[geeks] RIP, Ronald Reagan

[Phil Stracchino]

On Sun, Jun 06, 2004 at 10:31:22PM +0000, wa2egp at att.net wrote:
> > Personally, I'm inclined to argue the rot set in with Lincoln. He set 
> > the government on the course of massive expansion of centralized Federal 
> > power, took the country to civil war over the right to secede from the 
> > Union, and freed the slaves in the Southern states (but not the North) 
> > not because it was the right thing to do, but as a politically-expedient 
> > economic-warfare move against the South. 
> > 
> > Of course, one could also argue that it was his predecessors who pushed 
> > the South to the *point* of secession.

> Darn, I'm not the only one who feels that way.  From a "bottom up" government to a
> "top down" govern ment.  Bah!  Then again slavery ain't too cool either.  Pick the 
> lesser of two evils is still picking evil...

True, but slavery was already on the way out in the South anyway.  I've
heard sensible estimates, based upon the history and progress of the
abolitionist movement plus a number of economic and technological
factors, that slavery in the Confederacy would have ended by 1880 or so
even without the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation.


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