hey, blinkin'

i think i have previously stated the fact that i think most people are pretty ignorant. the beautiful part is that ,i too , am an ignorant fool; and, like everyone else, i think i alone hold the key to wisdom. a perfect circle of give and take...with idiocy being the widget. a case in point:

recently, the discovery channel produced a series wherein the voting public would select the "greatest american" from a list of 100 compiled by (presumably) scholars. the people of america didn't utterly fail, but i do have some issues with their choices. their top 5: 5. benjamin franklin 4. martin luther king jr. 3. george washington 2. abraham lincoln 1. ronald reagan. to prove their stupidity, they placed dubya at 6 and slick willie at 7....of all time. but, back to # 1

ronald reagan? are you "pooping" me? much good resulted from his administration, sure; but, alot of ill emanated from dc in those days also. and , i'm sorry , you testified on the behalf of huac and named names. you are officially out of contention for #1 based on that information alone. ben franklin? what a guy. not a bad choice, but he wasn't smart enough to refrain from trying to get struck by lightning. not too swift. reverend king. too limited in his scope of view, in my opinion. i need someone who was the greatest for ALL americans. it can be argued (effectively) that all of america IS better for his efforts in defeating state-sponsored racism; but, i don't believe that his work was done with the benefits of white america in mind. oh, yeah! i almost forgot adultery and hypocrisy. as i think of it, that kicks you out of my top 5. george washington is wonderful. a more worthy man would be hard to find. his view of slavery was ahead of its time, but he didn't free his slaves until after his death- when he could no longer benefit from their indenturedness. a flaw too vivid to ignore. but still a strong #2 in my book. which bring us to:

abraham lincoln. in my book, the greatest, most magnanimous, wise and effective person this country has ever produced. i have been fascinated by him for all of my life. it began as a morbid fascination with his assassination and the events surrounding his tragic death. as i learned of his life, i came to realize the depth of his greatness. the comparison of pictures of him in 1860 and 1865 appear to be taken 30 years apart. it shows the obvious toll the travails of his presidential tenure wrought upon his mind and body. he saved america from destroying itself. his plan was to save the south from the vengeance of the north. he (finally, after 400 years) was the one who affected the end of slavery in this country. his vision of his duty as an american and a president are beyond reproach. i can't recall any scandal or impropriety that would taint my view of him. well, maybe that habeas corpus thing in maryland. but that was so ballsy, i can forgive him easily. i'm not saying he never made a bad decision, i'm just saying i've never discovered a flaw in his character. that's amazing.

i am enamored with the address he gave at gettysburg on nov 19, 1863. i view it -as do many others- as the superlative piece of prose produced on this continent. its simplicity and directness stir our hearts as he glories in these men who died in the name of freedom and equity, and as he defines the principles for which these great men (from both armies) so willingly risked -and lost- their lives. to steal a line from another great writer: i delight in its plainness and simplicity.

it's so beautiful that i have included the text for your perusal. last night i bought a book entitled "lincoln's greatest speech.. the second inaugural." i can tell you it will take alot to convince me. we'll see.


Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on 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 the 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.