The very first Republican President, Lincoln was literally born in a log cabin, and when he was elected President, he dealt with a political divide even greater than the one we have today, over an issue that - to be honest - he would rather not have dealt with.

“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.” The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, “Letter to Horace Greeley” (August 22, 1862), p. 388.

I have heard those who would deny this part of Lincoln’s character use this quote to show that he really didn’t care about the slaves.

“I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except Negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics.” When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty - to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.” The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, “Letter to Joshua F. Speed” (August 24, 1855), p. 323.

He also has the distinction of being the very first United States President to be assassinated, by John Wilkes Booth.

A third face on Mount Rushmore, and a President who has his own Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC.

We have, here at Drumwaster and other great bastions of thought and blogging, talked about President Chirac and the ugly collapse of French political power and moral backbone throughout the last 75 years.  Their political power, crippled by a stagnant government, suffered in the 19th Century (a fact demonstrated by their inability to project power in Mexico in the 1860’s and their humiliation by the German Empire in 1870) , and their moral compass was laid waste by their collaboration with the Nazis in Vichy and arrogant demands by DeGaulle for NATO and the rest of the world to go screw itself.  France is as socialist as the Soviets were, slaves to her imperial past and filled with contempt at the success of the United States.  Chirac, and those he supports and employs within his government, exemplify this.  His desperate arrogance can be seen in his resistance to the War on Terror, and in his remarks to the Eastern European democracies and Turkey. 

France is so over-represented on the world stage (it’s self-coronation as the heart of the EU, it’s seat on the UNSC, it’s aircraft carrier), it has started believing that it belongs there.  It is hard for a nation that saw it’s full glory 200 years ago to face that fact....but for Chirac to tell the United States to mind it’s own business about the EU and Turkey is damned ridiculous.  This from a guy whose government officials and businessmen profited mightily from Saddam’s thirst for weaponry and friendship with the aforementioned French President.  Maybe Mr. Chirac should worry about the anti-Semitism, militant train unions, and Islamofascists in his own country.  Maybe he should pay heed to the fact that his nation is facing a demographic and economic nightmare, due to Islamic immigration, an aging populace, and a dropping birthrate.  Maybe he should pay attention to the fact that his social programs are ill-conceived and decadent, his officers of state and captains of industry corrupt, and the attitude of his citizenry towards a nation that sent millions of her sons to save her existence filled with scorn and contempt. 

Meanwhile, Turkey, a nation-state that is young and dynamic, is fighting through it’s democratic adolescence.  Containing huge minorities that are inherently and historically opposed to rule from Ankara, Turkey has persevered through hard times and political uncertainty.  Now, with a fledgling democracy on her southern border, Turkey has an opportunity to lead by example.  Hand in hand with the United States, she can become a stabilizing influence in the Middle East, and stand in stark contrast to the sick fascism of Iran and Syria. With a strategic position between Islam and the West, Turkey is the future of European security.  She, like France, has a gloried past (the Ottoman Empire,has primacy in that history), but is turned to the future.  Turkey sees that the past can be learned from, but cannot (and should not) be worshipped.  Turkey’s great hopes cannot be based on her past, but built in the future.  That is why she wishes to join the EU, and that is why Bush supports her. 

Now, for Iraq.  Beautiful.  Wonderful. 

I was quite hard on Ireland’s protestors when Bush was there, if for the only reason that Ireland struggled against non-caring and despotic rulers for 900 years, and asked for help from foreign powers several times.  When Iraq was laying prostrate at the feet of Saddam, without hope, and we take the War on Terror there, in order to overthrow him and obliterate a base for Islamofascist terrorism and thought, Ireland should have cheered.....but, in a fit of post-nationalism, she refused.  Now, Iraq is born, still meek and weak, but she’s there...alive and kicking.  Barely able to hold onto the new powers that she has, Iraq is now a home to the most evolved, and ancient, of human conditions. 

Liberty. 

Iraq is free.....maybe still riding on training wheels, but free.  She is learning to rule herself, self-determinant and eager for more.  No longer under the boot of an egomaniacal subhuman, she is breathing on her own, and ready to face a bright future. 

