[El Capitan] If the purpose of the destruction of the Confederate infrastructure was to sooner end the war and save Union lives, it was permissible and justified.
Uff da.
It did occur to me after your post lamenting Lincoln's inability to carry out ideological cleansing that nolu chan and I were both born North of the Mason-Dixon; I suppose that means you were really daydreaming about Russian-style butchery.
You make me want to puke.
It doesn't matter to me where you were born. I see in the neo-reb posts lots of righteous indignation, and little substantiation.
Simply admit that Lincoln was flawed and you don't need to justify his actions in the worst cases. Heck, they can still maintain he was a generally good guy for all I care. I'll still disagree and say that he did more bad than good, but I'll thank them for conceding that he did indeed do some bad and chalk the rest up to a difference of opinion. But they can't even bring themselves to do that! It's this goofy, insane, and ideologically bizarre insistance that Lincoln was without fault (or, even more amazing, without fault except that he wasn't even MORE brutal - those are the wierdest Lincophiles, the ones who think he was too "generous" toward the south!). When people take an all or nothing view of historical figures it makes them worship those flawed figures and justify or deny every one of their faults no matter how bad they may be. Resorting to the arguments of Stalinism thus becomes perfectly acceptable.