Posted on 09/27/2020 4:51:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
One of Abraham Lincoln’s first major speeches, the Lyceum Address, was a warning to America that rings truer yet today.
Americans are blessed to have inherited so much from the Founders including guarantees of liberty more “than any of which the history of former times tells us,” Lincoln said in 1838.
Americans’ obligation, he said, was to show, “gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general.” That would be the formula for a young nation to thrive.
In 2020, we find ourselves asking: What are the greatest dangers we face? How do we recognize them? How do we overcome them?
Our 16th president, a visionary, saw the threat not from external forces but from within.
“If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher,” he said.
The greatest threat to United States is lawlessness and mob rule, he said. “I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice.”
Lincoln cited examples of lawlessness permeating the country and cautioned of dire consequences to “perpetuation of our political institutions.”
Danger to the country increased, he warned, as, “the innocent, those who have set their faces against the violations of law in every shape, alike with the guilty, fall victims to the ravages of mob law, and thus it goes on, step by step, till all the walls erected for the defense of the persons and property of individuals are trodden down, and disregarded.”
If government did not step in to regain order, he further warned, “(B)y such examples, by instances of the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the lawless in spirit, are encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used to no restraint, but dread of punishment, they thus become, absolutely unrestrained. Having ever regarded government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operation; and pray for nothing so much, as its total annihilation.”
And what of good people trying to do the right thing?
“While, on the other hand, good men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defense of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government that offers them no protection; and are not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothing to lose.
“Thus, then, by the operation of this mobocractic spirit, which all must admit, is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed--I mean the attachment of the People.”
Who could do a better job of describing the United States in the Fall of 2020?
Good people today doubt government’s resolve in protecting life and property, maintaining law and order, and performing proper duties. It is easy to see how the bonds between citizens and government are frayed.
Our 16th president explained:
“Whenever this effect shall be produced among us; whenever the vicious portion of population shall be permitted to gather in bands of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and rob provision-stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure, and with impunity; depend on it, this Government cannot last.
By such things, the feelings of the best citizens will become more or less alienated from it; and thus it will be left without friends, or with too few, and those few too weak, to make their friendship effectual.”
One hundred and eighty-two years haven’t changed a thing. There you have it.
Lincoln warned us of the consequences of not enforcing the law; we are seeing it play out in our time.
Unless we see a quick reversal and swift prosecution of those who destroy and intimidate, we are in for a quick decline.
Let’s heed Lincoln’s warning before it’s too late, demanding law and order, prosecuting law breakers, and holding accountable those who promotes false, divisive ,and destructive narratives.
Law and order is the only way to bring stability, prosperity, and peace.
Lincoln reminds us we find our liberty, and our preservation, in the rule of law.
Bottom line! rule of law without it we dont exist
Great piece. Very prescient words from President Lincoln. Too bad The Lincoln Project has sullied his name.
ff
Do you believe those #Never Trumpers? As this is what they are. If you do shame on you. We know better, don’t we.
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The Silent Artillery of Time left its mark. Few Senators, newspapers or anyone else in the late 19th and early 20th centuries argued against popular election of Senators from the standpoint of the threat it posed to limited and stable government. So well-designed was the Framers’ structure, that America had forgotten the problematic nature of purely popular government which plagued and eventually destroyed overly democratic societies since the ancient Greek city-states.
Direct Election of Senators and the Silent Artillery of Time.
“If government did not step in to regain order, he further warned, “(B)y such examples, by instances of the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the lawless in spirit, are encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used to no restraint, but dread of punishment, they thus become, absolutely unrestrained. Having ever regarded government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operation; and pray for nothing so much, as its total annihilation.”
That is Portland Oregon, and the situation wrought by the Mayor of Portland and Governor of Oregon in a nutshell.
“The philosophy taught in the classroom in one generation becomes the policy of the government in the next generation’’.- Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln was a great man. Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861: Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the Union will endure forever — it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.
Abe wanted to send the slaves back to Africa, S. America and the Caribbean ... think about it ... no more BLM ...
“Beware the Silent Artillery of Time”. Terms Limits. The first obvious consideration is; why are term limits desired? Do you want to abdicate your responsibility as the Government of the people, by the people, for the people? Are all elected Senators and Representatives corrupt? Are they all hungry for power? Are they of a different political persuasion than yourself? Is it gender or race related? Is it because they are independently wealthy? Is it because they are advocates for the designated hitter? Do they support/despise labor unions? Do they get too comfortable with their lot in life as a representative of their constituents? You see, the desire for terms limits does nothing to satisfy any of the above. Perhaps you just want new blood now and then. Perfectly understandable. But what will term limits change. In and of itself term limits do not restrict their individual power, their pensions, their potential corruption; it does not force them to abide by the same laws the people (who are the Government) must obey. As a matter of fact, if facing a pre-determined end to their term they will work much harder in their own best interests rather than the interests of their constituents. A modification to the Constitution, implementing term limits, will have a multitude of unintended consequences. None of us are clever enough to foresee them and modify the constitution to address the hidden circumstances.
Feel free to counterattack. I cannot be insulted or offended.
George Carlin said it best:
“Now, there’s one thing you might have noticed I don’t complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain’t going to do any good; you’re just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There’s a nice campaign slogan for somebody: ‘The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.”
PC alert! A public official cites "the Christian era" as well as inferring Americal exceptionalism without condemning them.
We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them--they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.
What?! A public official infers were should be grateful as recipients of blesing we did not earn or merit, rather than whining about no justice and demanding more largess and special favor?
And that is just for starters. Thank God for Lincoln, the lack of such today is a judgment against thus country for its sins.
President Lincoln had something to do with it
Term limits ensures perpetual dhimmicrat rule. The pubbies that campaign for office run the spectrum from squishy moderate to rabidly conservative. Lefties are cloned and cookie-cutter - they’re all pretty much the same.
Pubbies are picky and often fickle about who they will vote for but leftists will obediently pull the lever for anything that has the vaunted (D).
Statistically it works against us.
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