[antimedia] antimedia: Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new....

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Posted by antimedia:
Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1174534740.shtml


   ....under the sun.

     Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention.
     If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we
     could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
     We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated,
     with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to
     slavery agitation.
     Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only,
     not ceased, but has constantly augmented.
     In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been
     reached, and passed.
     "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
     I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and
     half free.
     I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the
     house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
     It will become all one thing or all the other.
     Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of
     it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief
     that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates
     will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the
     States, old as well as new -- North as well as South.
     Have we no tendency to the latter condition?
     Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted by, its own
     undoubted friends-those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in
     the work-who do care for the result. Two years ago the Republicans
     of the nation mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We
     did this under the single impulse of resistance to a common danger,
     with every external circumstance against us. Of strange,
     discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four
     winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under the constant
     hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy. Did we brave
     all them to falter now?-now, when that same enemy is wavering,
     dissevered, and belligerent? The result is not doubtful. We shall
     not fail-if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may
     accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later, the victory
     is sure to come.
     Abraham Lincoln

   In over 150 years, nothing has changed. We still have the naysayers
   and the negapusses whining and complaining about the war being too
   long, the cost being too high and the cause being not worth the
   sacrifice. We still have the traitors stirring up the sentiments of
   the foolhardy, convincing them that peace lies in appeasement and
   submission despite centuries of contravening evidence. We still have
   the cowardly politicians, bending like reeds in the wind, testing the
   waters for some sense of where to land, the better to save their
   personal treasure, no matter the cost to the nation. We still have the
   apathetic and the wishy-washy, who can never be depended upon to do
   anything except avoid trouble at any cost, even the cost of their
   souls.
   But we still have plenty of patriots. Stirred from slumber and alarmed
   by the threat to freedom, they have taken a stand and will be silent
   no more.
   Victory is just around the corner. Truly nothing has changed in 150
   years. (Hat tip to Captain Mike A. Goedeker.)