ABRAHAM LINCOLN: STATESPERSON AND DEMOCRATIC PARTY ACTIVIST

The Iconoclast ^ | February 6, 2003 | Paul Walfield

[clintonbaiter]

Marc Morano of CNSNews has reported that tours of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. aren't what they used to be. I can remember my first visit to D.C. way back when and my parents telling me about the Lincoln Memorial, and walking up the huge steps, and seeing the great man seated and looking majestic. I can even remember seeing his words etched in the stone all around me as I stood at his feet. It was striking, it was awe-inspiring.

I thought I had learned a good deal about Lincoln in school and felt like I knew him. I guess I was wrong.

Now, according to the Discovery Channel, Abraham Lincoln, Republican and the 16th President of the United States, was in reality a liberal Democrat. Moreover, not just any liberal Democrat. According to the folks at Discovery Channel, Abe Lincoln was slightly to the left of the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone......

[GOPcapitalist]

Oops. The bolds didn't work out for that quote for some reason. Here it is again:

"The workingmen of Europe feel sure that, as the American War of Independence initiated a new era of ascendancy for the middle class, so the American Antislavery War will do for the working classes. They consider it an earnest of the epoch to come that it fell to the lot of Abraham Lincoln, the single-minded son of the working class, to lead his country through the matchless struggle for the rescue of an enchained race and the reconstruction of a social world" - Karl Marx, letter to Abraham Lincoln on behalf of the International Workingmen's Association, January 28, 1865 (located in Collected Works of Karl Marx, Volume 20, page 19)

Now, I do not know what your previous familiarity with Marx's writings may be though I do advise them to any fellow conservative as a central part of the "know your enemy" principle. When reading them there are a few things you should always know. Marx uses many buzz words, such as "working class" and "working men." When mentions the "working men" rising up, he's talking about a communist revolution of the proletariats. When he mentions an "era" of the "working men," he's talking about an era of communism. When he mentions a "struggle" of the "working men," he's talking about the plight of the proletariat that, in his mind, will lead to communism. When he mentions redefining the social order of the world, he's talking about redefining it toward communism. As you should be able to see with ease, he uses all of these terms in his praise for The Lincoln.

[Lee_Atwater]

What did Lincoln and Wellstone have in common?

To someone with no knowledge of the political history of the Republic, the two men had nothing in common. One was a Democrat, the other, a Republican.

Sadly, you seem out of your depth. At least you vote for the right people :-) ... I hope.

[thatdewd]

Thanks to Lincoln, the Constitution was amended to end slavery thereby disregarding the part about slaves.

Not really, his political opponents within his party pushed for that amendment. It was they who freed the slaves, not Lincoln.

This was a major change and I have said before that the Constitution became more perfect after the end of slavery. Do you think the Constitution was better before the amendment to end slavery?

(sigh) No, not at all, and your question is absolutely asinine, as well as irrelevant to the point at hand. Unless of course your name is Al Sharpton and you're a shameless race baiter.

I have addressed your "comments", but I must point out that none of them answered my question. I'll ask again: Do you disagree with Wlat that Lincoln was the beginning of the end of our Constitutional government?

[Lee_Atwater]

That's not the only thing Wlat's said about the Constitution. Here's a little quote of his I recently stumbled upon in a newsgroup:...

Interesting find, it explains a great deal.

[weikel]

Look thats BS guvment immediately shrank to nearly pre war levels after the civil war. The South seceded on the illegitimate grounds that they didn't even want the slave issue discussed immediately started massacreing people percieved as pro union( read about Eastern Tennesee), the logic of unrestricted secession leads to anarchy im a minarchist but not an anarchist. They were threatening to seize Western territories and they fired 1st. Lincoln had plenty of legitimate grounds for war( the main problem I had with Lincoln was the draft but the South introduced it 1st). Lincoln also wanted to spare the South long term military adminstration but he got assasinated.

Woodrow Wilson was the evil one in our history. Lincoln abolished slavery and established even States may not violate rights in the constitution then Wilson and his progressive commie pals nationalized slavery via the 16th amendment, 17th amendment creation of the Fed supporting women's suffrage thus insuring a huge block of liberal and illogical voters were created.

