I have mentioned time and again here that the Republican Party is liberal and only the take over of the Democratic Party by the Communists & Socialists in the 1950's and 1960's made the Republicans look like conservatives. The Republican party has never been a conservative party and that began with the very first two Republicans, Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley who left the Whig Party because they weren't liberal enough and formed the "Red Republicans"
How Abraham Lincoln was a Socialist/Communist
1. Lincoln grew up in the area of the US where most of the radical socialists who had fled Germany settled in, notably, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois.
2. Lincoln’s long and well documented relationship with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels through written correspondence, his personal relationship with Horace Greeley, the founder and editor of the New York Tribune, a well known (at the time) and self-proclaimed advocate of Socialism, and Lincoln’s appointment of Charles Dana, the Tribune’s managing editor and personal friend of Karl Marx as Deputy Secretary of War. Note; Charles Dana was Marx and Engels’ editor for their works, primarily "The Communist Manifesto" before returning to the US and becoming part of the Lincoln Administration.
3. Lincoln’s stated goal was to free both the African slaves in the South and the common laborer in the North from their “masters”. Lincoln very much ascribed to the idea of the people being the determinant of their own wages. He was also a strong supporter of labor unions.
4. In 1837, in his very first speech as an Illinois State Legislator, he said “These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.”
5. Lincoln left the Whig Party, along with Horace Greeley, to create the Republican Party. The political divide in the Whig Party was much like the current divide in the Republican Party. There were liberals and conservatives. Lincoln was a liberal. The early Republican Party faction that Lincoln was a co-founder of was so liberal they named themselves “Red Republicans”.
6. In 1861, Lincoln signed into law the very first personal income tax. This income tax was a “progressive tax”, in that, the more income you had, the more taxes you made.
7. Lincoln led the federal replacement of gold and silver as currency with paper money. He signed into law the 1863 and 1864 banking laws, contrary to the 10th Amendment, that created federal charted banks, undercutting the state chartered banks.
8. Lincoln instituted the first forced conscription, requiring men to leave their farms and follow the orders of the military commanders.
9. Lincoln befriended and appointed a number radical European Socialists to both government positions and military positions. These Socialists had fled Europe after the Socialist 1848 uprising that included raiding an armory to steal weapons in order to further their aims.
10. Lincoln declared war on the Southern states that seceded, having no Constitutional authority to do so and in defiance of the founding of the Republic which was completely voluntary.
11. Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during the Civil War in order to take political prisoners in order to prevent further support for the Confederacy. The Constitution grants sole authority to suspend Habeas Corpus to Congress. Lincoln was sued in the Third District Federal Court by one of these political prisoners and the SCOTUS Chief Judge Roger Taney found in favor of the Plaintiff, writing that the right to suspend Habeas Corpus was reserved for Congress under Article 1, section 9 of the Constitution. Lincoln’s advisers told him to ignore the Federal Court and he did, continuing the arrests of political prisoners.
12. As President, Lincoln did nothing to alleviate the 40% tax on all goods produced by eight slavery supporting states Southern states in contravention to the “Equal Protection” section of the Constitution. (Ever wonder why Fort Sumter was the first place attacked in the Civil War? It was where all of those taxes were collected and stored before being transported to the North.)
13. Lincoln signed into effect laws and orders that allowed “Carpetbaggers” to go into the South and seize property for their own use as “punishment” for the South seceding. Even if the Southerners had nothing to do with fighting or supporting the war. Merely being a citizen of one of those states was enough to forfeit your property and rights.
14. Under Lincoln, the national debt grew over 4,000%.
It’s no wonder Obama idolized Lincoln.
Don't get me started on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's idol and inspiration for his own "progressive liberalism", his Uncle Teddy Roosevelt.
History ain't always what they teach you in school.
Ed
"Not in an open forum, where truth has less value than opinions, where all opinions are equally welcome regardless of their origins, rationale, inanity, or truth, where opinions are neither of equal value nor decisive." Ken Howell
14. Under Lincoln, the national debt grew over 4,000%.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that if Cal Coolidge was president during the Civil War, the numbers would shake out pretty much the same.
I always looked at Coolidge as the last of the "small government" Republicans. You made me go back and do some research.
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Coolidge's fiscal behavior while President;
Taxation and government spending Coolidge adopted the taxation policies of his Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, who advocated "scientific taxation" — the notion that lowering taxes will increase, rather than decrease, government receipts.[112] Congress agreed, and tax rates were reduced in Coolidge's term.[112] In addition to federal tax cuts, Coolidge proposed reductions in federal expenditures and retiring of the federal debt.[113] Coolidge's ideas were shared by the Republicans in Congress, and in 1924, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1924, which reduced income tax rates and eliminated all income taxation for some two million people.[113] They reduced taxes again by passing the Revenue Acts of 1926 and 1928, all the while continuing to keep spending down so as to reduce the overall federal debt.[114] By 1927, only the wealthiest 2% of taxpayers paid any federal income tax.[114] Federal spending remained flat during Coolidge's administration, allowing one-fourth of the federal debt to be retired in total. State and local governments saw considerable growth, however, surpassing the federal budget in 1927.[115]
Am I missing something that Wikipedia has left out?
