Amen to Stephen Carson’s lucid explanation below of why the advocates of a free society should criticize Lincoln. As he writes: “To be critical of Lincoln and what he wrought is to be critical of the current centralized, militaristic, mercantilist U.S. federal government. This is the “new birth” of government that Lincoln cultists widely proclaim and celebrate. Interestingly, I cannot think of a single criticism of Lincoln, however mild, that has ever been made by any of the so-called liberventionists associated with Cato, IHS, or other establishment-wannabe institutions. None. Ever. Their approach recently has been the juvenile one of waging … Continue reading re: Why Criticize Lincoln?

Stephen, exactly right. To criticize the founder of the Second Republic is to criticize the current regime (though we might argue that FDR inaugurated the Third Republic) and its militarism, corporatism, centralism, and suppression of civil liberties, all of which were prefigured by Lincoln. No wonder Adolf Hitler praises him in Mein Kampf, especially for Lincoln’s abolition of what Jefferson called states rights.