General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: ...and then a man rode through the lines bearing a white flag. [View all]KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)neighborhood of some 40%. That is simply unacceptable by any standard and a living testament to the bankruptcy and utter depravity of late-stage capitalism. It matters little that these 40% unemployed are largely black (and now also some Latino); the persistence of these unemployed shows that the 'great task remaining before us' may be even greater than Lincoln himself realized. (Interestingly enough, though, Karl Marx' British Workingman's Association sent Lincoln a testament of appreciation upon his re-election in 1864.) It is little wonder that Martin Luther King, Jr. had turned his attention to the anti-poverty campaign in the final years of his life, moving away from strictly civil rights for which the mainstream mostly remembers him today. The events in Ferguson, New York City, Albuquerque, Cleveland and now North Charleston -- the extra-judicial murder of young black American males by cop -- give blunt testimony to the fact that much of that 'great task' still remains before us. I think we should at least give Lincoln credit for giving voice to that concept, to let his fellow Americans know that the hard work was far from finished, was in fact only just beginning.
But I get what you're saying, I really do. Here's a question for you to ponder, though. Assuming you could have voted in 1860, would you have voted for A) Lincoln, B) Steven Douglas or C) John Breckenridge? This nation is damned lucky it elected Lincoln to smash the rebellion. Imagine for a moment what might have transpired had the President at the time been George W. Bush. When the South fired on Fort Sumter, Bush would probably have attacked El Salvador.
ETA: El Salvador being south-y and all.