He also took us into WWI on the wrong side and redrew the world map in an insane manner. The principle of self determination enshrined ethnic tribalism. Was this out of stupidity no the man was an outright communist.

[4CJ]

wlat yet again reveals his true self, and the real reason he loves The Lincoln.

ROTF!

It isn't clear when it became trendy to teach Americans not just what was evidenced by the historical record, but also to teach according to an ideological bias and personal opinion. Unfortunately, it looks like the followers of the political left, knowing that their ideology cannot withstand being logically scrutinized or even questioned, have adopted the "indoctrination" practises common to all totalitarians. They program their message to an audience as "education," knowing that as "educators" they needn't fear being challenged during what is really an indoctrination.

And the "left" (NEA et al) is in charge of our educational system. Including the worship at the shrine of Lincoln.

[William Terrell]

The whole article.

---

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: STATESPERSON AND DEMOCRATIC PARTY ACTIVIST

by Paul Walfield

Marc Morano of CNSNews has reported that tours of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. aren't what they used to be. I can remember my first visit to D.C. way back when and my parents telling me about the Lincoln Memorial, and walking up the huge steps, and seeing the great man seated and looking majestic. I can even remember seeing his words etched in the stone all around me as I stood at his feet. It was striking, it was awe-inspiring.

I thought I had learned a good deal about Lincoln in school and felt like I knew him. I guess I was wrong.

Now, according to the Discovery Channel, Abraham Lincoln, Republican and the 16th President of the United States, was in reality a liberal Democrat. Moreover, not just any liberal Democrat. According to the folks at Discovery Channel, Abe Lincoln was slightly to the left of the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone.

The Discovery Channel produced a video that is displayed in the Lincoln Legacy Room at the Memorial. The video is available for all who come to the Memorial in order to get a better understanding of what Mr. Lincoln stood for.

According to CNSNews, contents of the video at the Lincoln Memorial "includes signs reading 'Gay & Lesbian Sexual Rights,' 'Council of Churches Lesbian Rights,' 'National Organization for Women' (NOW), 'Reagan's Wrongs Equal Women's Rights,' 'ERA Yes,' 'Ratify the ERA,' 'I had an illegal abortion in 1967 - Never Again,' 'Keep Abortion Legal,' 'I am pro-choice America'; a Vietnam-era video clip of a woman asking: 'President Nixon where are our men?' ; and signs reading, 'Who will Decide NARAL (National Abortion Rights & Reproductive Action League) In Opposition to King Richard [Nixon]?', 'U.S. out Now,' 'Equal Opportunity for All,' and marchers chanting 'U.S. Out Now.'" The video contains no clips of any opposing or contrary demonstrations, except to unfavorably show pro-life activists tangling with pro-abortionists.

All to the tune of "We Shall Overcome,"

Throughout the years, there has been a tendency among the young and impressionable to accept what they learn in school about our former Presidents. Whether it's about the honesty of George Washington, the bravery of Teddy Roosevelt, or the wit and wisdom of John F. Kennedy. It's not that we received a "complete" picture of thes leaders; we just got what we needed. And what we got was based upon historical fact.

Now, demonstrating their inimitable dumbed-down "What would Jesus Drive?" mentality, the folks on the Left have decided to extrapolate Abe Lincoln's views from the 1800's to their present day agendas. Whether it is abortion on demand, Gay Rights, Gun Control, or not fighting communism, Honest Abe may not be with them in body, but he is in spirit.

The Lincoln Memorial, in Washington D.C., is part of the National Park Service and does not charge an entrance fee. In 2001, there were 4,115,139 visitors to the memorial, and it cost taxpayers a little over 2 million dollars per year to maintain.

Nowadays it may be politically correct for students to question our government about everything it does, and to find nefarious motives present in any endeavor undertaken by the present Administration. After all, It has gotten so bad that President Bush is viewed by some to be a greater danger than Saddam Hussein of Iraq, or Kim Jong Il of North Korea. However, students don't learn to dislike their government innately; they have to be taught that.

