Abraham Lincoln on Resoluteness

"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

even as a southerner, I have no problem admitting that he was like a god among men.

Well, sure, but that's because virtually every propaganda outfit in the nation has been polishing that turd since 1860.

I used to think Lincoln was a great man, but the more I learned of what he did and why, the more I have come to regard him as a power mad tyrant who killed nearly a million people to keep control of other people's money.

All we see in our lives are quotes about the noble sounding things he said. Few are ever made to look at his actual actions.

For example, did you know he supported an amendment to make slavery virtually permanent? It's called the "Corwin Amendment", and it would have kept slavery legal in the United States until the very last state voted to give it up voluntarily.

No, Lincoln was not a man to be admired, or if he is to be admired, it should be for massive chutzpah and extraordinary skills of lying and manipulation. The nation has not seen as good of a con artist as Lincoln untill that other race obsessed Liberal Lawyer from Illinois was elected.

Lincoln did what needed to be done.

What needed to be done? Why were 7 states trying to go it alone needing to be subdued by the Federal power? What threat did they pose to the remaining states?

In 1776, or as Lincoln put it, "Four Score and Seven Years ago..." this nation was founded on the principle that states had a right to self determination, and this was the point expressed in the Declaration of Independence that declared Independence to be a right given by God.

In other words, by our own foundation document, states had a right to leave if they chose to do so. By what right of law or principle did Lincoln have the authority to force states which joined consensually, to be forced to remain through coercion?

When I say ‘great’ I don’t mean great in a Jesus sense... I mean ‘great’ in the sense he completed a monumental task, which isn’t debatable.

So did Joseph Stalin, but that doesn't make him admirable. When the task you have accomplished is killing hundreds of thousands of people, and wrecking millions of lives, should the man who did it be admired?

Let me remind you, Lincoln's "Task" was not to free the slaves. He was trying to cut a deal to keep them in bondage. His expressed will was to keep the Southern States under the control of Washington DC.

Unknown to most people, the Southern states were producing the vast bulk of American trade with Europe, comprising about 73% of the total revenue production from Europe. They were therefore also paying 73% of the taxes, with the Northern states only contributing about 27% of the total federal revenues in 1860.

In other words, the Southern states were Washington DC's cash cow, and they didn't want to let their cash cow go. Lincoln's reasons for going to war had nothing to do with slavery, and everything to do with money and the control of Southern export production.

You and I are probably in great agreement on many things regarding the American Civil War... here is my point; you cannot deny Lincoln was a genius, even Shelby Foote, the most venerated of the Southern sympathizing historians/authors thought so too.

I do not deny it. He was a master wordsmith and a master at manipulating people. There have been few who are even in the same class as he. Winston Churchill comes to mind.

Lincoln was incredibly intelligent, and he had an astonishing flair for words.

I respect Lincoln the same way I respect Erwin Rommel... both geniuses at their craft.

Lincoln was extremely talented at persuasion. He was good at casting any topic into a view most favorable to what he wished to accomplish.

You also cannot deny Lincoln had a gift for words known by only a very small few throughout history.

I do not deny it. I can think of few who are even in his class, and I can't think of any who are his superior.

But he caused a massive amount of death and destruction, and he overturned the original relationship between the Federal government and the States from what the founders had created, and in so doing he birthed the new era of Federal dominance that is currently out of control and trending to become all powerful and all encompassing.

Our Federal bloat and Federal "Deep State" bureaucracy is a consequence of Lincoln elevating the central government above that of all the states. Most of our lost liberties are a consequence of what he had done.

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