Abraham Lincoln is an American hero and should be commemorated as one. As an avid traveler and student of U.S. history, few men have positively shaped history in the way in which Lincoln did. Let’s not forget that in our current age of conceited sanctimony.
United States Of America? Thank Lincoln For That
Whatever U.S. state I am traveling through, there is a flag that waves. It has stars. It has stripes. It’s red, white, and blue. And we shouldn’t take it for granted, as the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021 reminded us.
I was in the Bay Area over the weekend. It’s a beautiful part of the Golden State and a treasure of the United States. In San Francisco, the school district has recently voted to “cancel” Abraham Lincoln from the name of a high school.
Jeremiah Jeffries, a first grade teacher and chair of the committee, told the San Francisco Chronicle:
“The history of Lincoln and Native Americans is complicated, not nearly as well known as that of the Civil War and slavery. Lincoln, like the presidents before him and most after, did not show through policy or rhetoric that Black lives ever mattered to them outside of human capital and as casualties of wealth building.
“The discussion for Lincoln centered around his treatment of First Nation peoples, because that was offered first. Once he met criteria in that way, we did not belabor the point.”
I mean, the district is even removing Diane Feinstein, the senior U.S. Senator from California and ardent liberal Democrat, from the name of a school, so I guess this should not come as a surprise.
But talk about missing the forest in the trees…
Humanity is complicated. Humans are flawed creatures. All of them. Lincoln’s legacy on the 1862 Homestead Act and Pacific Railway Act merit discussion and scrutiny. Lincoln’s early willingness to preserve slavery in order to save the Union cannot just be masked behind his Emancipation Proclamation.
But what kind of world do we live in when America’s greatest wartime President is deemed a bad man because his views did not comport to every article of faith of the 2021 progressive Zeitgeist?
Take Raphael Warnock for a moment, the newly-elcted Democratic U.S. Senator from the State of Georgia. Do we view him as a valiant civil rights activist and pastor who overcame great obstacles growing up as the son of sharecroppers? Or do we view him as a violent, egotistical bully whose ex-wife called the cops on him after he physically assaulted her?
Every person is complicated. We are humans. This world is not black and white. But it is proper to honor those who have preserved and defended our nation, blemishes and all. Lincoln is the epitome of that figure.
I’d encourage you to read more on Lincoln this week. I recommend the biography by David Herbert Donald. Perhaps start by watching the 2012 movie called Lincoln. Or read this 1865 article printed in The Atlantic.
CONCLUSION
Today is President’s Day in the United States, though it is officially known as George Washington’s Birthday. But Washington’s actual birthday is not until next week and today I wanted to remember the life of Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday was on February 12th. It strikes me as dangerous that some wish to be judge, jury, an executioner for men and women who labored mightily for the cause of justice. What are we left with if cannot honor imperfect human beings? Statues of Jesus?
We would do well to guard our veneration of any person, but also realize that perfection does not exist in human beings and that demanding perfection 170 years later and dismissing them on that basis is nothing short of narcissism.
The San Francisco thing is preposterous. I have tons of family there, most of whom are pretty progressive, who think the whole effort by the school board there is horrendous. My cousin even wrote them an eloquent letter asking them to resign. There must be better things they could be doing- such as figuring out a way to get the kids back to school- than this. Ridiculous.
Ardent liberal here, Matthew, and I agree with you. Pobody’s nerfect. There are many ills in the world to fix. My opinion is that those interested in racial justice, like me, would do better to focus their efforts on change that effects real good in this society. Making sure that all of idols are fully above reproach is a fool’s errand (… which is not the same as saying that some course correction isn’t appropriate either).
I thought the ‘statues of Jesus’ comment was pretty funny. 😉
“This world is not black and white”
^BLM begs to differ
The world is black and privilege.
I guess now I have to rethink my view on Senator Warnock because I was just presented with two equivalent representations of him.
Things are getting a little ridiculous and I’m a very liberal Catholic…..
Lincoln was a fool. If he had ordered every last Confederate soldier slaughtered our politics would have been infinitely simpler. His mistake was assuming the enemy was human and respectable. The senators in the reconstruction era proved him wrong.
We still are dealing with the same enemy.
