Glad to see va32h add some intelligent history to this thread.
Warning -
this will be long because it is dear to my heart and I have spent many years studying and researching the War Between the States:
I do own, and do occasionally wear, clothing that contains symbols of the Confederacy, though I generally avoid wearing just the battle flag which the KKK adopted for their racists goals. I prefer to wear one of the official flags of the Confederate government (the Stars & Bars or 3rd National, etc.) If you truly want to form an opinion about such things, perhaps you should do some research first instead of basing all of your opinions on lies you were taught in high school. Perhaps start here:
http://www.confederateflags.org/ There you can find all of the flags of the Confederacy, not just the one battle flag that everyone seems to know and hate (whether they know why they hate it or not).
My family has been in the south since the 1700s and I have many ancestors on both sides of my family who fought in the War of Northern Aggression. Some were wounded, a few died, at least one spent a year or two in a Yankee prison camp (
all of which were equally as bad as Andersonville, as were all other Southern prison camps
they were all terrible places). None of them owned any slaves as far as I can find. They were all poor farmers. There is a saying Rich mans war, poor mans fight. that very much applies to the Civil War, especially for the South, but also to the North.
Why was the war fought?
Economics. Slavery was a
part of the economic equation, even the largest part, but it was
not the only part, and it only mattered to the extent that they impacted the economy. The South was not fighting to keep black people as slaves any more than the majority of Northerners were fighting to end slavery.
The Northern position on the war didnt come to include abolition until
1863
after two years of heavy fighting and many defeats in the East that left Lincoln and the Republican party grasping at straws to find some way to keep the momentum for the war going enlistments were down, business was suffering, war costs were rising, the death toll was growing rapidly, etc. Issuing the Emancipation Proclamation merely freed the slaves in the few border states (still part of the Union) and had no true legal bearing in the Confederate states it was the equivalent of the modern USA passing a law stating that all underprivileged citizens in Mexico should be paid a welfare stipend by the Mexican government we dont have the right to pass anything like that and could only enforce it if we were to invade Mexico and make it happen with the help of our army, which is what the North did during the Civil War. The
true reason to issue the Emancipation Proclamation was to prevent foreign governments namely France and England from officially recognizing the Confederacy and offering military and economic assistance assistance which would prolong the war, sway Northern public opinion against Lincoln and the Republicans, and cause them to lose the upcoming presidential elections in November 1864 and many local elections prior to that date.
The other economic factors included Washington wanting to pass steep tariffs on international trade that would very much negatively impact the South, especially the cotton trade, and make an already tenuous economic situation in the South even worse, while at the same time helping the big business up North. Basically it came down to the Northern rich trying to get richer at the expense of the agrarian South. The abolitionist movement was merely a blip on the radar before the War and was mainly a political aim of ministers and a small group of devout women who, as has been mentioned, felt a yearning to help free the ignorant, helpless, mindless negroes and give them their freedom
back in Africa. (Lincoln was a supporter of deporting all freed slaves back to Africa - its true, look it up!) The Underground Railroad didnt stop in the North, it stopped in
Canada. Why? Because most Northern cities were as dangerous to a freed or escaped slave as anywhere in the South. Why? Because they were a threat for jobs, especially to immigrants such as the Irish and Italians. If you saw the movie Far and Away or The Gangs of New York you got some idea of the racial hatred between the Irish and Italians up North during the Civil War-era and after, but one thing both of those groups could agree on was hatred for blacks who would come in and work at the factories for even less money and thus were a serious threat. A black person in a major northern city was probably more likely to be killed than in the South (because in the south they would simply be returned to slavery).
Slavery was and is a horrible thing. But the problem was that the entire Southern economy was built upon that foundation a foundation built over the 200 years before the Civil War by Northern and European slave traders and plantation owners the Caribbean was full of slave plantations owned by European countries, as was Mexico, Brazil, etc. To up and just pull the rug of slavery out from under the Southern economy in one fell swoop would certainly bring about its economic destruction but the North and the government in power didnt care, they were rich and would stay rich with or without slavery. So what happened? Slavery was abruptly terminated after the War and as a result the South suffered almost complete economic ruin that in some places is still a problem. (Get off of the interstate and drive along an older highway and count the number of towns you pass that look like 1940s ghost towns.) There had to be a better way to end slavery without destroying the economy of the South to the detriment of black and white alike but the hotheads in power didnt want to compromise. Greed and power hunger ensured that. Brazil went through a peacefull abolition of slavery around the same time as our Civil War. There is no reason the same couldnt have happened in America.
But that was for the politicians to decide. What of the average Southern farming family? They had no say in the matter and merely found their homelands (the states back then were their true countries, not the nation of America people back then referred to themselves as Virginians or Georgians or Ohioans, not as Americans that didnt happen until after the War.) So when a Yankee army came marching into the South, the average Southern male went to defend his land and hearth and home and family. It wasnt about slavery for the men who fought beneath that Confederate battle flag. It was about their homes and family, it was about the man standing next to them likely a brother or father or cousin or uncle.
So I will continue to be proud of my Southern ancestry for their determination to resist oppression and tyrannical governments and to defend their land and family. I would also applaud any black slaves who led rebellions for the same reason. They had (and have) every right to freedom. I in no way support or condone slavery then, now, or ever but that doesnt take away from my pride in my non-slaveholding ancestors.
Banning any Confederate flag? While you are at it you must also ban the Puerto Rican or Mexican flag that people hang from the rear view mirrors of their Hondas (see what I did there? I made a gross generalization that all hispanics drive Hondas with little flags in them... it must be true because all people who own any Confederate items are dumb rednecks... hmmm). You must ban those Proud Black Man / Woman t-shirts that have an African flag on them. To the person wearing them they represent pride in their heritage. To someone else they represent racism (yes, racism can work both ways - it often appears that people like Jesse Jackson are as racist as anyone in the KKK). Judging someone based solely on one article of clothing without knowing the reasons behind it fits the very definition of prejudice. At the same time, out of respect for others, we dont have to wear potentially disruptive clothing in public.
I will continue to wear my Confederate clothing to Civil War reenactments (the same way I wear a team shirt to football games). I will continue to occasionally wear my Robert E. Lee t-shirt because he was a great man, a great leader, a great Southern gentleman, and a great American not because his family had slaves or because he lead an army defending a country that supported slavery. I encourage anyone else who is proud of their heritage to do the same (
after they have taken the time to do some research and learn WHY they are proud of their heritage, not just because it is the cool thing to do or because they want to intimidate someone else or fit in with a crowd.)
And I ain't just whistlin' Dixie!
Uh ok. Whatever. 
Rick... I LOVE you, man!!! 
