Speaking as a fellow Texan, I have to disagree with you on the underlying meaning of the Confederate flag. The South seceded over the issue of states' rights but that particular 'right' was the freedom to purchase and own slaves. When Lincoln became president, southerners assumed he would abolish slavery and voted to secede. While Lincoln despised slavery ("if slavery is not evil then nothing is evil") he was willing to allow the practice to remain in the southern states while banning it in the territories and new states if it meant keeping the south in the Union and avoiding war. Once the South left, the war was on and Lincoln abolished slavery a couple of years later.
You may want to cross check your sources. There were many more contributing factors that led to the secession. Also, Lincoln used the Anti-Slavery agenda as a tool to promote northern cooperation. He was not basing the war on the ownership of slaves until later on. This can and has been well documented.
I think to many, the Confederate flag represents the yearning to be free of an oppressive federal government. Most of the southerners who fought in the war probably felt this way. They weren't slave owners or even landholders. However, the people who voted to secede were. They were the rich plantation owners and farmers who didn't want to face the economic cost brought about by the demise of slavery. Their motive was pure greed and because of them, four years of slaughter and butchery commenced. This is hardly anything to honor today. I don't think the flag should be banned like the swastika in Germany but I would like to see it removed from flagpoles and buildings at government sites.
Slaves were by no means economical. It was a huge investement. You have to remember that at this time farm machinery was growing, and the machines were cheaper and offered greater efficiency and speed.
It would soon have been cheaper to do it without the slaves. The difference was in the North and souths methods of reintroducing the slaves into the general population. The Northern anti slavery sympathizers primarily wanted immediate emancipation, while the South propsed gradual emancipation, where the slaves were educated and taught Christianity before they were set free.
Taking the flag down is wrong, it symbolizes the start of government power skyrocketing.