Thursday, September 10, 2009

Death by Suicide

"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step over the ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! -- All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a Thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln lived to see some of the worst of American government in action during the
Civil War. Corruption, inaction, graft, selfish profiteering; all were a part of American government during the Civil War. but Lincoln also saw the tremendous sacrifice of Americans on the battlefield and on the home front. It is not the government of the United States that determines the destiny of our country, Lincoln posed, it is the people. Their willingness to find the common good and sacrifice despite the ineptness of a corrupt and inefficient government.

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