Many have gone livid about the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation only demanded freedom for slaves in Confederate States that were not under the control of the Union during the Civil War.  Of course nobody is going to buy an accusation that Abraham Lincoln was a racist – he was outspoken in his moral opposition to slavery - so limiting the emancipation to seceding Confederate States must have had some sort of underlying strategic motive.  Well of course it did – because, as we all know, the Civil War, even after the Emancipation Proclamation, was still much more about preserving the Union than about freeing slaves, and for Lincoln to brazenly come forth in 1862 and declare that slavery was officially over with could have alienated border and Southern states already under Union control, incited a rebellion, and even led to an eventual Confederate victory.  The Confederate States, on the other hand, were already rebelling, so why not show them who was boss by demanding that they free their slaves?

    Let’s digress a bit here.  Many of the younger generation, myself included, have become extremely disillusioned about our current politicians.  It’s common to hear that those of us who are registered Democrats are having difficulty seeing the difference between our Democratic candidates and the Republicans – it seems that all of these candidates are saying the same things that we don’t really agree with.  Maybe it is only the Dennis Kuciniches and the Ron Pauls of this world who are bringing honesty, purity and integrity into the political circle, and it is fun for us to declare our unyielding support for them, but ultimately we are going to have to forget the Kuciniches (Kucinich’s name is just not going to be on any ballot after the primaries) and move on to the Hillary Clintons and the John McCains, with their panderings, concessions, and political maneuverings, because, sadly, they really are the only ones who will ever be able to instigate any sort of change, at least in this world.  Politics is about small concessions and little hops forward, not grandiose leaps, and requires an infinite patience, and even though the tactics of today’s successful politicians seem grimy and distasteful in comparison to the methods of Lincoln, arguably our greatest president, they are ultimately initiating change in the same way he did in 1862.  If Hillary Clinton can get the healthcare industry to sway even a little ways towards accepting a universal plan with what seems like a cop-out and a compromise, she will have done more to establish universal healthcare than anyone who demanded that the universal plan be put into effect NOW.   

The Kucinich and Ron Paul political tactics are decidedly un-Lincoln.  Saying “this and this and this are bad therefore they must end at this exact moment and never be brought up again” is like saying “the chicken we put in this soup was funky, so we’ll just take it out and eat the soup minus the chicken.” Nope – the rest of that soup is affected by the bad chicken, and you’re going to have to do a lot more than just remove the chicken for it to be edible again.  Jimmy Carter is a wonderful man who, as president wanted to bring peace to the world RIGHT AWAY, and by deciding that from now on everything was going to be negotiated in an entirely peaceful manner, he succeeded in accomplishing virtually nothing overseas during his four year presidency.  When we look back to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, then, we see an example of what may appear to have been a political compromise, but is really a patient agent of social change.  No, it did not outright free the slaves on the spot, as the abolitionists had hoped it would, but, as Lincoln knew it would, it set off the chain of events that led to universal freedom. “Public sentiment is everything,” he said once. “With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.”             

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved