy of their tax exempt status.

Today, HB568 has passed on the Senate floor 23Y 17N. HB568 aims to end the tax exemption for the United Daughters of the Confederacy. This bill unlocks revenue for the Commonwealth to fund schools, workforce development, and mental health programs. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGzmFNxXUAAXvaQ?format=jpg&name=large -- Why? Well, here's the story from ABC 8 News: The Virginia Senate has approved a bill to strip certain Confederate organizations of their tax-exempt statuses. “Our code should reflect our values and what we want the Commonwealth to be now,” said the bill’s patron, Delegate Alex Askew (D-Virginia Beach). Askew’s bill, along with a companion measure in the Senate would require several organizations, including the United Daughters of the Confederacy, to pay certain property taxes if the bill becomes law. What does the big, bad group do? Historical preservation, education, grave maintenance, and scholarships.

Those monsters. Those are 'values of the Commonwealth' now? Okay, then. In hearings, Daughters of the American Revolution spoke out against the bill. “I have done a lot of work in the Civil War, the war between the states,” said one member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. “We would all do well to learn and really not punish the soldiers and the families of those who lose ones in that struggle.” What are the Daughters of the American Revolution against this bill? Because they see where this is headed. And so do I. The Founding Fathers were a group of rebels who held slaves and were, by today's standards, racist. There's no reason to say 'Confederates bad, Revolutionaries good' and be consistent. There is no way this line of thought -- brought to its logical conclusion -- doesn't destroy the entire history of the United States from its inception. -- Revenge politics. Just remember you won’t be in charge forever.

'The other side gets to move and shoot too' -- the Left would do well to remember this. BLM has a chapter in Richmond. Imagine the outcry if a Republican legislature stripped their tax exempt status and said 'our code should reflect our values.' Or did the same to Planned Parenthood. Or any other woke, left-wing organization. If any Republican had the spine to remove their tax-exempt status, the Left would lose their minds. Although, in that case, it would be proper to, because BLM engaged in riots and the Richmond office of the Daughters of the Confederacy was firebombed during those riots. The Richmond fire department didn't respond; fire crews from neighboring counties did. Which also speaks volumes about those public services we pay for: do they not service organizations we don't like? Is that how this works now?

It may or may not be the right thing to do, but who are you kidding that it's going to produce "revenue for the Commonwealth to fund schools, workforce development, and mental health programs"? How much do you think the DotC is worth? If you believe he really thinks this generates revenue, I've got a bridge to sell you. This is about revenge, retribution, and using the weight of the government to punish ungoodthink. Back in 1993 -- 31 years ago -- Senator Carol Moseley Braun led the campaign to not renew the Daughters of the Confederacy's logo patent for their insignia. What legal rights and protections do you have if some sector of the government decides it doesn't like your ideology? None. And given that power is never held by one group in perpetuity, this means none of us have legal rights or protections. If you believe he really thinks this generates revenue, I've got a bridge to sell you. This is about revenge, retribution, and using the weight of the government to punish ungoodthink.

Back in 1993 -- 31 years ago -- Senator Carol Moseley Braun led the campaign to not renew the Daughters of the Confederacy's logo patent for their insignia. What legal rights and protections do you have if some sector of the government decides it doesn't like your ideology? None. And given that power is never held by one group in perpetuity, this means none of us have legal rights or protections. They are petty authoritarians, and fascists. By the way, remember that time Joe Biden -- then Senator -- praised the Daughters of the Confederacy? This guy did: The Virginia Senate just passed a bill stripping tax-exempt status from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Here is President Biden praising the group as “an organization made up of many fine people who continue to display the Confederate flag.” -- Huh. Weird. “We know that the United Daughters of the Confederacy has continued to push the narrative of the lost cause and we don’t need to continue to support that in our tax code.”
VA is attacking people for their views on historical events! They said so openly! Make no mistake: this is dangerous, and -- just as I and countless others said about the statues -- the Left will not stop here. Do you remember COVID and the vaccine? How many on the Left were viciously adamant about denying the unvaccinated healthcare? Throwing them in prison? Remember Lois Lerner and the IRS scandal? They used the weight of the federal government to oppress conservative groups prior to the 2012 election. And she got away with it. The IRS visited the home of Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi. The Left despises anyone to the right of Stalin, and anyone who isn't in lockstep with the cause. And they will do whatever they can to punish you for not falling in line. This is why they claim everything -- from cell phones to education to health care -- is a 'right'; then they can have control and tremendous power. And they can use that power to get you to comply with them, or else.

The Confederacy and the Civil War: they're part of our history. Men were called to serve by their government and did; the state of Virginia told these men to go and fight. Many of them died doing so. And their descendants want to honor and preserve that service and that history. But now the state of Virginia -- the people who seceded in the first place -- think the Daughters of the Confederacy are the problem, and want to punish the descendants of the people who fought and died on the orders of the state. Virginia has not apologized for seceding, and has not apologized for slavery. Maybe start there. 'But this is a different government than in the 1860s,' you might argue. Okay. The Daughters of the Confederacy are also not their ancestors. Next argument.

This bill is like hanging all the privates at Nuremberg. If we are going to hold people to the values we professed only ten minutes ago, even the men who stormed the beaches at Normandy don't deserve their monuments, and their descendants should lose tax exempt status, because they will always fail to meet our current standards. Newsflash: in 50 years, we will be the ones who fail to live up to values of future generations. Do they get to dig up our graves because of it? It will never stop. Unless we make it stop. And if you say, 'Well, this is just Confederates', let me make this clear: Today it's the Confederates. Tomorrow it'll be your organization. Your church. Your healthcare. Your rights. So anyone -- right or left -- who tries to parse this as just being about Confederates, or that this is about our current values, I hate to break this to you: everything in our past doesn't meet with current values. This is a movement that constantly eats its own, because logic and design require it to.

This is a war on history. Not Confederates. Not Revolutionaries. History. There's a reason we call it that and study it. It's not the present for a reason. We are meant to learn from history, not erase it, and certainly not punish those who seek to preserve it.

WRIC ABC 8 News: Senate passes bill to strip United Daughters of the Confederacy, other Confederate organizations of tax breaks
https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/senate-passes-bill-to-strip-united-daughters-of-the-confederacy-other-confederate-organizations-of-tax-breaks/