It isn't clear when it became trendy to teach Americans not just what was evidenced by the historical record, but also to teach according to an ideological bias and personal opinion. Unfortunately, it looks like the followers of the political left, knowing that their ideology cannot withstand being logically scrutinized or even questioned, have adopted the "indoctrination" practises common to all totalitarians. They program their message to an audience as "education," knowing that as "educators" they needn't fear being challenged during what is really an indoctrination.

No one can know for a fact how Mr. Lincoln would feel today about any of the things the political left claims are offshoots of his 19th-century struggle against injustice. What we do know is that Abraham Lincoln was willing to go to war to keep America united.

American leftists -- with their penchant to claim allegiance to a free and just land while they purposefully stifle any opposing views to their own -- can do little but divide America. Not along the Mason-Dixon line, but rather within the consciousness of Americans.

Paul Walfield is a freelance writer and member of the State Bar of California with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and post-graduate study in behavioral and analytical psychology. He resided for a number of years in the small town of Houlton, Maine and is now a California attorney. Paul can be contacted at paul.walfield@cox.net

[TheCPA]

Amen. I used to think that Lincoln was a great president. However, when I took Constitutional History of the United States when I was a senior in college, I learned what a tyrant he was. He set the stage for actions taken by Franlin Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. Lincoln had no love for the Constitution; he just loved power.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Back when Israel was ran by the peisthood, God imposed a 10% flat income tax. They look OK to me until they get wasteful.

Part of The Lincoln's platform was spending them to enrich northern industrialists.

That's not true.

The powers that be were all for appeasement of the south. Lincoln bucked them.

Walt

[WhiskeyPapa]

Lincoln was the beginning of the end for our Constitutional government.

There's not a nickel's worth of difference in what Washington, Madison, Jackson and Lincoln thought about the Constitution and Union. And consider this:

"That the United States form, for many, and for most important purposes, a single nation, has not yet been denied. In war, we are one people. In making peace, we are one people. In all commercial regulations, we are one and the same people. In many other respects, the American people are one; and the government which is alone capable of controlling and managing their interests in all these respects, is the government of the Union. It is their government and in that character, they have no other. America has chosen to be, in many respects, and in many purposes, a nation; and for all these purposes, her government is complete; to all these objects it is competent. The people have declared that in the exercise of all powers given for these objects, it is supreme. It can, then, in effecting these objects, legitimately control all individuals or governments within the American territory.

The constitution and laws of a state, so far as they are repugnant to the constitution and laws of of the United States are absolutely void. These states are constituent parts of the United States; they are members of one great empire--for some purposes sovereign, for some purposes subordinate."

--Chief Justice John Marshall, writing the majority opinion, Cohens v. Virginia 1821

Lincoln helped preserve the government set up by the framers of the COnstitution.

Our govcernment will work fine whenever honorable men run it.

Walt

[WhiskeyPapa]

"The workingmen of Europe feel sure that, as the American War of Independence initiated a new era of ascendancy for the middle class, so the American Antislavery War will do for the working classes. They consider it an earnest of the epoch to come that it fell to the lot of Abraham Lincoln, the single-minded son of the working class, to lead his country through the matchless struggle for the rescue of an enchained race and the reconstruction of a social world" - Karl Marx, letter to Abraham Lincoln on behalf of the International Workingmen's Association, January 28, 1865 (located in Collected Works of Karl Marx, Volume 20, page 19)

"This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men -- to lift artificial weights from all shoulders -- to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all -- to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life. Yielding to partial, and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the government for whose existance we contend."

A. Lincoln 7/4/61

"As these sentiments [expressed by the English workmen] are manifestly the enduring support of the free institutions of England, so am I sure that they constitute the only reliable basis for free institutions throughout the world.... The resources, advantages, and power of the American people are very great, and they have consequently succeeded to equally great responsibilities. It seems to have devolved upon them to test whether a government established on the principles of human freedom can be maintained against an effort to build one upon the exclusive foundation of human bondage. They will rejoice with me in the new evidence which your proceedings furnish that the magnanimity they are exhibiting is justly estimated by the true friends of freedom and humanity in foreign countries."

