A case in the U.S. Supreme Court argued earlier this week raises the issue of whether Sons of Confederate Veterans have a right to buy logo rights on Texas state license plates just like other interest groups, and here we are again with the "It's heritage, not hate" and "The war was not about slavery" arguments.

Rather than vent, I will at this point hand over the mic to  Abraham Lincoln, who in his second inaugural address noted that at the beginning of the Civil War,

"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves occupied a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war." (italics mine)

(Thank you, Mr. President.)

The persistence of the Lost Cause fable marks it as the most successful and perversely brilliant propaganda campaign in history.That, not the Confederate flag, is what the Sons of Confederate Veterans seek to commemorate.