What would Lincoln think of all this?

[David Lockmiller]

(11-06-2020 05:56 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Bill, that is a very interesting question. It made me think of the following words from Abraham Lincoln. I may be off base, but this is what came into my brain. Maybe I am being too extreme.

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

SOURCE: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume I, "Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois (January 27, 1838), p. 109.

President Lincoln was not aware of the possibility of thermonuclear war.

Confederate ironclads were the severest military threat of his day and the direst associated threat was solved by international diplomacy on the part of Seward and President Lincoln.

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(11-06-2020 09:28 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I love the quote Roger. I don’t think our nation is on the verge of destruction. I don’t know- maybe some people do! My post was meant to express how that even after so long since Lincoln’s passing there is still so much strife and division. My heart grieves. Have we as a people learned nothing? And so, if Mr. Lincoln were to rise out of his grave and see all that has happened- everywhere- what would he think?

I read this morning an informative article in the New York Times Magazine on this subject: "How Do You Know When Society Is About to Fall Apart?"

The New York Times Magazine author: Joseph Tainter walked me through the arguments of the book that made his reputation, “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” which has for years been the seminal text in the study of societal collapse, an academic subdiscipline that arguably was born with its publication in 1988. “Civilizations are fragile, impermanent things,” Tainter writes.

It is a long article and I would recommend reading first only the parts quoting Joseph Tainter.