John Fund of National Review Online focuses on heated debate involving the future of Confederate monuments.

In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the historian Edward Gibbon notes that in its latter stages, Roman citizens were fond of vandalizing or removing monuments to an unpopular leader. Historians called the practice “damnatio memoriae,” or condemnation of memory. In today’s America, the tragic events in Charlottesville have led to a Roman-like effort to erase history. …

… Cities all over the country — from Baltimore to Los Angeles — are removing statues to Confederate leaders or soldiers. But it has gone beyond the Boys in Gray. Vandals defaced a statue of Abraham Lincoln, of all people, last week in Chicago. A local Chicago pastor wants to remove George Washington’s name from a park because he was a slaveholder. Ditto for Thomas Jefferson. Al Sharpton, the shakedown artist, is against the Jefferson Memorial.

I understand the sentiments involved, but this is government as performance art. Before this goes any further, perhaps we should ask ourselves if the audiences calling for performing these ritual acts of historical removal are that large. …

… Two new polls by liberal media outlets cast doubt on just how much support for a statue culture war there is. The polling gives reason for skepticism. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll last week found that 62 percent of respondents thought statues honoring leaders of the Confederacy should “remain as a historical symbol.” Only 27 percent of those polled wanted the statues removed. It is noteworthy that, by 44 percent to 40 percent, African Americans did not support removing Confederate statues.

Then there is the poll taken by the Huffington Post in association with YouGov. Only 29 percent of Americans want to change the name of streets or buildings commemorating Confederate leaders, and only a third want to remove statues of them. The public is divided on what the Confederate flag means — with 35 percent viewing it as a symbol of Southern pride and 35 percent seeing it as racist.