Since I have been given the opportunity to furnish a report on the Fifth Annual Confederate Heritage Conference in Monroe, La., I thought it would be fitting to start by asking the question, "Why weren't y'all there?"

Actually, some of you were. There were nearly three hundred people in attendance, representing more than twenty different states. Yes, that means some of the states represented were from outside the South. This is an important fact in pointing out the relevant nature of the conference - but more on that later.