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OK, so let's see how many of us will "put our money where are mouths are" . . .

Today, there are millions of Christians in the Sudan who are enslaved by their Muslim enemies.

1. Would it be worth "spending" 300,000 lives to free them?

2. Would it be worth "spending" 1 life to free them?

3. Would it be worth "spending" 1 life to free them if that one life were yours?

My guess is that your answers to these questions depend entirely upon how close these lives are to your own. It's easy to think in terms of abstractions by illustrating how many lives were lost in a "noble" effort to achieve a "positive" result and end slavery 140 years ago, but I am quite certain of one thing: If there were millions of blacks enslaved in Confederate states today, and the Union went to war to free those slaves, you and I wouldn't be found within a hundred miles of a Union Army recruiting office.

Why can't you just accept the fact that ending slavery took a terrible toll on this nation, but that history tells us that the net result was positive? Why do you persist in seeking out exceptions to the rule, like bringing the Sudan into the conversation. There are several reasons why your analogy is unweildy.

The most obvious is that the Sudan was never part of this nation. It was never aided by our laws. Its citizens never directly benefitted by being part of our government. In short, it is not our fault or our problem that slavery exists in the Sudan. I know that one of the resident Klukkers on this thread is going to focus on that first fact, but it needed to be said.

Moving right along, from a Christian standpoint, yes, it would be worth many many lives to end slavery in the Sudan. I think Iraq has shown us that we would not be talking about anything near the 300,000 you mentioned, but yes, it would be worth many lives. The problem is that we are comitted elsewhere and lack the resources. In a sense, we are currently engaged in ending a form of slavery today in Iraq. Do I mourn the loss of every American soldier? Unquestionably. Do I think the losses are necessary and "acceptable?" Soberly, I say "yes."

Would I be willing to fight and die for freedom? I answered earlier on this thread that I would support a President who went to war to end abortion, and I would put my life on the line for that cause. So how come I am not fighting the war against terrorism? In a sense, I am. The war started for me 2 years ago when an airplane flew into the building across the street from me. And then the one next to it. When I got finished burying my many friends and family months later, I was out of a job. My company did not survive. I went so far as to look into enlisting. But I was told that I was too old. So, yeah, it may sound like a copout (I could care less) but I do my part today by showing up at my new job in the number one terrorist target in New York City. I am biding my time until the new Trade Center gets built. I can't wait to be the first tenant.

This is what you have to understand: Revisionists who now seek to cast Lincoln as the bad guy sound quite a bit like the nutjobs who once spun America as the agressor against Japan and are now saying the Iraq war is a modern Holocaust. Slavery is always a bad thing.