Jalane Schmidt, an associate professor at the University of Virginia, said the Virginia Flaggers represent a fading ideology, even if they follow through with pledges to add flags elsewhere. “It’s like mushrooms. It’ll probably just pop up somewhere else. This is how they do it,” Schmidt said. “The thing is, what’s happening with this cultural change in Virginia – the former capital of the confederacy – is fewer and fewer people are on board with valorizing the Lost Cause.”