First, however, she is going to face her past.  She is going to round on her oppressor, the fascist, and the murderer of half a million of her children, and punish him as best she can, knowing that there can be no adequate punishment for his crime, and no compensation that will bring back the human beings now represented by crushed skulls and yellowing ID cards, by mass graves, fading pictures, and images saved in mourning memories. 

The United States, for all the hoopla and gnashing of teeth caused by that lightning war, killed less civilians in two weeks of precise high violence than Hussein did in the average peacetime month.  He was the prototypical autocrat, caring for nothing except the maintaining of his own power, and the rewarding of those who worked to that end.  Now, his dreams shattered by the ongoing expansion of freedom and the siege laid on terrorism, he will have his greatest nightmare presented to him in a room full of those Iraqis he failed to kill; he will be made subject to the rule of Iraqi law. 

There are some good endings. 

And, for all of you who still think that the United States is the pinnacle of evil in the world, let’s review:

India-Pakistan----peace brokered by US Secretary of State Powell
Libya---gives up WMD’s due to US/UK pressure
Yemen---expels terrorists
Saudi Arabia---fighting terrorists
Bahrain---Supporting War on Terror
Qatar---elections
Iran---student rebellion
Afghanistan--Liberated and readying for elections
Iraq---Liberated and Sovereign
Sudan---Truce brokered by US Department of State
Liberia---Stabilized by US Intervention
North Korea---Neutered by US Policy
Haiti---Stabilized by US Intervention

That is well over a billion and a half people directly affected by the United States, and her policies.  Could someone mention the negatives?

I’m waiting. 

Still waiting. 

That’s what I thought. 

Comment and advise.

Posted by “rightwingduck”:

(Arrow pointing up) I’m with stupid

Posted by “KB”:

Because of George W. Bush, I lost my job, my home, and my two sons were killed in an unjust war. Stop the madness. Vote Kerry.

-Saddam Hussein

Posted by “DaveP”:

Front:
Help support the Democratic Party!
Back:
...Because Rapists, Murderers, Thieves, and Traitors Need Love Too!

Posted by “AWG”:

(front)We liberals believe in tolerance, that all opinions should be respected, and that everyone should think for themselves.

(back)So vote Democrat, or you’re a stupid, heartless, bigoted, Nazi homophobe!!!

Go read, and submit your own (if the Muse descends)…

PTOWN MOMENT: The view from one of my windows on my Provincetown wharf has been particularly stunning this summer. As I sit here typing, the water encroaches into the great coil of the harbor - always a different color, depending on the time of day, the tide and the weather.

Stunning prose, very descriptive. 

In front of me is a patch of reclaimed beach, an up-turned kayak in the dune grass, Poor Richard’s Landing - another old wharf building - behind it. And in the middle, a patch of bare sand that has become an impromptu wedding place.

Oh oh...away from the patch of beautiful nature, to the core of Andrew Sullivan. 

Now, before we go on, who in this audience can’t tell me what is coming next.  Here’s your choices....

1) “However, since the wreck of that trash barge, it hasn’t been the same.”

2) “Rain came today, freshing up the land and greying the day to a dreary hue.”

3) “ It is a place where same-sex marriages occur freely, without the hatred of George Bush or the Hateful Christian Right.”

I’ve witnessed three weddings there in four weeks - all between two women, some with kids, some formal, some New Agey.

If you picked #3...you were right!! 

It seems quite routine now, but it was only ten years ago that I sat down on this very beach to figure out “Virtually Normal” and came to the conclusion that civil marriage was the lodestar of homosexual equality.

Does anyone else notice that the whole term “civil union” has been utterly and completely removed from the syntax of same-sex union advocates?  It is like they were close to getting civil unions.....and decided to go for the whole marriage thing.  Why do that, if all you are after is a ‘civil marriage’?  Maybe because that wasn’t the goal?  Of course it wasn’t...it isn’t a MARRIAGE.

Now it happens when I’m not looking, or when I’m napping, or walking the beagle. And life goes on. And the tide comes in again.