A. Lincoln, in response to a petetion from the working men of England, 1863.

You'll not be able to besmirch Lincoln's memory when the record is more fully considered.

Walt

[WhiskeyPapa]

I'm a conservative, and I consider myself and the party lucky to have Lincoln on our side.

Good for you.

People who belittle Lincoln don't know the history or don't love America, or both.

"Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln..."

-- Ronald Reagan , first inaugural address, January 20, 1981

"A hundred and twenty years ago the greatest of all our Presidents delivered his second State of the Union Message in this chamber. "We cannot escape history," Abraham Lincoln warned. "We of this Congress and this Administration will be re membered in spite of ourselves." The "trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation." Well, that President and that Congress did not fail the American people. Together, they weathered the storm and preserved the union. Let it be said of us that we, too did not fail ; that we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times. Let us so conduct ourselves that two centuries from now, another Congress and another President, meeting in this chamber as we're meeting, will speak of us with pride, saying that we met the test and preserved for them in their day the sacred flame of liberty this last, best hope of man on Earth."

-- Ronald Reagan , State of the Union Address -January 26, 1982

"We knew then what the liberal Democrat leaders just couldn't figure out....I heard those speakers at that other convention saying "we won the Cold War" -- and I couldn't help wondering, just who exactly do they mean by "we"? And to top it off, they even tried to portray themselves as sharing the same fundamental values of our party! What they truly don't understand is the principle so eloquently stated by Abraham Lincoln: "You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves." If we ever hear the Democrats quoting that passage by Lincoln and acting like they mean it, then, my friends, we will know that the opposition has really changed. Until then, we see all that rhetorical smoke, billowing out from the Democrats, well ladies and gentlemen, I'd follow the example of their nominee. Don't inhale.

---Ronald Reagan, 1992 Republican Convention Speech

"It was this spirit that helped black folks in America to survive and even begin to move toward prosperity during the years of legalized oppression after the Civil War and well into the 20th century . It was also this spirit, when it came to light in the Civil Rights movement of the late 50's and 60's, that had the power to transform the hardened conscience of America. Surprised and edified by the quiet dignity of black Americans seeking justice, the people of this country were called back to some respect for the first principles of America's life. For the Civil Rights movement followed the example of the American Founders, and of Lincoln, who had proclaimed that every single human being had a worth that comes not from laws and constitutions, but from the hand of God. With quiet determination the freedom marchers insisted that every government, every law and every power whatsoever is obliged to respect that worth....the temptation to succumb to worldly judgment about the dignity of individuals, particularly those not favored by fortune with wealth, position and beauty, can be overwhelming. Black Americans have faced this temptation, and defeated it. Lincoln led the public battle against the doctrine of human inequality, but countless anonymous others have steadfastly done their work over the decades to keep the flame alive and to spread it

--Alan Keyes, Februrary 17, 2001 "Restoring the mantle of Lincoln to the Republican Party is a noble goal and, indeed, an essential one. But it is not enough to adopt the slogan. To lead the party in the footsteps of Lincoln requires that we understand clearly and deeply the soul of Lincoln's own deepest ambition

-- the wellsprings of the sometimes heartbreaking and, ultimately, healing acts of political and presidential leadership that constitute the legacy of Lincoln. What was the real purpose that animated the striving of that great man, for which he spent the last resources of his noble soul and ultimately paid with his life? The answer occurring readily to most Americans would probably be that Lincoln's career, and his presidency, were devoted to the task of freeing the slaves. How then are we to understand the following words, written by Lincoln during the war, to one of the foremost abolitionists of the day? "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it."This quotation can seem almost scandalous in its apparent disregard for the abolitionist cause, particularly for those who are perceptive enough to realize that not all "unions" justify such devotion -- the Soviets, after all, had a "union" and freely accepted the necessity of slavery in their attempt to perpetuate it. Soviet acceptance of slavery in the cause of its union was, of course, deeply wrong. Was Lincoln wrong as well? If we wish to understand, to wear again, the mantle of Lincoln, we must follow his thought deeper, and ask what it was about the Union that could move such a man -- whose deepest moral sentiments were outraged by the institution of slavery -- to defer the cause of abolition if it meant allowing the end of the political union of the American Republic.At stake was the survival of a community of free men still devoted, however imperfectly, to the attempt at just self-government. Lincoln understood the Founders to have formed a Union dedicated to vindicating the possibility of such a community. He believed that the Founders had understood that the institution of slavery, although it ultimately contradicted the principles of the republic, did not vitiate the solemn founding commitment to the pursuit of just self-government.

