Issues continue to arise over the Confederate flag in South Carolina. A compromise was reached in 2001 to take this symbol of a nation divided off the Statehouse and put it on the capitol’s grounds. Ever since, the NAACP has called for a tourist and economic boycott of South Carolina until the flag is completely removed and placed in a museum.

Up until this year’s presidential primary in that state, Democrats have largely supported the boycott, in part because blacks make up about half of their primary votes. Because the black votes are essential to the Democrats but are not enough to help win the election, a stark debate has arisen inside the party over whether to change the policy on the boycott in order to get white people back on the Democrats’ side.

While most politicians would probably sell their souls to get elected, the Confederate flag should never be used as any sort of bargaining chip to get anything done. It is a symbol of hate, of a nation torn apart, of a war that pitted brother against brother and in which over half a million Americans lost their lives.

First and foremost, bravo to the Democrats for holding out this long in spite of the deeply racist South (not that the rest of America is all that tolerant either). President Bush won the 2000 election in large part because of the incredible amount of support he got in the South. If Democratic candidate Al Gore could have won the election had the Democrats chose not to support the boycott, the party should be commended for not selling out to a symbol of hatred to win at all costs.

However, if the Democrats change their minds this year just to win a presidential primary in one state, then everything the party suffered from coming out against the flag has been entirely in vain. The Confederacy and the flag that represents it alienates and insults everybody save for one group of people, and it should be opposed in every possible way.

The argument that the Confederate flag is an important part of Southern culture is nothing more than a weak argument at best. The Nazi flag is large part of German culture, but nowhere in Germany does the symbol of the regime of the Holocaust fly in any state capacity. There are many things to celebrate in the history of the South, all of which are smeared by the Confederate flag.

That symbol of everything that went wrong in America should be opposed in every possible way. The Democrats deserve praise for what they have done to support the economic boycott of South Carolina as a result of the flag. They should not try to sell out everything they stood for so far to get votes from people who don’t deserve to be called Americans.