The debate over Confederate monuments cries out for the thoughtful public dialogue that those grotesquely un-American neo-Nazis defiled Saturday in Charlottesville.

Unfortunately, like many national security debates these days, our national discussion about how to address the growing North Korean threat has quickly become polarized between two extreme positions. In one corner, President Trump has threatened a preemptive military strike in response (I’m paraphrasing his remarks into more analytic terms) to new threats from the North Korean regime.

After the violence in Charlottesville, mayors around the country are having to decide whether to take down statues of Confederate icons like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. As part of that national dialogue, we might want to consider whether it remains appropriate to have military bases named for soldiers who took up arms against the government of the United States of America.

After demonstrations surrounding the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Va. devolved into deadly violence last weekend, the debate over whether monuments celebrating the Confederacy should remain standing was ignited once again.