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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nihil who wrote (58381)	1/31/2001 1:16:25 AM
From: JF Quinnelly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

When someone brings up Nazis in a discussion of the Confederacy I find little point in continuing. There's no reasoning with zealots who have the great moral clarity to know the other side is evil by definition. Zealots are dangerous, you can never know when they will decide to kill you to further their campaign to purge evil from the land. The Unabomber, the abortion clinic bombers, these are the heirs of John Brown, men willing to give your all for their cause, to further their attempt to Immanentize the Eschaton and bring political heaven to a fallen world. The zealots get the wars going, the soldiers and civilians pay the price. But I will address a few points. The right of Secession was even taught at West Point. Unsurprisingly, since that is what the American colonies did to England. Most independent nations won't tolerate another power taxing their commerce, and that is exactly what Fort Sumter was for. It was a fort for tariff enforcement, and by reinforcing it Lincoln was showing that he intended to use force to tax South Carolina's commerce, regardless of the whether or not the Confederacy had legally left the Union. South Carolina and Andrew Jackson nearly came to war over the very same issue, tariffs, not 30 years before. And slavery wasn't an issue then at all. Not 80 years before the fathers of the New England moralists were dumping tea in Boston Harbor and shooting Redcoats at Lexington. Sounds like what you call "piracy".

To: nihil who wrote (58381)	1/31/2001 12:20:41 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

I remain convinced that Lincoln prevented slavery being impressed on the United States and the world permanently. I have seen you write many silly things over the years. This is one of the silliest.

To: nihil who wrote (58381)	1/31/2001 8:05:02 PM
From: jhild	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

Hey nihil, I think your thong is on a bit tight over your lionization of Lincoln. I have great admiration for what he accomplished and who he was as expressed through his words, but . . . slavery died because it was ultimately inconsistent not just with American thought, but common sense. It was and is morally corrupt. Lincoln was an agent in its demise not the sine qua non as I think you want to eulogize. But good luck with your theory. Maybe you can work it up into a book. I won't read it, however, so no need to autograph me a copy.