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What is slavery, but a way of "giving unfair advantages to a certain few at the expense of" others

You tell me if that is your interest. But my question to you was not about slavery but the implications of the government action practiced by The Lincoln that you listed. Therefore as far as I am concerned, your attempt to throw the slavery red herring into the particulars of this discussion, not to mention your tu quoque equivocation by way of this issue, is little more than a diversionary tactic to assist you in avoiding the response I made to your earlier comment.

Now, returning to the discussion, you made the statement that certain aspects of The Lincoln's politics were not a recipe for big government tyranny. I challenged that assertion of yours and provided my reasons, which you then avoided. Do you care to address them now, and if so, please state your response.

I have said that tariff policy in a representative government is a matter of ordinary political decision-making processes, not a question of slippery slopes to tyranny. I have also said that we are always on "slippery slopes," but it would be a mistake to assume that ordinary government policies that we may disagree with -- policies which go back to Madison, Hamilton and Washington -- are somehow the road to serfdom.

Tariffs may be a restriction on absolute liberty, but there are many such restrictions of greater significance. In the great course of human history, protectionist trade duties don't amount to a major abuse, particularly when they can easily be adjusted or reduced through constitutional and democratic means.

Try as I might, I can't convince myself that slavery is a matter of moral indifference and protectionism the great beast of iniquity. I also find it hard to believe that unionists would go to war for tariffs and secessionists simply free their slaves peacefully and voluntarily after going to war to keep them.

Perhaps mandatory reeducation sessions at the Mises Institute locked in a cell with only DiLorenzo's Lincoln, the Confederate Catechism and Mises Big Book to keep me company will convince me of the error of my ways. Perhaps it will also teach me how to throw around pompous rhetorical labels to obscure the weaknesses in arguments, or how to ignore the fact that each of us ducks as many arguments as we answer or how to maintain a fanatical confidence that I have the truth and that no one's responses can ever call my beliefs into question or even cast them in a new light. I am sure that the glorious thoughts of Mises, Rockwell and Rothbard, combined with enough sleep deprivation will convince me of the radiant truth.