The way to greatness!

Friday – November 19, 2010

The way to greatness!

On this date, in 1863, our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, gave a speech at a cemetery dedication in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech is known as the Gettysburg Address. Standing at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg, Lincoln struggled to find meaning in the violence that played out where he stood. With fresh graves in plain sight of the viewers, it was the Civil War’s bloodiest battle - only four months old. Lincoln searched for words to alleviate the suffering. The living, Lincoln proposed, must take up the “unfinished work” of preserving the nation. So that “these dead shall not have died in vain,” the nation must ensure “that government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” In just three minutes, Lincoln delivered one of the greatest expressions of democracy in our nation’s history. In just three minutes, his presidency grew to greatness.

On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner commented on what is now considered the most famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called it a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."

At the very beginning of Lincoln's presidential term, the Civil War started. A group of "Peace Democrats" proposed a peaceful resolution to the conflict by offering a truce with the South and forming a constitutional convention to amend the U.S. Constitution to protect state’s rights. The proposal was ignored by the Unionists of the North and not taken very seriously by the South. However, the Peace Democrats, also called Copperheads by their enemies, publicly criticized Lincoln's belief that violating the U.S. Constitution was required to save it as a whole. With Congress not in session until July, Lincoln assumed all powers not delegated in the Constitution.

Yesterday, I began to connect the pieces of history through four Presidents. They were Washington, Adams, Lincoln and Reagan. Lincoln had the responsibility of holding together a nation in Civil War and then curing the nation in its aftermath. Lincoln was criticized and even used his Constitutional Powers to suspend Habeas Corpus. After much more criticism and many more American fatalities, the ageing Lincoln defeated the South militarily and ended slavery as it was known then.

We forget the trials of freedom’s path. We forget the stress of what history brings. We forget how the events of past history affect us today. We forget that those who were enemies of the United States, the Union and our way of life still threaten it today. In Lincoln’s day, it was the “Peace Democrats” that threatened the Union. The North had the manufacturing capability to make war a possibility. The South housed the enemies that wanted to separate from the Union.
To run for President you must be intelligent. But to be President, you must be smart. Lincoln was smart enough to realize the forces that were against him, but more importantly, against the Union and the United States.

Today, as in Lincoln’s day, there still exists the same forces that would destroy the foundation of our freedom. These same forces work to enslave through taxation, redistributive economic polices and the power that greed creates.

At a private meeting on Tuesday afternoon, George Soros, a longtime supporter of progressive causes and this president, voiced blunt criticism of the Obama administration. He suggested to Democratic donors in attendance that they might need to direct their support somewhere else other than the president.

Soros, a Hungarian-American financier and global destroyer of economies, was speaking to a small side group of donors who had met in Washington D.C. for an annual gathering of the “Democracy Alliance.” This is a formal community of well-funded, activist organizers who are progressive-minded individuals. According to many sources with knowledge of Soros’s remarks, he told those in attendance that he is "used to fighting losing battles, but doesn't like to lose without fighting."

He went on to say, "We have just lost this election, we need to draw a line," he said, according to several Democratic sources. "And if this president can't do what we need, it is time to start looking somewhere else."

There is no difference between the Peace Democrats of Lincoln’s era and the progressive Democrats of our era. The question of slavery today is not between blacks and whites; it is not between the North and the South. The question of slavery today is global economic domination, through the tentacles of men like Soros and the many organizations that he funds and whose donations find there way to our political leaders on the left.

Men like Obama, who are intelligent, but not smart, are now finding themselves on the wrong side of men like Soros. Men like Soros will find others to do their evil work. They have in other countries and they will here if they are not stopped.

Lincoln was a true American. He believed in freedom and he died because of it. He died, as the result of an assassin’s bullet. He died, because he was on the right side of the struggle.
I end each week with a quote from history. Today, I have a few of Lincoln’s words that I believe still apply today. He said:

"I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence."-- February 22, 1861 - Address in Independence Hall

"The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong."-- September 1862 - Meditation on the Divine Will

"We have, as all will agree, a free Government, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed."-- August 22, 1864 - Speech to the One Hundred Sixty-sixth Ohio Regiment

In my FORUM yesterday I wrote – “we must be leaders of the cause and not leaders of the problem.” I believe Lincoln was one of these people, because he led the cause of freedom. He knew the way to greatness. He knew that greatness doesn’t come by pretending to be great.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Please read Lincoln’s Gettysburg address it will take you only three minutes – but it will be with you all day! (http://www.gettysburg.com/bog/address.htm)