Re: The Religious Right

On 4/20/06, Carol or John Burgeson <burgytwo@juno.com> wrote:
>
>
> The origins of the Republican party are interesting; I just reviewed
> "Team of Rivals" for the Rico Bugle this month; the story of the years
> 1850-1865. See that review at

This book contains some interesting modern parallels. For example, Seward's
concept of "higher law" versus Lincoln's constitutionalism. These days
Republicans presume that only the strict constructionism is a valid way of
looking at things. This was not always the case. Another parallel is
McClelland (sp?) trying to do public policy and Lincoln's assertion of
civilian control of the military. Modern parallel: the General's revolt.
Finally, the Emancipation Proclamation as an assertion of war powers in the
Constitution. Lincoln freed the slaves as a tool to win the war and only
asserted it when the war was finally going well. He did this because without
war powers he did not have constitutional authority to do so. Modern
parallel: the so-called wire tapping controversy and the assertion of war
powers by the Bush Administration.
Received on Thu Apr 20 11:31:03 2006