I don't get conservatives. I mean, I understand that right-wing people follow Wilhoit's Law, which says that they are only about protecting their in-group, and not about having principles that are consistent across in- and out-groups.
But this latest thing where supposed conservatives like Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence are pandering to the Trump base by saying they will change the name of the military base recently renamed Fort Liberty (Liberty!) back to Fort Bragg is making my eyes cross.
They make the usual declarations about "wokism" and political correctness, of course (since liberty is so woke), but some of it is just hatred of change when done by anyone but them. And then there's the fact that the person whose name is being supplanted was a Confederate general, and an enslaver who owned a sugar labor camp in Louisiana (one of the most inhumane kinds of labor camps).
You'd think they might care that Braxton Bragg was a bad general who was hated by his men, or that he lost most of his battles, but since they don't care that he was a traitor to his country who enslaved human beings, not caring about those parts of his career probably makes sense.
The fact is, this fort has nothing to do with Bragg: it was a minor installation until World War II and its growth into one of the largest in the U.S. is more a measure of our country's military over-spending than any reflection on its essential value.
I can't imagine another country naming its military forts after generals who led campaigns in a lost civil war against the same army that's now being trained and housed in those forts. It's incredible and embarrassing.
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