“....and life is as it should be, no matter what the President does or says.  It is the completion of a great struggle, and we have overcome.” Oh, stop with the sappy, self-rightous crapola.  You haven’t suffered a friggin’ thing in your life.  You are wealthy, doing what you want, and employed because of an inherent trait that offers you social advantage (don’t think for a second that his sexual orientation hasn’t helped him in his career).  You play the oppressed intellectual conservative, but you have shown to be a vitriolic, judicially coercive, hetrophobe who hates traditional Christianity (Proof? Read this post here, and see if his beliefs come close to matching the Catholic Church’s present-day views) and will go to unheard of lengths to rationalize imposing YOUR beliefs on America, while blasting those who believe that your way is wrong. 

Note that Mr. Sullivan hasn’t posted today on the transfer of power to the Iraqi Government.  He will tomorrow, more than likely, but I just thought it noteworthy (and DAMNED irritating).

Sorry.  I will post tomorrow on Iraqi Liberty.

Here are some of his thoughts on religion.

And some other interesting quotes.

To the People of the Republic of Ireland:

My name is John Cross.  I Live in Columbus, Ohio, USA, and consider myself an Irish-American.....we, here in the States, have a current tendency to identify with our pre-Immigration heritage.  My ancestors came from Counties Donegal and Tyrone, forced to flee during the Great Hunger.  I am proud of that heritage.  So proud, in fact, that I have played side drum in the Shamrock Club Pipes and Drums, my home town’s only Irish pipe band, for 23 years. 

However, you have forever damaged my opinion of the Emerald Isle, and sullied my thoughts of Eirinn.  Why?  By the way you, as a people, have reacted to the United States’ invasion of Iraq.  I served in Cogadh a’ Chamais Mhòir, (The Gulf War) and saw the complete and utter devestation caused by the dictator Saddam Hussein.  I saw what a dictator, unable to be unseated by the people, could do to a proud race.  I saw what an intelligent, educated people could be brought to because of unjust rule. 

You should know.  It is your racial memory, the great trials and tribulations of the Irish at the hands of Vikings, Saxons, Angles, and the English. 

In the 800’s and 900’s, you kingdoms and chiefdoms were set upon by Vikings, and they attacked you in Inishbofin, and Rathlin, and Bangor, and Sceilg.  Yes, and they did work their way inland, but you united under Brian Boru, and fought for your independance and freedom. 

In 1169, the Normans invaded Ireland, and the usurpation of political control from the Irish had truly begun.  Between the years of 1169, and 1921, you asked for help from the following nations:

Spain (1601), The Papacy (1641 Rebellion), France (1688-90), France (1796 and 1798), and Germany (1916). 

Why?  Because you were ruled by a despotic government, why actively killed you because of your religion (Cromwell), stole the produce of your land (The Cromwellian Plantations, and others of that type), and stood idly by while a million Irish died during the Great Hunger, while there was more than enough food being grown in Ireland to feed everyone. 

How is Iraq different? 

If, in 1850, the United States would have proposed landing troops in Ireland, fighting the British into submission, dealing with the British counter attacks, and allowing the Irish to form their own government while we were there protecting them as they did so....would you have said no?  Spain landed troops in Ireland to fight the English....so did France.  You welcomed them. 

Why is what the United States did so different?  The fact is, it isn’t. 

Iraqis were bing killed by the ten thousands for their religion, for what they thought about the government.  They had a Drogheda (a 3500-death massacre perpetrated by Oliver Cromwell in 1649 against Irish Catholics) every month for twenty years.  They were withheld medicine and food so that rich European governments could wallow in their greed and graft. 

So, my country goes there, in an effort to destroy the root causes and bases of terrorism, and you protest this.  You protest the President doing what France, the Papacy, and Spain could not....free a subjugated, proud people from a dictator who cared little, if at all for them except for the temporal power he held over them. 

Look at your history, Ireland!  If you look at it, you see the parallels that exist, and look at the good my nation has done.  We haven’t sugjugated a free people, we have liberated a people who had been under the heel of a madman.  We haven’t massacred children, we allowed them to go home from prison.  We are not perfect, but no nation is. 

See your history, and see the Iraqis as kin to that history, and celebrate the fact that they didn’t have to live 1000 years under a harsh rule.  Be glad that the United States is willing to make them free, strong, and independant, and then leave their land for them to rule and live in, free from fear. 

And stop your emotional short-sightedness.  It is beneath your Celtic heritage, and has forever damaged my opinion of it.  And that saddens me. 

May the blessing of Dia (God) be upon you.