Southern heritage?

For many tourism marketers below the Mason-Dixon Line, old times are not forgotten — they're promoted.

But as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell discovered when he proclaimed April as Confederate History Month without mentioning slavery (an omission he corrected after a volley of protests), pitching Dixie's past during the run-up to next year's 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War could be challenging.

"The Civil War sesquicentennial is going to be a minefield throughout the South. It's going to take a near miracle to tiptoe through it without serious injury, (and) this McDonnell incident has made things much worse," says Larry J. Sabato, a native Virginian and director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2010-04-15-civil-war-anniversary_N.htm

Search "southern heritage" on line, and it will eventually lead you to racist and fascist sites and organizations. Therefore, our government should not be in the "southern heritage" business. Celebrations of southern heritage should be strictly privately funded.

In that most advocates of "southern heritage" seem to politically agree with conservative economic principals, why are they seeking government funds in the first place?