Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.

As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor; let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own, and his children's liberty.

Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and Let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.

While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom.


- Abraham Lincoln, January 27, 1838
  Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois

Sunday, November 02, 2008

McCain offers nothing but fear itself


Fliers found on windows in Southern Indiana

It appears that in the end - in the final stretch before election day - all John McCain and Sarah Palin have left to offer is fear.

This weekend they have launched a massive campaign to get out the 'fear' vote. Fear that Obama is a terrorist. Fear that he is a 'scary Muslim.' Fear that he isn't an American. Fear that he will raise taxes, turn the entire country into a communist gulag, fear that he 'isn't like us' and therefore will betray the interests of white, fearful Midwesterners and Southerners.

It is a last ditch campaign of horror designed to divide and conquer along racial/urban lines that stretch back to the Civil War.

McCain has nothing to offer that any sane voting American would want -- that is, if he was open and out front with the real ramifications of his Bush-like, Neocon platform. McCain's health care plan would leave most of us uninsured by our employers and begging on the street when our houses are foreclosed on due to unpaid health care bills.

McCain is running only on his 'experience' as an absentee senator... and racist fear.

So this year, this election, we Americans have an amazing choice before us. We can choose the campaign of unity and hope... or the campaign of fear. It borders on the biblical. For most of us, the choice is obvious. We hope that it is obvious even to those who are - at this moment - being barraged with 'be afraid!' robocalls, virulent hate-radio announcers and nasty windshield leaflets.

FDR (that 'socialist' president who saved America during the Great Depression) once said "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." The same is true today. Let us hope that this is one lesson our grandparents did pass down to future generations of voting Americans.

May hope prevail.

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