If Matt hasn’t had a chance to visit it yet, it’s on my bucket list to visit Katyn or one of the other sites where Josef Stalin executed the Polish intellectuals and elite officers of the Polish army to squelch any post WWII resistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre
As it turned out, Poland went on to become the greatest thorn-in-the-side of the Warsaw pact nations.
https://youtu.be/XhOVekkQJ9k?t=7
I have no desire to further punish my enemies than allowing them to remain the self-hating fools they are.
No, our politics would not have been infinitely simpler. The left destroys everything and thus that ensures no “simplicity”. Just chaos, destruction, dehumanization, and a world ruled by power and money above all else.
Funny how you’ve described everything the right wing does all while parroting the talking lines fed to you by a billionaire, Rupert Murdoch, through his favoured talking heads
The left has destroyed sports, the arts, movies, the sciences, racial relations, freedom, law,, etc.
The Democrats are the party of the wealthy and the privileged. This is a fact.
They despise people and are miserable people wanting to make everyone as miserable as they are.
Truly an asinine post – destroying the arts? LOL, Republicans hate any public support for art. Science? Republicans can’t even bring themselves to acknowledge climate change exists. Party of the wealthy? It wasn’t the Dems who gave a give-away tax cut to the wealthiest 1%. And it’s not the Republicans pushing for a minimum wage hike.
Seriously, no wonder people like you live in an alternate reality. SMFH.
Whatever you say, Joe QAnon. You and your ilk are just the bastion of principle. Global cabal of pedophilia elites are the real issues here, yup.
What a strong comeback. Good work. I have no knowledge of this strawman “QAnon”. Never seen anything from this so-called organization.
But hey…nice try with the usual leftist lies. That is all you folks do.
That was a problem. They all should have been hung as traitors…..
Sadly, there is simply no such thing as a hero without serious flaws. I’ve studied more history than most people and I have yet to find a single person beyond reproach anywhere in history.
Say what you will about Lincoln, the guy knew how to deal with an insurrection.
Christian, only Jesus was beyond reproach.
I considered that but I’m sticking with history rather than religion. Otherwise, lots of religions would claim founders or members to be flawless.
Chrisitian, I don’t think that is true.
Yeah sure. You learn about him through a book edited back in the 2nd century. Such truth!
Great retort. Very smart.
Based in fact, not wishful thinking. Thanks for playing
California will regret all the liberal BS they are enforcing on their citizens. Many are leaving the state. Just search for articles about the surge in people moving away from California for many reasons. The state is too liberal, schools are terrible and are now closed, taxes are ridiculous, cost of living is crazy, commute is abysmal, etc.. All this BS will come back and bite them in the near future.
I am middle of the road when it comes to politics. I am 100% in agreement with your analysis – no person is perfect. Further, their thoughts and actions were a reflection of their times. Your characterization of Warnock (someone I voted for) hits the nail on the head.
This is pure lunacy. You can’t judge people for their actions 200 years ago. Yes, discuss the flaws, talk about how things can improve, but this?
MK Gandhi wasn’t a saint by any standards. However he was instrumental in getting my country its freedom.
This is the way of thinking that the Democratic Party refuses to disavow. What do you think the 2020 “Summer of Love” was about? Jerry Nadler called the antifa violence “a myth.” The head of the San Franciso school board is a disgrace. The city has to sue its own school district to try to reopen its schools. Biden is kowtowing to the teachers’ unions as well. When will people learn that more government is not the solution to our problems? Did a century of murderous utopian socialism not teach us anything?
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-san-francisco-renamed-its-schools
Don’t forget about San Francisco’s attorney general, Chesa Boudin, the child of two terrorists who was raised by Bill Ayers and who now wants to free all the criminals he can, including his father.
Enough with the whataboutery please. Texas’ fascination with not wanting to be part of the national grid because it did not want additional regulatory oversight has led to millions of its citizens going without power.
And if youre talking about terrorists, dont forget the Repubs chose not to convict Trump for his coup attempt. Even though their lives would also have been in danger from the mob.
You still suppprot the Republicans. Does that mean you also now support terrorism?
False. Liar.
LOL. Try harder. Try to prove your point instead of sounding like a stuck tape recorder.
I was agreeing with your view that we cannot judge people from the past by today’s standards. Democrats don’t seem to have a problem with doing so. What in the world does eschewing presentism have to do with the Texas power grid? That you think more federal regulation is the answer to yet another problem is revealing. Is California’s power generation benefiting from more rules? How about those fires? A myth?
I have no problem condemning the behavior of the Capitol rioters. It was high ranking Democrats who were reluctant to disavow the chaos and destruction of the BLM riots. You can call Trump’s actions a coup attempt all you want. That doesn’t make it true. Did you actually think for a second that Biden wouldn’t take office on January 20? The constitutionality of the impeachment itself was hardly undisputed.
You mistake opposing the Democrats with supporting the Republicans. Both are bad, but the former is far worse. All the following policies were instituted under unified Democratic governments:
Revenue Act
Federal Reserve Act
New Deal
Great Society
Affordable Care Act
Judging from your comments on this blog, you are an authoritarian statist who probably thinks all those things made the country better. You claim to be against presentism, but you sound more like you support Gabriela López and Chesa Boudin’s quixotic quest to obliterate the past.
Come on Cargo. Your statements in the past clearly show you support the Republicans. I dont have the time or inclination to search out all yopur comments, as I have a job and a life.
Love the way you immediately descend into ad hominems.
ALso considerign the 2 party system you have, being against the Democrats means supporting a Republican in practical terms. WHo else you gonna vote for after all?
Wow. The New Deal was a bad thing? ACA is a bad thing? Hmmmmm.
I state elsewhere that I have criticisms for both parties. I happen to dislike the Republicans less than Democrats, but the Republicans have lots of problems as well. How is saying that you are an authoritarian statist an ad hominem? It is obvious to me from your stated preferences.
The New Deal make the Great Depression worse and we are left with stupid legacies like employer-sponsored health insurance because of market-distorting policies enacted by FDR. Does anyone with a functioning brain think price controls improve the economy? The need to be seen as doing something usually ends up with politicians just making things worse.
https://www.cato.org/commentary/how-fdrs-new-deal-harmed-millions-poor-people
Funny to hear the bleating sheep of the Right decry “big government” when all the government does is expand & the debt/deficit increase when they are in charge (and oh yeah, GDP growth is lower than when a Dem is President, use the Google and look it up).
There’s also about a half million people dead of Covid in the US right now since last March wishing there was more “big government” at work (kind of like we are seeing right now actually – amazing to have competent leadership again).
Competent leadership? More centralization? The centralization of testing with the CDC/FDA set us back a month during the early days of the pandemic. What do you think Biden would have done differently? Lie even worse than Gov. Cuomo did about nursing home deaths? CNN also repeatedly lied about a non-existent vaccine distribution plan. Even Fauci disputed CNN’s claim. Health Secretary Rachel Levine pulled her mother from a care home while she and Gov. Wolfe were sending viral bombs into them much like Cuomo. The Biden-allied public health machinery seems more concerned about racist antiracism than actually vaccinating those most at risk and Biden’s kowtowing to the teachers’ unions will do literal harm to an entire generation of school children and the poorest among them will be hurt far worse than the wealthy. The one lesson I hope people take from this pandemic is that being fat can be lethal.
You seem to hate everything & criticize everyone, and yet never offer a single solution of your own (other than “less government”).
You support a party that is woefully out of touch with the common & working man, and just got trounced in multiple elections. You seem to be more troubled by tech companies doing what they can to minimize hate speech & violence incitement, vs., you know, the actual hate speech & violence itself (not such a big deal for you it seems).
Under our now-competent Presidency, vaccinations are now approaching 2MM/day (despite coming in and realizing there was no distribution plan by the outgoing shameful President). Sounds like progress to me!
You always project this hatred you say I have for everything and everyone simply because I criticize Democrats. I have plenty of criticisms for Republicans, especially for the War on Drugs and the War on Terror. I have never voted for a Republican Presidential candidate other than perhaps in a primary (never in November). Both parties are too beholden to special interests and we will never get rid of the problem without starving the leviathan. That is simply the nature of the beast. As for the last Presidential election, Trump lost on the basis of about 44,000 votes in swing states.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/02/940689086/narrow-wins-in-these-key-states-powered-biden-to-the-presidency
Of course you spout CNN nonsense about the vaccine rollout.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-debunked-biden-inherited-vaccine-distribution-plan-47-times
Even Dr. Fauci said, “We certainly are not starting from scratch because there is activity going on in the distribution.”
