What would Lincoln say about the present day elections for President for 2016?

[Gencor]

(02-19-2016 11:03 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  I really hate to burst a bubble here, but very few if any of our elections have been cotillions or genteel. Maybe when George Washington became president, but after that, not so much.

Look at the election of 1800 (scroll down to about the middle of the page). This was just 11 years after the adoption of the Constitution and people were sincerely afraid that the country would be split apart.

A more recent election was the battle in 1884 between Grover Cleveland and James G. Blaine. "Ma Ma, Where's My Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha Ha Ha."

Politics at just about any level involves power, and power, in addition to being the ultimate aphrodisiac, also can make the most rational person into something his or her own mother wouldn't recognize. I don't believe our society is any coarser then it ever was. The only difference now is we have hundreds of professional and non-professional media outlets that need a constant feed of copy, and candidates play to that.

A basic source for American presidential elections is the History of American Presidential Elections 1789-2008. While most people wouldn't buy the set, it is readily available at most larger libraries.

Best
Rob

Thanks, Rob. I will look that up. I am aware that the quest for power over the centuries has never been a smooth road, but this is just ridiculous. I don't ever remember another country actually trying to ban a candidate, even before he could get elected, through the English channels of government and any candidate ever taking after the Pope for a comment he made. I agree about the news cycles. I am beginning to think that they are no longer just about news, they are trying to shape elections and then sway public opinion to make it happen the way they want it. These constant polls to sway people's opinions and the way they call an election 5 minutes after the polls close? That is just unbelievable to me, especially when the election results are exactly what they predict. I wonder if the public minds, that are influenced by this, are becoming like STEPFORDS, programmed to do as they are told by the media. Out there for sure, bizarre and insane but it doesn't seem that anyone really cares or even notices this.