If Lincoln had not died

[My Name Is Kate]

Wow, what a thread! That article by Lloyd Lewis was so well-written, concise, articulate, etc., that it finally got through to me, at least a little bit, what politics is all about.

Had I been living in Lincoln's time and the Reconstruction, I might have sided with the Radical Republicans, but I can now see how that would most likely have been naive, at best, and probably counterproductive to reuniting the nation and ultimately achieving equality for all citizens.

Politics is about working with human nature as it is, not as it ought to be. Sometimes it even takes setting aside not only your own ego, but your own morals and beliefs, at least to some extent, in order to achieve objectives further down the road, that coincide with your morals and beliefs. For example, Lincoln must have known that the "right" thing to do would be to immediately grant all the former slaves the right to vote, but he knew he had to delay that in order to succeed at the bigger picture of winning the South's (and the North's) trust and cooperation so the nation could gradually heal and reunite.

I suppose lawyers must take an oath to defend their clients no matter what their own personal beliefs may be in the case. I find that disturbing, but it probably is "good" training if they are planning eventually to become politicians. I still do not like politics at all, but at least now I think I understand it a little better.