Why Honor a Dishonorable Cause?

How support for the Confederacy persists (and why it shouldn’t)

It’s been more than 150 years since the dissolution of the Confederate States of America, but remnants of that failed country somehow persist. Fortunately for the United States, that’s starting to change.

Virginia’s Arlington Public School Board recently voted 5–0 in favor of changing the name of Washington-Lee High School to Washington-Liberty High School, to remove any association with Confederate General Robert E. Lee, while the Texas State Preservation Board recently voted to remove a Confederate plaque from the Texas Capitol. Last summer, the Virginian city of Alexandria renamed a highway first named for Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In 2015, then-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley removed the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds. Two weeks ago, Virginia’s only black official — and a descendant of slaves — refused to participate in a tribute to Robert E. Lee for the second year in a row.

It’s difficult to understand the persistence of such honors and commemorations. It’s remarkable and disappointing it took so long to remove them.

Why does the United States — a country that claims to preserve the ideals of liberty and justice for all — have so many schools, roads…