You probably were poo-pooing Trump’s assertion that a vaccine might be available before the end of 2020.
That you have no problem with tech giants squashing speech they deem “problematic” shows that you are an authoritarian statist as well. I don’t enjoy engaging someone as obviously ignorant and oblivious as UA-TDS, but I won’t let lies stand unchallenged. Of course, UA-TDS never actually addresses the points I make. He just projects his hatred on me.
Funny that you quote Fox News – the same channel that the Extreme Right has deserted in droves as they were “super not nice” to Trump for calling AZ early (and smartly)?
A vaccine by the end of 2020 was never in doubt – it was T***’s assertions that it would be rolling out en masse by summer or fall, as he falsely claimed
Name 3, heck even 1 politician from your candidate pool you would likely vote for in 2024. I will be waiting. Nothing worse than a Monday morning quarterback who doesn’t support anyone or anything.
UA-TDS, you pick on the fact that I posted a link to Fox News. I post links to all sorts of media outlets. Unlike you, I read media from all across the political spectrum and don’t expect to agree with everything that is said. The other link I just posted is from that alt-right bastion NPR. Of course you don’t actually address the substance of what I said. You just throw out some weak garbage about the associations of said source. How is CNN’s Cuomo lovefest looking? Cuomo is now under investigation by the FBI and US attorney’s office.
https://www.axios.com/new-york-cuomo-investigation-fbi-nursing-home-deaths-8aab170e-56d5-40d3-b013-1ba716f21c90.html
Do you think anyone is going to be fooled by your attempt to rewrite history? A vaccine in 2020 was never in doubt? Can anyone imagine US-TDS cheering on Operation Warp Speed last spring? When did Trump ever say we would have vaccines by the summer? We did in fact get news of the Pfizer vaccine right around the election, which happens to be in the fall. Even your beloved CNN acknowledged a “win” for Trump.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/04/fact-checking-trumps-accelerated-timeline-coronavirus-vaccine/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-01/vaccines-for-300-million-people-this-year-the-impossible-dream
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/17/politics/trump-vaccines-coronavirus/index.html
Monday morning quarterback? UA-TDS sounds like one of those ignorant folx who thinks (I use that term generously) “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” What an obvious fallacy. I wonder if UA-TDS supports compulsory voting. Why not yet another law to coerce people into behavior they otherwise would reject? It works so well in North Korea. The people truly rule there. Maybe Stacey Abrams can take a few pointers from them. That UA-TDS thinks I need to tell him my preferred candidates from the candidate pool shows just how blinkered he is. Does he think I wanted Ted Cruz to save the Republicans from Trump in 2016? A vote is a vote for the system.
As for hate speech, I wonder where UA-TDS stands on tearing down statues of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln and burning down neighborhoods.
Shocker – you can’t name a single candidate you support. Again, you stand for nothing and stand against everything, railing against “the system” from your basement. Pathetic.
(Oh, Trump was saying it was “3-4 months” back in March 2020, and then “a matter of weeks” even come September, use the Google again).
Just more “you can’t complain if you don’t vote” nonsense from UA-TDS, who can’t even decipher what my politics might be.
Trump never promised a vaccine in three to four months. He threw out a range of possibilities, with three to four months at the short end and a year at the long end. Take the average and you end up with October, which is when Pfizer had results to report on their vaccine. Typical UA-TDS/Democratic twisting of words. Was the Pfizer announcement not made a matter of weeks after September? People like UA-TDS never thought a vaccine was possible even within a year anyway. Again, even CNN gave Trump credit for the vaccine.
It is not incumbent upon me to say who I want in office or what policies I think the government should enact. I reject the idea that government should be doing pretty much anything. Authoritarian statists need to justify why they should be given power over society. I already listed specific Democratic legislation from the past that I oppose. Yet again, UA-TDS fails to counter with anything of substance. He actually thinks a Harris-Biden administration with Joe Biden as President is good for America. To quote Trump, “You don’t have the brains you were born with.”
Keep rocking that angry incel lifestyle and mentality. Damn the world! Everything stinks! No one agrees with me! Sign of a total loser.
