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Thread: Three Reasons Not to Like Abraham Lincoln

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    Three Reasons Not to Like Abraham Lincoln

    Three Reasons Not to Like Abraham Lincoln

    by Thomas Landess

    By way of prologue, let me say that all of us like the Lincoln whose face appears on the penny. He is the Lincoln of myth: kindly, hum*ble, a man of sorrows who believes in malice toward none and char*ity toward all, who simply wants to preserve the Union so that we can all live together as one people. The Lincoln on the penny, had he lived, would have spared the South the ravages of Reconstruction and ushered in the Era of Good Feeling in 1865. The fact that this mythic Lincoln was killed is surely the ultimate tragedy in a tragic era. Indeed, the most that any Southerner could say in behalf of the slayer of that Lincoln was what Sheldon Vanauken reported hearing from an old-fashioned Virginian: “Young Booth, sir, acting out of the best of motives, made a tragic blunder.” But the Lincoln on the penny, the mythic Lincoln, did not exist. Instead a very real man, a political absolutist with enormous human weaknesses, for a time held the destiny of the nation in his oversized palm. So why do we dislike this Lincoln so much? There are many reasons, and here, just for starters, are three good ones:

    I. Lincoln was the inventor of a new concept of “Union,” one that implied a strong centralized government and an “imperial presidency,” a Union that now dominates virtually every important aspect of our corporate life as Americans.

    [...]

    II. Lincoln’s skillful use of egalitarian rhetoric has given Northern and New South historians the argument that the War Between the States was fought solely over the question of slavery rather than over a number of interrelated issues, none of which in itself could have led to Secession and War.

    [...]

    III. Lincoln was responsible for the War Between the States, a conflict in which more than 600,000 Americans were killed for no good purpose.

    [...]
    The nobility and righteousness of Lincoln's war is a central element of the US government's authoritarian mythology. But a critical examination of his legacy reveals something far more dastardly and destructive. Whether it was his persecution of his political opposition or his merciless destruction of the south, Lincoln re-imagined and manufactured the "union" out of thin air and subsequently drenched it in blood. That is the authoritarian paradigm that Americans have been living under ever since. And that is why Lincoln's legacy is easily the most odious to liberty and to federalism in our country's history.
    Last edited by Ethereal; 01-26-2017 at 04:42 PM.
    Power always thinks it has a great soul, and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak. And that it is doing God service when it is violating all His laws.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ethereal View Post
    The nobility and righteousness of Lincoln's war is a central element of the US government's authoritarian mythology.

    Do you think the North was the only aggressor?

    Who fired the first shot at Fort Sumter?


    The North did bad things; the South did bad things. There was no good guy.
    I have a big cook.

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    I have a great reason to like him, so that overrides three good reasons to dislike him.

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    It's called the "United States" for a reason. To imply that Lincoln created that is simply not true.
    I find your lack of faith...disturbing...

    -Darth Vader

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    Quote Originally Posted by decedent View Post
    Do you think the North was the only aggressor?
    Basically, yes. Secession is not an aggressive act, so the north's response was completely unwarranted.

    Who fired the first shot at Fort Sumter?
    The south fired the first shot, but the north was an occupying force. It would be no different if the US told the Russian embassy to leave America and instead of complying, the Russians refused and proceeded to fortify their position. In any case, the northern response to Sumter was wildly disproportionate. They turned a minor skirmish into a conflagration that consumed the entire country.

    The North did bad things; the South did bad things. There was no good guy.
    I would tend to agree with that. But I still contend that the south was less bad than the north and had a stronger ethical case for their secession than Lincoln did for his forceful attempts to bring them back into the fold.
    Power always thinks it has a great soul, and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak. And that it is doing God service when it is violating all His laws.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Safety View Post
    I have a great reason to like him, so that overrides three good reasons to dislike him.
    If Lincoln had had his way, it's unlikely you would be living in America.
    Power always thinks it has a great soul, and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak. And that it is doing God service when it is violating all His laws.
    --John Adams

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    Quote Originally Posted by Private Pickle View Post
    It's called the "United States" for a reason. To imply that Lincoln created that is simply not true.
    Please read the article. The author explains the difference between the union as originally conceived by the founders and the one Lincoln conjured up out of thin air.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ethereal View Post
    If Lincoln had had his way, it's unlikely you would be living in America.
    Sure.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ethereal View Post
    Please read the article. The author explains the difference between the union as originally conceived by the founders and the one Lincoln conjured up out of thin air.
    Read it. Disagree.
    I find your lack of faith...disturbing...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ethereal View Post
    If Lincoln had had his way, it's unlikely you would be living in America.
    While Lincoln may have been a racist he was certainly an abolitionist. And Liberia was founded in 1847...long before Lincoln.
    I find your lack of faith...disturbing...

    -Darth Vader

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