I may be living too far south to post this. I know more than one of my fellow libertarians will be standing by with the bucket of hot pitch once I post this.
I love–seriously LOVE–Abraham Lincoln.
And today is the anniversary of the day he was shot to death, point blank in the head, by a power-mad actor.
Yes, Lincoln had many faults. Yes, he suspended the right to Habeaus Corpus. We libertarians are not prone to forgive him for this.
But I can and I do. Because the course of freedom for all people changed as a direct result of Lincoln’s prosecution of the Civil War. I’m well aware that the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t actually free any slaves. I’m also well-aware that the struggle for Civil Rights continues to this very minute. But were it not for Lincoln and his Scot stubbornness this country would be a very different place, with true equality even harder to come by.
Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
Think on that, and remember fondly the man who said it.
In a strange twist of fate, this is also the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. You can spend hours reading all of those details here.
Do you know Gillian Welch’s paired songs “April 14, Part I”/”Ruination Day, Part II”?
I haven’t heard them. Just in looking up the reviews I think I probably should…
On my way to check iTunes now.
Since you love Abe, you will want to revel in the Powerpoint version of the Gettysburg Address.
http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/
About a week ago, I was looking at a screamingly funny web site, poking fun at conspiracy theories (especially the all the 9/11 ones) by questioning whether or not it was really an iceberg that brought down the Titanic. After all, the Titanic was made out of metal! And the iceberg was just made out of ice! But I can’t find the link now. Why I didn’t post it to my blog at the time is beyond me.
John, I read that thing too. Les Jones linked to it with his Loose Change post. It cracked me up.
bb, that is hysterical. Especially since I do PowerPoints for a living. That sucker is going on my Wall of Shame.
OH GOD!
JEEZE!
MAN!
Yes, the country would have been different, and better.
Slavery would have withered on the vine within a couple of years, as it had everywhere else in the world.
The US would have split into two countries, or not, but would have maintained the beauty of it’s original design; a confederation of independent states in a republic.
Instead, we have Rome. Thanks, Abe.
I love Abe too. And my dad looks EXACTLY like him! No joke. Just ask Newscoma or Scout. We keep telling him he could make mad money going around to schools doing the Gettysburg Address.
Finn, if your dad looks that much like Abe, he absolutely could. I know several actors who specialize in historical characters, including at least two Abes. There’s apparently a convention of Lincoln impersonators every year, too.
I’d like to be at a hotel that hosts them simultaneously with the Elvis folks, myself.
http://wesclark.com/jw/lincolns.html
http://lincolnpresenters.org/