Lincoln had a thing or two to say about it
Most people know of Lincoln’s eloquence and his gift for the pithy saying, but mainly in his role as Civil War president and especially the champion he became of freeing the slaves.
But Lincoln had opinions on a lot of other things. There’s some wonderful stuff here, with many great quotes to choose from. Here are my offerings:
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.
The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.
Property is the fruit of labor”¦property is desirable”¦is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name ”“ liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names ”“ liberty and tyranny.
I don’t believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. So while we do not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.
Apropos of that latter thought, yesterday I was mulling over the fact that the attention we used to give to holidays for individual presidents Washington, and Lincoln himself (Feb. 22 and Feb. 12, respectively), has now morphed into the more generic Monday of Presidents’ Day.
[NOTE: The site also has quotes from Thatcher, but I’ll save those for another time.]
as a child, i remember honoring both these great men. now we honor all presidents, as if they were equals, which, of course, they are not. not even close.
The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
Ah, well, then we’re screwed for at least another two or three generations.
“You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.”
I think he would have agreed that by taking away people’s initiative and independence, all that can result is dependency and envy. Which is exactly what the left desires.
Here are some other noteworthy quotes by Lincoln;
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.”
“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
“You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”
Just look where eloquence, courage, statesmanship, and a committment to saving the country got him.
And not a word about the vampire thing.
The drift away from honoring people like Washington and Lincoln was part of the attack on dead white males. Kids used to get Columbus day off as well until his treatment of the native peoples became a big issue for the left.
“senators are like hogs and should be beaten like hogs” is attributed to him. A rather profound and enjoyable thought.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
BHO wants to destroy from the inside and the outside.
Parker wrote:”BHO wants to destroy from the inside and the outside.”
BO never did define what he meant by “transform America”.
has now morphed into the more generic
Like other such morphings, it was the deliberate decision of the people and their legislatures to abandon America’s heritage.
Lincoln: 1 year of “formal” education in a classroom. Reading list included the Bible, Shakespeare and a few other classics.
Was he educated? Yes. The Bible and Shakespeare mostly. Enough wisdom and worldly insight to do what he did.
Today’s K-12? It’s Democrat Indoctrination in Marxism, Docility, Loyalty to the Government.
And enough math and science to keep the Worker Bees gainfully employed.
Are we in trouble? We are toast. We are Wylie Coyote; we just don’t know it yet. We have squandered our inheritance. We are living off things other people in other times gave us. When the account finally runs out there will be social collapse.
Only a new kind of cultural and religious revival cold possible save us.
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
Our press is doing its damnedest not to.
I’m still not convinced, not that it is incumbent upon anyone to do so, that he personally believed in the great aboltionist cause, but rather believed that the abolitionists would give the cause of restoring the Union greater force. He did, after all, sign a more stringent Fugitive Slave Act in his first year in office in an attempt to keep the Union together. If you’re really an abolitionist, all men are created equal person, why do that? And then, if you really did have an epiphany, why only free the slaves in the Confederate states through the Emancipation Proclamation? I know, the answer is that he was being pragmatic, but to a fault? And did those actions match his rhetoric, which was indeed powerful?
Just asking.
Let me step back a bit from that, as I think I’m being too contrarian. I think first and foremost he was a Unionist, and abolitionism was a somewhat distant second concern to Lincoln.