[Tublecane]

“Lincoln was as much a tool of Northern industrial interests as Obama is of financial interests”

I disagree. That’s like saying fascist leaders were the tool of Big Business. It’s an example of post hoc ergo propter hoc. Just because Big Business happens to benefit from the expansion of government, and just because many Big Business leaders supported Hitler and support the Democrats, does not mean fascistic policies are serving the interests of Big Business.

On the contrary, when the central government takes control of some private authority—be it the Church, the steel industry, or whatever—it’s all about the government. Obama isn’t serving the interests of financiers. He’s serving his own interest: the interest of government power. He’s interfering in the financial market because he thinks it’s a good idea for the government to control the financial industry. If certain financiers benefit from his intervention, that’s a side issue.

[Alberta's Child]

Lincoln was a lawyer with a background in railroad and shipping cases before he got into politics. There's no doubt in my mind that his agenda in Washington -- first and foremost -- was based on the idea that the sovereignty of states should be eradicated and made subservient to the interests of the modern "super-state" (i.e., the Federal government).

It's no coincidence that this all took place within a decade of similar nationalist movements all over the world -- including the unification of Prussia under Bismarck, the creation of Italy under Garibaldi, the formal Confederation of Canada, etc.

[mo]

“On the contrary, when the central government takes control of some private authority—be it the Church, the steel industry, or whatever—it’s all about the government...”

This is about financiers and banks.

“Top Senate Democrat: bankers “own” the U.S. Congress

Sen. Dick Durbin, on a local Chicago radio station this week, blurted out an obvious truth about Congress that, despite being blindingly obvious, is rarely spoken: “And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.” The blunt acknowledgment that the same banks that caused the financial crisis “own” the U.S. Congress — according to one of that institution’s most powerful members — demonstrates just how extreme this institutional corruption is.”

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/30/ownership/

In any event..the issue bears more than passing semblance to those who will insist the War of Nawthern Aggression was merely about slavery.