Mark Salter, a speechwriter who served as Sen. John McCain’s chief of
staff, has written a piece on Lincoln – the man and the movie – that may move
you to tears.
In his column for realclearpolitics, Salter reminds us of
the fragile state of democracy in the world at the time that Lincoln was
seeking a complete victory in the U.S. Civil War and a final defeat for the
slave trade.
“Human nature was long considered too corrupt and venal
to be allowed self-determination,” Salter wrote. “Kingdoms and empires were the
work of the high-born, the enlightened, God’s anointed.”
Abraham Lincoln, a man born into extreme poverty whose
life was filled with far more tragedy than success, was certainly not one of
the “high-born.” But what Lincoln demonstrated – as illuminated by Steven
Spielberg’s wonderful directing – was the higher plain that an average man can
reach, to the benefit of all of us.
Here’s Salter: “What did Lincoln prove? That a democracy
could succeed -- that it need not descend into chaos despite the flaws of our
nature? Yes, he did, but more than that, too. His life story proved the faith
that lies behind that proposition. He proved that the lives of human beings are
a struggle -- some successful, others not -- to cultivate a second nature, our
character. We can become better, and freedom aids us in that struggle by
letting us think and be responsible for ourselves.”
I think Lincoln's lesson, similar to George Washington's, was that belief in the Democratic Republic form of government, as set forth in our Constitution, trumps all things. The ideal and loyalty is not to a clan, tribe, ethnic group, political party, or other demographic, it is to our Constitution and the family of institutions which spring forth from it, and the belief that the laws set forth apply equally to all. Thus, although not stated in the Constitution, this country held free elections while large segments were in open rebellion. And what if Lincoln had lost the election of 1864? Would we be divided, I advance no. Because McClellan or Fremont, although "peace candidates" would have followed the Constitution as well. We would be speculating, but we know what Lincoln did.
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