Brilliant piece, both in terms of some cast-iron arguments and the pristine writing. The quotations illustrating the positions of Texas and Mississippi at the time of secession are blood chilling and it is a master stroke to include them. I'm not sure how to characterise those who invoke the confederate flag and allied symbols: the various shorthand labels and slogans that structure American political discourse seem very imprecise to me from my old world vantage point. But if these flag wavers are libertarians of some sort, you are right that they cannot logically support slavery. Neither can they support and celebrate states' rights or the Confederacy since both the individual states and the Confederacy were concentrations of power that will necessarily infringe the liberty of the individual. By the same token, they cannot be expected to listen to arguments that appeal to the consitutional nature, i.e. the legitimacy, of the federal government's actions. We know what the counter argument would be if these 'libertarians' managed to be consistent: governments are never legitimate. [As I'm writing this, it occurs to me that the phrase 'right libertarian' is oxymoronic.] For myself, I say burn all flags. They are enablers of conflict and slavery, gross and obvious in the 19th century and subtle now.