UA-TDS is the OPM tough guy always talking about hate and who has nothing but ad hominem to hurl in response to substantive comments, but clearly I am the angry incel. He is also so enamored with the Harris-Biden administration. What kind of well adjusted person has his self-image so wrapped up in distant political leadership? I can see how Trump was being mistreated by his opponents while still finding him to be a deeply flawed person and President. UA-TDS seems incapable of doing anything but parroting the DNC line. Given how much people of his ilk make the world worse, it is all the more impressive how capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty. All UA-TDS can concentrate on is Orange Man Bad and how Harris-Biden will save America. He completely misses the point. You’d think jumping on and off boxes would help him work out his anger. Maybe the anger stays stored in his fat. Sad!
You deserve a proper curb stomping, incel…piss off. Trump is in the past, Biden/Harris is our fortunate path forward. it is you who oddly seems to bring 45 up at every turn unprompted.
Thank God we have a Harris-Biden administration with Joe Biden as President now. Can you imagine what the TDS would have done to UA-TDS if the Bad Orange Man had stayed in office? I still him commenting about the Bad Orange Man on other blogs as well. Keep jumping on those boxes while wearing a “THIS IS WHAT A CURB-STOMPING FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE” tshirt. Exercise will keep you sane in more ways than one, Chad-TDS. Burn off that angry fat and keep comfort in the knowledge that the Harris-Biden administration with Joe Biden as President loves you.
I still see UA-TDS commenting, that is. Chads don’t stop, won’t stop!
Hello Matt. From a purely travel point of view, I’d like to remark on the Soviet statues and memorials and controversy. I was sort of happy that after the Y2K election and adoption of Republicans as the ‘red’ party, it meant that I could enjoy my favorite color without guilt. Soviet art and propaganda is often gorgeous. If you haven’t already gone to it, the Palace of Culture in Warsaw is as interesting as the Empire State Building.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/soviet
I’m trying to look it up to post, but the statue to the former NKVD/KGB Polish head in Krakow was torn down after the fall of the USSR and the stump left there without a marker. I sometimes walk next to it getting out of the car. Certainly one can sympathize with the same sentiments as those who want to see Confederate memorials torn down. Yet most of the Soviet memorials were either left alone or still standing, particularly in cemeteries. Despite the USSR’s bloody past, it produced many marvels including the first man and woman in space, the only continuous operating space vehicle (Soyuz), and technologies that were dropped in the west due to political reasons (my wife asked me: “If it’s going to rain on a parade, why don’t you just seed the clouds like we do?”)
What makes the old world such a splendor to see are the old statues and monuments that have been spared destruction. The Sphinx used to have a nose until a religious zealot cut it off to spite his face. IMO, the USA isn’t a particular interesting place to visit aside from the natural wonders. Aside from that, it’s mostly anonymous office parks, suburbs, shopping malls and chains.
Excellent work Matthew.
The left destroys and debases all that it touches. For them, this now this includes the idea that we should be honoring Abe Lincoln.
Many don’t know that Abe’s life was extremely difficult and lonely. He lost three children. His wife had significant mental illness . Abe was isolated and lonely as he led the country through a very difficult time.
His life deserves celebration.
Interesting that I’ve asked many Democrats who ranked among the greatest presidents, most will list FDR toward the top of their list. This is the same guy who sent 120,000 American citizens to internment camps…stripping them of their basic rights. But hey, Lincoln was a horrible person, right?
The Right Wing of course is a font of creativity and wisdom. Wonder why right ideologues like Cruz, Tucker Carlson, etc, keep spreading lies.
So you consider FDR to be a great president? Please answer yes or no. A very simple question…even for you.
LOL. Lovely red herring. Love to see how you cantr answer my question so you deflect immediately. LOL again.
I am rather to the left myself, and a native of San Francisco. At one point I lived in a house from which I could see Abraham Lincoln High School. The idea of removing his name from the school and other similar names from other schools is an idea from a bunch of loony tune people on the school board. The same thing is happening at my old high school, Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo just to the north of The City, because when he was young and first went to sea it was on somebody else’s ship that was carrying slaves. It did not matter that he spent the rest of his life fighting slavery and oppression, but the current principal of my old high school thinks otherwise and she has persuaded others to go along with it.
Joe: Please note that not everyone to the left of center “destroys and debases all that [they touch], just as not everyone right of center breaks into the US Capitol and threatens lawmakers and the democratic process because of their worship of the previous mob-boss president.