Lincoln's Gettysburg address

mickeyrat

158 years ago Abraham Lincoln  what he considred a failure but was viewed as a speech should be measured against going forward.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

A. Lincoln

mickeyrat

So given those words, in that time, and what he was trying to convey, where do you see us since? And now? Where we are going in relation to those words and ideas?

gimmesometruth27

https://youtu.be/qCXUbQ4JjXI

gimmesometruth27

i believe we are going the opposite way of lincoln's words.

i spent 2.5 days in gettysburg last month. saw the town and all of the battlefield, as well as a lot of the surrounding areas.

the thing that struck me is that gettysburg is right in the heart of trump country. i saw more confederate flags and red hats there in gettysburg than anywhere i have been in a long time. it was kind of ironic. a town that endured for months after the battle and it was the site of the biggest union victory of the war. that battle essentially saved the union. 

i think it was a fine speech and it managed to convey the history, and his vision for how the country has to push forward to end the war and honor those that gave their lives and/or livelihoods.

looking back now it is interesting that the speech was kind of an afterthought at the time. less than 2 minutes in duration. now it is considered among the greatest speeches ever delivered in the english language. i still get chills when i read those words.

gimmesometruth27

forgot to add that it is impossible to have "government of the people, by the people, for the people" when 46% of people have been conditioned to believe that government is the problem and cannot be a part of any solution.

the rugged individual myth and the bullshit virtues of small government, and the recent push to strip away voting rights and undermining of our elections has made government of the people, by the people, for the people impossible.