NEW YORK -- There are three problems with democracy.

First and foremost, very few citizens consider their vote valuable enough to be worth dragging their butts
out of their E-Z Boys on Election Day. Then, when they summon the energy to exercise their franchise, and it
really does come down to single votes, the system breaks down. Case study: Florida.
Worst of all? The system sometimes works.

On April 17, Mississippi voters voted 65 percent to 35 percent in favor of keeping their current state flag,
which features -- as many Southern state flags did until recently -- the Confederate battle flag in its
upper left-hand corner. Not since California's immigrant-bashing Proposition 187 has the case against
letting the people decide ever been made more eloquently.

Predictably, the vote was split along racial lines.
According to Reuters: "There was no racial breakdown of the vote but predominantly white precincts
voted overwhelmingly -- as much as 90 percent in some cases -- for the old design." The state is about
61 percent white and 36 percent black. In Very Ol' Miss, the descendants of slaves have a long way to go
before they're accorded basic respect from those whose ancestors trafficked in human flesh.

Typical of contemporary politics, neither side in the flag debate ponied up honest reasons for its stance.
The pro-Confederate flag side cited "Southern heritage" and "history," but those are precisely the
best reasons for getting rid of the thing. Southern apologists are correct when they note that the Civil
War wasn't fought over slavery alone, but emancipation was by far the happiest result of Sherman's march.
And regardless of the honor of those who fought in gray, during the last 136 years the stars and bars have
served as an anything-but-subtle icon of the Klan, racism and segregation. That flag is the flag of Bull
Connor, George Wallace and David Duke. Those who wish that the South would rise again are far more
interested in putting blacks back into chains -- or at least in the back of the bus -- than independence from
an oppressive federal government.

"Heritage"? Southerners ought to be ashamed of their past.

Supporters of a new, Confederate-free flag also missed the mark in their public statements. A flier published
by a pro-business group read: "It's not right that our kids can't find good jobs close to home because
companies won't locate in our state, but it's a fact ... They have the wrong idea about Mississippi. A
state flag that includes the Confederate flag just adds to those false opinions."

For one thing, the ballot results prove that those opinions aren't false. For another, IBM and Ford
cozied up to Adolf Hitler; why, white voters reasoned, would they avoid Mississippi because of a little old
flag? If corporate America is staying away, ethics and racial sensitivity have nothing to do with it.

The truth is harsh and painfully obvious. The only reason you stick a Confederate decal on your car or
truck is to scream a big "f--- you" to passing blacks. The only reason you vote to fly that same flag over
public buildings is because you think that "f--- you" ought to be the official state motto. The April 17
referendum told black Mississippians that they are hated and reviled by their white neighbors.

I'm a privileged white male Ivy League graduate living in Manhattan, but it doesn't require a huge empathic
leap to fathom the day-to-day horror of being black in an ass-backward dump like Mississippi. Not only does
your job suck, your boss fantasizes that you're all gussied up in shackles. The best that can be said about
Mississippi's white voters is that they care more about their depraved "heritage" than your everyday reality.