Social media thrives on rankings and lists.
A fellow I never “followed” but showed up a lot on my Twitter feed thanks to mutual “friends” and followers decided to post something about best and worst presidents.
He had Lincoln in his top 3. If anyone has been following me for a while and if you’ve bothered to do any of the recommended reading, it is hard to rank Lincoln above the bottom 3 presidents of all time.
This fellow said something like I had a “rawhide brain” and blocked me. There’s a first time for everything. But since I have a rawhide brain, I’m unable to figure things like this out very easily.
Though I’m quite certain that the more you listen to my ideas, the more you will agree with them.
In this case, I am not reflexively “anti-Lincoln.” I've done the reading. On all sides of it.
The history shows he was a bad man and a terrible president, save all the legends about the man.
If one wages war on his fellow countrymen, leading to over 1 million deaths, history usually sees him as “bad.” Unclear why Lincoln is such a hero other than Booth sent him to his maker a tad bit early.
Furthermore, when the rape and ransacking of one defeated region—the South—was completed, the legacy of Lincoln and his acolytes—Union Army officers and railroad cronies—was to pillage the American West and kill the inhabitants who didn’t cotton to steam engines running through their lands on steel rails. Namely Indians.
Not particularly “American ideals.”
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or destroy slavery.”
- Abraham Lincoln in a public letter to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, 1862
A wet finger into the wind is not usually the example of courage we seek in a leader, but, hey, Lincoln “freed the slaves,” right?
Wrong.
As Thomas J. DiLorenzo writes, “it is important to note that Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave.” Furthermore, “it was immediately excoriated throughout the North (and much of the world) as a political gimmick.”
“Honest Abe?” The moniker was ironic. The guy was a first-class fibber according to those who knew him best.
There’s a lot more where that comes from.
Let me know if I can recommend some reading for you, because there is plenty of it.
And…if you’re not already a paid subscriber to our Substack page, think about it. We’ve got some good things upcoming toward the end of July for our supporters. More exclusive content, but also some things that Substack doesn’t offer on their platform as of yet.
But if you are one of the select “patrons,” we'll make it worth your hard-earned cabbage. Monthly and yearly options available:
Meanwhile, thanks for indulging me once more on your holiday. Enjoy the fireworks (if your governor deems them “legal”) and remember the guy that looks like the fellow on the Raiders helmet (sans a few digits) typically sells the best ones.
And, I’ll admit that I may have been wrong about putting Lincoln in the bottom 3, because our last 6 have been leading the U.S. closer to the edge of the cliff since any time Lincoln himself. Hard to determine, really.
God Bless America.
As always,
Brian
P.S.—My top 3, in no particular order, are: John Tyler, George Washington, and James K. Polk. I might be able to be convinced otherwise.
