It would be a terrible oversight today, on Abraham Lincoln’s 200 birthday, for this blog’s namesake to go unremarked on.
A moment ago I heard Lincoln Portrait on MPR. It was narrated by one of my favorite actors, the Lincolnesque Gregory Peck. The music is by my favorite composer Aaron Copeland. And it is, of course, about my favorite secular saint.
One quote popped out as I listened that was particularly appropriate in the fight I’m currently waging.
“It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world. It is the same spirit that says ‘you toil and work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.’ No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.”
Even a worthy cause can be imposed tyrannically.
As I searched for the quote online I found this interesting history of the creation of the Lincoln Portrait.
Happy Birthday Abraham.
