Just finished reading “With Malice Toward None” the biography of Abraham Lincoln. Amazing insights, and a few things have been clarified for me:
- The USA has always been a polarized nation of left and right, big government vs small government, libertarian vs strong central government these dichotomies are as old as dirty revolutionary thugs and starchy English pricks.
- The slave states truly believed they were right, the bible and social norms dictated absolute faith that owning slaves was right. Much the same way that social taboos are still enforced today. Example: The belief that gay marriage is bad according to the bible and social norms, and therefore people of that persuasion are morally not entitled to the liberties that others possess.
- Navigating political mine fields was extremely difficult in the 1860’s, just imagine how hard they must be today for an administration.
- The Republican party was truly a progressive party at its inception, and has been hijacked severely by the people it was created to politically overcome. (Back when being a Conservative meant Conservation.)
- And finally, William Tecumseh Sherman was a bad ass mother fucker.