Liberty Maven

There’s an AP article circulating today that Barack Obama is facing a country in crisis like Lincoln and FDR did. How nice it is to read something like this to calm my fears of further liberties being removed from individuals and given to the state. Those paying attention will know that I’m being sarcastic. Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt were two of the worst champions of liberty in history. Let’s focus on Lincoln this time. From the AP article:

Like Abraham Lincoln, Obama is trying to patch up national divisions. To ready himself for the job, Obama said Friday he is reading some writings by Lincoln, “who’s always an extraordinary inspiration.”

Lincoln locked up journalists who didn’t agree with him. He lobbied for deporting “negroes” to Liberia. He makes George W. Bush look like a saint. As for “always” being an “inspiration” as Barack Obama says. Well, I’m curious if Obama happened upon this quote from Lincoln during the fourth debate he had with Stephen Douglas in 1958:

“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races – that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.”

Way to go Obama. How inspirational. “Yes we can!” has officially become “Oh No, He Didn’t!”

We can only assume Obama is picking and choosing only the “good” things Lincoln said. Much like he’ll only pick and choose the portions of the Constitution that he happens to agree with and ignore or twist the rest of our so called supreme law of the land. Remind me again how this is “change” from the last eight years?

As for Roosevelt, well it is starting to become a more mainstream opinion amongst economists that many of his policies prolonged the Great Depression instead of shortening it. We don’t hear that from just the Austrian economists anymore.

Many of the same decisions made by FDR are being pushed today to help with our financial “crisis”. The more we regulate the longer it will take the market to deregulate itself. This is the economics equivalent of the bigger they are the harder they fall. Can Obama prolong the inevitable failure until he is no longer in office? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.