It should be remembered that a boycott of Mobile, Alabama a few years ago produced good results in relatively short order. We need to get behind this effort. Coke is already feeling the effects of the boycott of their products.

On May 12, 2004, I received this communication:

“As we all know, SCV Camps are prohibited from doing politics. However, individuals still have their 1st Amendment Rights (at times and in some places). Awhile back the Mayor of Fernandina Beach, Florida attempted to force a construction worker to remove a Confederate Flag from his truck. He cited that the citizen was working on a project that was paid for by "government funds". The patriot refused to remove his flag and Mayor Joe Gerrity asked the County Attorney to force the issue (the location was not inside the city limits of Fernandina Beach). The County Attorney refused and cautioned "his honor" that the government had no jurisdiction in the proposed issue. The mayor took his complaint to the local paper and stated that he was from Pennsylvania, "where there Was no racial prejudice" and he wasn't going to tolerate it here. We as individual citizens, considered presenting him with the well known picture of the KKK marching en masse on the streets of Harrisburg, Pa. and carrying the US flag (not the Confederate flag), but opted to show it to some influential politicos, privately instead. A word was dropped here and there. Were we effective? Hard to say, but yesterday the carpetbagger mayor was defeated in his bid for re-election by an unknown newcomer.”

Although the author of this announcement titled it “A Victory (of Sorts),” every effort should be made to capitalize on every such incident, thereby creating our own version of “perception is reality.”

Also on May 12, 2004, I learned that the Palomino Riding Club in Vernon, Texas refused to remove the Confederate flag from their show. Two “offended” student band members were told they could sit out the event instead of participating if the flag “offended” them so much.

On May 17, 2004, David Beasley, former governor of South Carolina, was flagged for the 15th time (16th if you include the banner towing plane that flew over the Hunley procession.) It is also noted that Beasley has failed to appear for four scheduled campaign events, and sneaks into those he does attend. His latest fundraising get together was reportedly poorly attended.

I can hear the band warming up with the funeral dirge for his political career as I type this.

Houston, Mississippi, has announced that the issue on whether or not to allow the local SCV camp to erect a Confederate memorial on courthouse grounds will be left to the voters to decide in November. Although the city counsel had previously approved of the memorial they had come under pressure to retract their approval. Allowing the voters to decide is a vast improvement over the usual caving into such pressure that we have seen in past years.

We all know that the tip of the iceberg is actually the smallest part of an iceberg. That portion that is hidden from view is many times larger, and potentially much more dangerous. The most famous iceberg being the one that sank the unsinkable Titanic.

What we have seen over the last few years, and with increasing regularity over the last several months is the emergence of the Confederate Iceberg. Those actively involved in one way or another in the cause are the tip, and those, usually unaffiliated with any organization being the portion lurking below the surface.

A recent analysis of the 2002 election in Georgia concluded that as many as 250,000 voters had switched their votes from Barnes to Perdue, the majority being rural Democrats. Think of that, a quarter million voters in one state alone responded to the activities of the Georgia Flaggers. Now, consider this: in Georgia there are approximately 3,000 members of the SCV, 1,000 members of the League of the South, and maybe 2,000 or so members of other organizations. That would mean that 244,000 unaffiliated voters responded to the message of the flaggers.

We must make every attempt to increase the size of both ends of the Confederate Iceberg. Every flagging, every reenactment, every living history event, every flag, every bumper-sticker, every t-shirt, every sign, every letter to the editor published, every article printed, increases that iceberg. Now is the time to display the flag everywhere, anywhere, in every medium, and every venue. Repeated exposure is a must, as any advertiser can tell you. The movement has made great strides in just the last few years with the relatively small tip. Just think what advances could be achieved if we increased the size of that tip by just 50 percent. If we could increase the tip by 100 percent we would be virtually unstoppable.

The next step would be the transformation of the Confederate Iceberg into the Confederate Hurricane. Just as icebergs and hurricanes are naturally occurring forces, so is the movement to resist the planned destruction of what is left of the South, and nature will ultimately trump the artificially created edifice erected by the left. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the independent nations that resulted from the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Greg Hanson lives in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Contact Greg at lookingsouth03@yahoo.com.