President Abraham Lincoln has not been at the top of the news this much since John Wilkes Booth shot our 16th President in the back of the head at the Ford’s Theater. Okay … maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but you must admit there has been a lot of “Lincoln” in today’s news. Contemporary politics is more than a little schizophrenic on the subject.
The headline includes “AGAIN” because Lincoln’s body was once stolen from his grave in Springfield, Illinois. He now rests under tons of concrete to prevent future bodysnatching. Today he is being kidnapped in spirit.
There was a time that Lincoln belonged to the Republican Party – literally and historically.
He was America’s first Republican President. In the estimation of most historians and scholars, Lincoln is in a neck-and-neck tie with George Washington for the best of the lot.
Since 1865, the most iconic events among Republicans have been those ubiquitous annual Lincoln Day Dinners. The counterpart for Democrats has been Jackson Day Dinners –one of the most racist white supremacist presidents in American History. One can easily understand why Democrats may be eager to shed Jackson as their political patron saint.
There are many instances in which modern day Democrats are attempting to bask in his reputation through speeches and events.
They are quoting Lincoln more than ever. Left-wing CNN has even put together a Lincoln television documentary – virtually avoiding the unpleasant truth of Democratic Party devotion to slavery, segregation and white supremacy.
That is a common practice in news and entertainment. In documentaries and movies – like “Selma” – they rarely pin the label “Democrat” on the donkey.
In one of his pre-inaugural events, President Biden went to the Lincoln Memorial to address the nation. It would have been more convenient to walk 100 yards or so to stand at the foot of the statue of the Democrats’ icon, President Andrew Jackson. But Nooooo. He wanted his new administration embraced by the Great Emancipator.
Ironically, as Biden honored Lincoln, a faction of his party was subjecting America’s 16th President to “woke” inspired cancel culture. Mobs of radical Democrats were defacing, vandalizing and toppling Lincoln’s monuments across the nation on the utterly absurd contention that he was weak on racism. That’s right. The President who did more to fight the racial bigotry to literally and spiritually enslaved Negro Americans is said to have been a bit of a racist.
In California, boards-of-education are removing Lincoln’s name from schools under a false flag of racial enlightenment. One can only wonder why they would not be re-naming schools honoring the two most racist presidents in modern times … Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The answer is … political hypocrisy.
Will they not want to cancel all those other places and things bearing the Lincoln name – including cities, streets, libraries, businesses and even a car.
The modern abuse of the Lincoln legacy is not just by Democrats.
A group of one-time Republicans who bolt from the GOP to support the election of Democrat Joe Biden also realized the value of the Lincoln name. They formed the anti-Republican “Lincoln Project.”
Think about that. As these folks deserted the political party founded by Lincoln – and the party most associated with his legacy – and then kidnapped that legacy as they ran out the door.
The use – or misuse – of Lincoln’s name has become so prevalent that there is a meme with the image of Lincoln and the words “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet just because it includes my name and photo – A. Lincoln.”
I am an unapologetic admirer of Lincoln. I own more than 100 books on Lincoln – including a complete encyclopedia of his speeches and writings. And I have studied his life in great detail. Those who would defame his name or besmirch his legacy are very ignorant people. They do not even know what they do not know.
No President since George Washington has made a greater contribution to America and to humanity than has Abraham Lincoln. Republicans should not let Democrats kidnap that legacy – and America should not allow the malcontents on the radical left to destroy Lincoln’s noble legacy.
So, there ‘tis.