Ed
"Not in an open forum, where truth has less value than opinions, where all opinions are equally welcome regardless of their origins, rationale, inanity, or truth, where opinions are neither of equal value nor decisive." Ken Howell
Duh. Don't matter. It's inevitable. Unintended consequences of the stupid majority will all always prevail.
Also known as "the tyranny of the majority", the real cause of "democracies" failing, such as we are now seeing in slow motion in Europe.
Ed
"Not in an open forum, where truth has less value than opinions, where all opinions are equally welcome regardless of their origins, rationale, inanity, or truth, where opinions are neither of equal value nor decisive." Ken Howell
14. Under Lincoln, the national debt grew over 4,000%.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that if Cal Coolidge was president during the Civil War, the numbers would shake out pretty much the same.
And it's not true.
During the Civil war the debt only went of 1500%, not 4,000 percent. In addition it started at a low level, only 1.3 Billion in today's dollars and went to 44 billion in today's dollars, or as much as the U.S government spends every week.
Of course, this raised questions about the remaining unsourced claims above.
You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.
You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell
It bugged me why the left fawned over Obama's adoration for Lincoln, far more than just the Emancipation Proclamation. Once I got to digging, I understood.
It also made sense why John Wilkes Booth shouted "Sic Semper Tyrannis" ("Thus Always to Tyrants") when he shot Lincoln.
Ed
"Not in an open forum, where truth has less value than opinions, where all opinions are equally welcome regardless of their origins, rationale, inanity, or truth, where opinions are neither of equal value nor decisive." Ken Howell
Of course, this raised questions about the remaining unsourced claims above.
Go ahead and look it up. I spent a lot of time digging into this. All I did to begin was to Google combinations of the words "Abraham Lincoln, socialist, communist, Karl Mark, Horace Greeley, and Charles Dana"
You can do it, I have faith in your abilities.
Ed
"Not in an open forum, where truth has less value than opinions, where all opinions are equally welcome regardless of their origins, rationale, inanity, or truth, where opinions are neither of equal value nor decisive." Ken Howell
Lincoln was many things but your list is a bit laughable....
His stated goal was to free the slaves? First time Ive heard of it.
It is true he found the purse a weapon of political expedience. Doubt he was the first, although he did it representing "capitalists" of the Ohio River valley forming canals at taxpayer expense. Seems entreprenuers of the age liked doing things with house money. At that time, many states (Iowa was one) passed laws against such nonsense. Still on the books, we've managed to land Google and other starting capital poor companies by picking and choosing who we get the priveledge to fund. But that is another story.
Taney never had a problem with Federal overreach as long as it was his..... The first SC decision usurping states rights lay at his feet and he had no issue federalizing what states had already decided within their borders. Maybe he was a commie too.
When we were kids, I heard a song on he playground that went something like this.............
Abraham Lincoln was king of the Jews, Wore white socks with his tennis shoes, Ran thru the jungle with his peter in his hand, Screwing all the Negroes cause he was king of this land.
I never really realized just how much truth there was in that. He really was a Jew, wasn't he.
14. Under Lincoln, the national debt grew over 4,000%.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that if Cal Coolidge was president during the Civil War, the numbers would shake out pretty much the same.
I always looked at Coolidge as the last of the "small government" Republicans. You made me go back and do some research.
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Coolidge's fiscal behavior while President;
Taxation and government spending Coolidge adopted the taxation policies of his Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, who advocated "scientific taxation" — the notion that lowering taxes will increase, rather than decrease, government receipts.[112] Congress agreed, and tax rates were reduced in Coolidge's term.[112] In addition to federal tax cuts, Coolidge proposed reductions in federal expenditures and retiring of the federal debt.[113] Coolidge's ideas were shared by the Republicans in Congress, and in 1924, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1924, which reduced income tax rates and eliminated all income taxation for some two million people.[113] They reduced taxes again by passing the Revenue Acts of 1926 and 1928, all the while continuing to keep spending down so as to reduce the overall federal debt.[114] By 1927, only the wealthiest 2% of taxpayers paid any federal income tax.[114] Federal spending remained flat during Coolidge's administration, allowing one-fourth of the federal debt to be retired in total. State and local governments saw considerable growth, however, surpassing the federal budget in 1927.[115]
Am I missing something that Wikipedia has left out?
Ed
I don't know, I just pulled old Cal out of a hat, as representative of a president considered (boringly) Conservative. My point was that anyone who was president during the Civil War wasn't going to look too fiscally responsible coming out the other end, especially if he was dead before he had a chance to sort things out.