Accordingly, Lincoln argued, the Founders had placed the institution of slavery "in the course of ultimate extinction" partly through a series of practical political concessions such as the constitutional time limit on the slave trade. Far more important, however, was the fact -- as Lincoln argued in scholarly depth -- that the founding generation universally understood that they were committing the country to a perpetual struggle to conform their lives and political institutions to the principles stated in the Declaration that gave birth to the Union itself. They, and Lincoln, knew that slavery could not survive such a commitment. A Union that had formally broken its commitment to the Declaration, Lincoln believed, would no more be the Union of the founding. It would in fact be no less broken than the divided polity which the secession of the Southern states threatened to cause. Preserving the Union meant preserving the national commitment to the pursuit of justice in self-government, a goal never perfectly attained, but most definitely not to be abandoned because of any dispute about the manner of its accomplishment. This, I believe, is what Lincoln meant in the famous words at Gettysburg, when he identified the "great task remaining before us." That task, he said, was "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.".....or save the Union on the basis of the Declaration, Lincoln knew, required that slavery be returned to its condition at the Founding -- namely, that it be put firmly on the course of ultimate extinction. The delay in its extinction might be painfully long. But if it was necessary to endure that delay rather than admit that we could not govern ourselves under the principles of the Declaration, Lincoln was prepared to do so.....The resolve to evoke from his fellow citizens their assent to the eventual triumph of justice was Lincoln's greatest ambition, and his failure to do it without war was his greatest sorrow.

In our time, the mantle -- the burden -- of the Declaration remains the source of what must be our own greatest ambition. The Republican Party must indeed reclaim the mantle of Lincoln -- we must highly resolve, as Lincoln said, to lead the nation to a renewed determination to seek justice according to the principles of the Declaration

. --Alan Keyes, August 12, 2000

Walt

[Non-Sequitur]

Not really, his political opponents within his party pushed for that amendment. It was they who freed the slaves, not Lincoln.

Are you suggesting Lincoln opposed it?

[A2J]

Save your Lincoln spam for your breakfast toast, Whiskey, I'm sick of your tirades against the South and the trash you copy and paste in defense of your god.

One fact IS certain: Lincoln's actions ushered in the death of the Constitution and laid the foundation for the continuing growth of the federal government, which will be our undoing.

So with that fact in mind, how did Lincoln "save the Union?"

[SCDogPapa]

"They were both yankees who liked taxes, loved government spending, and had cult-like followings from avowed Marxists."

I think those guys are still around. Alive and well in Washington today. Well, at least it appears that way. :)

[WhiskeyPapa]

One fact IS certain: Lincoln's actions ushered in the death of the Constitution and laid the foundation for the continuing growth of the federal government, which will be our undoing.

So with that fact in mind, how did Lincoln "save the Union?"

The USA doesn't resemble the Balkans.

Neo-rebs want the kind of freedom a child has in a sand box.

I can't figure why Lincoln gets blasted when all he was doing was following the precepts of George Washington:

"The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole."

-- George Washington, 1796

Lincoln preserved the Union of the whole. No loyal American would take issue with that.

Walt

[bjs1779]

That's real class Walt. Now you stoop to use "ninnie" Washington for your cause when your real sentiment for him is found in a quote of yours below. If that doesn't show you just how totally dishonest you are, I don't know what well. Then again, a communist activist wouldn't care about honesty, would he?

"If you non-U.S. citizens are wondering what the electoral college is and what bunch of ninnies thought it up: The US Constitution was written by rich white men like Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Randolph, and others."-Walt

[society-by-contract]

Lincoln was a tyrant:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/lincoln-arch.html

[John123]

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[John123]