- Liberals and conservatives attended a recent Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting to speak regarding the monuments currently in place on the Courthouse grounds
- Liberals had one speaker for moving the monuments and conservatives had four speakers in favor of leaving the monuments in place
- No actions taken by Commissioners Court
Sep 26, 2022 – The recent Commissioner’s meeting covered a variety of topics, with one of those being the Capital Improvement Plan (“CIP”) where it was rumored that a discussion was to be held on moving the monuments currently located on the Courthouse lawn. As it was interesting that this was a potential topic to be held under the CIP section of the agenda, there were concerns that the county may be considering CIP dollars to move monuments. Bastrop County Conservatives (“BCC”) is against using tax dollars to move monuments and stated so in a video clip captured by KXAN News “What’s the latest with the Confederate monuments in Bastrop County? | KXAN Austin”.
One speaker spoke in favor of moving the monuments and stated that $50,000 was raised to move the monuments and the Commissioners were not honoring a commitment to move the monuments now that funds were available. This was a misrepresentation. $50,000 is not adequate to move the monuments even one time, much less the two times certain people are requesting, from the current location to storage and then to a final resting place.
The intent of the monuments was not to honor slavery, it was to honor fallen soldiers from Bastrop County, albeit Confederate soldiers. Several people I spoke with before the meeting suggested that we preserve history by leaving the monuments where they are and adding a plaque clearly explaining the Civil War and the positions taken by the North and the South. As we look back, every American today agrees that slavery was wrong, in every way. Whites, blacks and other minorities all sold or had slaves and it was wrong. However, this is history, and we need to learn from history, so it is never repeated.
The video clip above from KXAN shows me talking. Unfortunately, KXAN chose to show the least moving and passionate speech, mine. Four other people spoke against moving the monuments and their speeches were worthy of the moment. I have left their names off this blog intentionally and will leave it to them to share their names as they wish. One of the speakers stated that there is a monument in Smithville with his name on it commemorating the battles in which he fought. He stated, accurately, that if we move these monuments now, what is to stop people in 50 years from calling him a criminal because they don’t agree with the war he was in and tearing down the monument with his name? His speech, and the others, were great. If anyone is aware of where we can obtain a video of the entire meeting, we can attach it to this blog.
Did we all accomplish our goal at the meeting? I believe so. We let the Commissioners know our position. What they do now is up to them. Our group certainly demonstrated that there are conservatives in the County who have a voice. This has not been the case in the past. A few hard-core people have shown up and taken stands but had very little support. Thanks to BCC supporters, military organizations and other members of conservative groups who attended, we had a presence. We probably had twenty-five or more people attending, primarily from BCC, compared to fifteen or fewer liberals. We demonstrated that conservatives care, will vote, have a voice and will be heard. Mission accomplished.