Today is the bicentennial of the birth of our greatest president, and perhaps greatest American, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's biography makes him the prototypical American. Born to humble circumstances, by his own efforts he educates himself and liberates himself from poverty and becomes a highly successful lawyer and statesman. His interest in science and technology is indicative of the American ingenuity that sets us apart as a people. Lincoln is still the only president with a patent (for an invention to help riverboats over shallows and obstructions). And obviously as president during the Civil War, Lincoln is the central figure in that effort to maintain the Union, the principles on which she stands, and prove again to the world that decent free government is possible.
I can recommend Thomas Krannawitter's recent Vindicating Lincoln as a solid defense of Lincoln and his principles against his detractors on the libertarian right and radical left. While Harry Jaffa's Crisis of the House Dividedremains the preeminent work on Lincoln's political thought, Krannawitter's book may be more accessible to a lay audience.
It seems the central lesson learned from Lincoln is this: man has by nature certain natural rights, therefore there are limits to the modern project of democracy and science. This project is only just in so far as it has a proper understanding of man's nature and acts appropriately. Basing one's politics on nature provides a firm grounding, limits the sometimes Utopian projects of men, and has the additional virtue of actually being true. If we start from the notion that man is a creature with language and reason, that he has the ability to know himself and make himself known to others through speech, then he must be treated as one to be reasoned with, not one to simply rule over as master as one does a dog.
Of course, since man is the animal with speech, it also means that unlike other animals man can lie to others and to himself. But that is a topic for another day. For now, Happy Birthday, Abraham Lincoln!
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