Chuck Baldwin
Abraham Lincoln's America
By Chuck Baldwin
America just celebrated Presidents Day this past Monday. What first began as an observance for President George Washington has (since the 1980s) morphed into the generic "Presidents Day," which is a politically correct celebration of mediocrity that forces our nation's greatest President to be lumped together with incompetents such as Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter.
On the occasion of Presidents Day, a USA Today/Gallup poll asked the American people to select the greatest President. The top five Presidents, according to the Gallup poll, are (in order): Ronald Reagan, John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and George Washington.
Can you believe it? George Washington was rated fifth. Fifth. With a vote total of only 9 percent, no less.
George Washington is positively the greatest American to ever live — bar none! It is no hyperbole to say that without Washington, there would be no United States of America. George Washington almost single-handedly kept a struggling colonial army (along with a fledgling nation, for that matter) together. Take away George Washington and there are no stories of Valley Forge, the crossing of the Delaware River, or Yorktown. Take away George Washington and there is no office of President of the United States. A lesser man (which would include almost everyone else in his generation) would doubtless have succumbed to the call of the multitude to institute a monarchy in America. A lesser man could not have delivered the greatest-of-all-Presidential-addresses that we find in his "Farewell Address."
Washington's Farewell Address became the guiding light and compass for American policy and philosophy for many generations. In fact, it is the abandonment of the principles of that address that is systematically destroying this country. Therefore, a return to the wisdom of that address would doubtless return our country to its former greatness.
There is only one "Father of His Country," and it is George Washington. Yet, in the minds of today's Americans, Washington is inferior to the likes of F.D.R. and Abraham Lincoln. Furthermore, the Gallup survey concludes that both Democrats and Republicans (and conservatives and liberals) share special infatuation with Lincoln.
I have witnessed the veracity of Gallup's findings. Go to just about any private Christian school and one will find Abraham Lincoln idolized almost to the point of deification. The same is also true in state schools, of course.
Now, virtually everyone is saying that the election of Barack Obama is the fulfillment of Lincoln's vision. They might be right. But just exactly what does that mean?
According to the current edition of Newsweek magazine, "We are all socialists now." The article states, "The U.S. government has already — under a conservative Republican administration — effectively nationalized the banking and mortgage industries." It continued, "Whether we want to admit it or not . . . the America of 2009 is moving toward a modern European state."
Again quoting Newsweek, "The architect of this new era of big government? History has a sense of humor, for the man who laid the foundations for the world Obama now rules is George W. Bush, who moved to bail out the financial sector last autumn with $700 billion.
"Bush brought the Age of Reagan to a close; now Obama has gone further, reversing Bill Clinton's end of big government."
Unfortunately, Newsweek is dead right.
By the end of two G.W. Bush terms and one Obama term, the United States will resemble socialist France far more than the independent nation envisioned — and created — by George Washington. Yes, in a very real and practical sense, this really is Abraham Lincoln's America.
More than any other single person, Abraham Lincoln shaped and formed modern America. It was Abraham Lincoln who was the first President to flagrantly and deliberately violate his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. His disregard and contempt for the Constitution cannot be overstated.
In order to "preserve the Union," Lincoln destroyed the very principles upon which the Union was created. His audacity is without equal. For example, to prevent a possible vote of secession by the Maryland legislature, Lincoln ordered federal troops to seize and arrest the Maryland congressional delegation. And of course, he was more than willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of America's finest and best to destroy Jefferson's declaration that the states of our Union are "Free and Independent States."
I invite all those pro-Lincoln apologists out there to seriously answer this question: Does an abusive husband who beats and batters his wife have the right to force her (at the point of gun) to remain married to him? (Even the God of the Bible, Who cast marriage in the most sacred terms, recognizes the right of lawful separation.) If you answer no, how can you continue to justify Abraham Lincoln's actions? In a political and governmental sense, that is exactly what Lincoln did. Forced union, of any kind, is slavery. In the name of emancipating slaves, Lincoln enslaved an entire nation.
It was Abraham Lincoln who, for all intents and purposes, destroyed federalism and limited government in America. In fact, on December 15, 1866, renowned British historian, Lord Acton, wrote a letter to General Robert E. Lee. In the letter, Acton said, "I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization; and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo."
It was Abraham Lincoln who first established the Nanny State, Big Government, Big Brother, etc. Everything that Big-Government Presidents such as Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama learned, they learned from Abraham Lincoln. That is why these men love to quote Lincoln so much.
What is appalling is the manner in which the American people (including professed conservatives and Christians) have allowed the politically correct propaganda machine to brainwash their reasoning. Conservatives and liberals, and Democrats and Republicans, now embrace Abraham Lincoln's America. As Newsweek said, "We are all socialists now."
On what could prove to be a very interesting and even promising note, however, is the fact that more than twenty states have recently proposed (or are in the process of drafting) resolutions advancing their individual state sovereignty. What do these states see coming? Do they see Socialism's twin sister, Oppression, lurking around the corner? Are these states looking into the future and preparing to take a stand for freedom and independence? What an exciting prospect! Perhaps the great country that George Washington birthed is not dead after all.
© Chuck Baldwin
February 18, 2009
America just celebrated Presidents Day this past Monday. What first began as an observance for President George Washington has (since the 1980s) morphed into the generic "Presidents Day," which is a politically correct celebration of mediocrity that forces our nation's greatest President to be lumped together with incompetents such as Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter.
On the occasion of Presidents Day, a USA Today/Gallup poll asked the American people to select the greatest President. The top five Presidents, according to the Gallup poll, are (in order): Ronald Reagan, John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and George Washington.
Can you believe it? George Washington was rated fifth. Fifth. With a vote total of only 9 percent, no less.
George Washington is positively the greatest American to ever live — bar none! It is no hyperbole to say that without Washington, there would be no United States of America. George Washington almost single-handedly kept a struggling colonial army (along with a fledgling nation, for that matter) together. Take away George Washington and there are no stories of Valley Forge, the crossing of the Delaware River, or Yorktown. Take away George Washington and there is no office of President of the United States. A lesser man (which would include almost everyone else in his generation) would doubtless have succumbed to the call of the multitude to institute a monarchy in America. A lesser man could not have delivered the greatest-of-all-Presidential-addresses that we find in his "Farewell Address."
Washington's Farewell Address became the guiding light and compass for American policy and philosophy for many generations. In fact, it is the abandonment of the principles of that address that is systematically destroying this country. Therefore, a return to the wisdom of that address would doubtless return our country to its former greatness.
There is only one "Father of His Country," and it is George Washington. Yet, in the minds of today's Americans, Washington is inferior to the likes of F.D.R. and Abraham Lincoln. Furthermore, the Gallup survey concludes that both Democrats and Republicans (and conservatives and liberals) share special infatuation with Lincoln.
I have witnessed the veracity of Gallup's findings. Go to just about any private Christian school and one will find Abraham Lincoln idolized almost to the point of deification. The same is also true in state schools, of course.
Now, virtually everyone is saying that the election of Barack Obama is the fulfillment of Lincoln's vision. They might be right. But just exactly what does that mean?
According to the current edition of Newsweek magazine, "We are all socialists now." The article states, "The U.S. government has already — under a conservative Republican administration — effectively nationalized the banking and mortgage industries." It continued, "Whether we want to admit it or not . . . the America of 2009 is moving toward a modern European state."
Again quoting Newsweek, "The architect of this new era of big government? History has a sense of humor, for the man who laid the foundations for the world Obama now rules is George W. Bush, who moved to bail out the financial sector last autumn with $700 billion.
"Bush brought the Age of Reagan to a close; now Obama has gone further, reversing Bill Clinton's end of big government."
Unfortunately, Newsweek is dead right.
By the end of two G.W. Bush terms and one Obama term, the United States will resemble socialist France far more than the independent nation envisioned — and created — by George Washington. Yes, in a very real and practical sense, this really is Abraham Lincoln's America.
More than any other single person, Abraham Lincoln shaped and formed modern America. It was Abraham Lincoln who was the first President to flagrantly and deliberately violate his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. His disregard and contempt for the Constitution cannot be overstated.
In order to "preserve the Union," Lincoln destroyed the very principles upon which the Union was created. His audacity is without equal. For example, to prevent a possible vote of secession by the Maryland legislature, Lincoln ordered federal troops to seize and arrest the Maryland congressional delegation. And of course, he was more than willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of America's finest and best to destroy Jefferson's declaration that the states of our Union are "Free and Independent States."
I invite all those pro-Lincoln apologists out there to seriously answer this question: Does an abusive husband who beats and batters his wife have the right to force her (at the point of gun) to remain married to him? (Even the God of the Bible, Who cast marriage in the most sacred terms, recognizes the right of lawful separation.) If you answer no, how can you continue to justify Abraham Lincoln's actions? In a political and governmental sense, that is exactly what Lincoln did. Forced union, of any kind, is slavery. In the name of emancipating slaves, Lincoln enslaved an entire nation.
It was Abraham Lincoln who, for all intents and purposes, destroyed federalism and limited government in America. In fact, on December 15, 1866, renowned British historian, Lord Acton, wrote a letter to General Robert E. Lee. In the letter, Acton said, "I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization; and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo."
It was Abraham Lincoln who first established the Nanny State, Big Government, Big Brother, etc. Everything that Big-Government Presidents such as Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama learned, they learned from Abraham Lincoln. That is why these men love to quote Lincoln so much.
What is appalling is the manner in which the American people (including professed conservatives and Christians) have allowed the politically correct propaganda machine to brainwash their reasoning. Conservatives and liberals, and Democrats and Republicans, now embrace Abraham Lincoln's America. As Newsweek said, "We are all socialists now."
On what could prove to be a very interesting and even promising note, however, is the fact that more than twenty states have recently proposed (or are in the process of drafting) resolutions advancing their individual state sovereignty. What do these states see coming? Do they see Socialism's twin sister, Oppression, lurking around the corner? Are these states looking into the future and preparing to take a stand for freedom and independence? What an exciting prospect! Perhaps the great country that George Washington birthed is not dead after all.
© Chuck Baldwin
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