Worth Repeating- Lincoln in Peoria 1854

More than 6 years before he was elected president Lincoln gave a famous speech in Peoria, Illinois. The 3-hour speech was largely a protest against the expansion of slavery. Lincoln said, "Little by little, but steadily as man's march to the grave, we have been giving up the old for the new faith. Nearly eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a 'sacred right of self-government.' These principles cannot stand together. They are as opposite as God and Mammon; and whoever holds to the one must despise the other." --Let there be no doubt that Lincoln was deeply involved in the question of slavery and that slavery was the central problem and issue around which all politics revolved leading up to, and during his presidency. The current republican party sometimes tries to re-write history, to say Lincoln didn't really care that strongly about slavery. The fact is he came to office as the first "republican" president in the newly founded "republican" party- a party whose central purpose, platform, and reason for being was an opposition to slavery. The "republican" party at that time wanted to hold together the union from separatists in both the north and south. The political parties have changed positions many times since Lincoln's time. The current republican party is lead by the "right" of the party that is strongly 'social conservative' and opposed to progressive social policy and thought. Since the time of Reagan the republican party has also acted on the belief that the national debt does not matter- and can be increased exponentially without concern. Our society seems to have forgotten early 20th century terms like "moderate" republican or "socially liberal" republican. These terms once identified presidents like Eisenhower. But a transition in the parties began in the 50s and then there was a tidal shift in the 60s when the south, once solidly a part of the old stolid "conservative" democratic party, switched party affiliations and formed part of what is now the current republican party. This transition happened over the issue of civil rights (some republicans will say this change happened over the issue of state's rights and that civil rights had little to do with it- but again this is just a distraction to turn attention away from their opposition to civil rights). Lincoln's legacy was not one of opposition to civil rights or even one of support for the so called "states rights". Eisenhower was not a republican of the sort you find in office today. The ideological positions and policies developed by Lincoln, FDR, JFK, MLK, now find their modern expression in today's democratic party. Any question's America? --Oh, yeah, I'm back!