I'd like to share an eerie prediction from my favorite Republican.

[Pacifist Patriot]

"We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. . . . It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."

The passage appears in a letter from Abraham Lincoln to (Col.) William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864.

*Bold added

When I read things like that my blood runs cold. But he also said, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

If this sentiment proves as true as the former, we do indeed have hope for the future.

[Pharaoh]

1. Or as Bush would say

Ya can fool me once shame on you,

fool me twice...............da da ......

I won't get fooled again!:wtf:

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. And at that point poor ole Abe was spinning in grave...

to see what the GOP had devolved into.

[MadHound]

3. And Lincoln was correct

Look what happened immediately after the war, the rise of the Gilded Age, where more and more wealth became concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. When the political affiliation of any candidate of note didn't matter, because the overarching loyalty of all politicians was to their corporate masters, not their constituents. Where citizens were reduced to serfs.

Sound familiar, it should. We have broken every single record regarding matters of wealth concentration that has ever been. Once more we see the spectre of our government subverted by corporate interests. Our situation is becoming much more dire than in the First Gilded Age, and that is really quite scary. For the First Gilded Age ended with the crash of the Great Depression. Since we're already breaking records right and left, it looks like the fall after this, the Second Gilded Age is going to make the Great Depression look like the Roaring Twenties.

Time to prepare wisely.

[toymachines]

4. I am saving that quote

Reminds me of a Roosevelt quote, both of which apply more today than ever before.

[pnorman]

5. I recall a discussion on DU a while back about that quote.

There was supposed to be some question regarding it's authenticity. I just Googled it and so far, it seems to be okay. Here's a good Thom Hartmann article about it: http://www.progress.org/corp16.htm

pnorman

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Not a genuine quotation, apparently.

See Snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/lincoln.htm

[pnorman]

7. Dang!!

I KNEW I shoulda checked Snopes!! Thanks, you may have saved us all some embarrassment.

pnorman

[Karmakaze]

8. Don't just take Snopes' word for it!

Snopes is not a 100% trustworthy source. They have in the past allowed their politics to colour their writing and, being human, also make plain old mistakes. Use the info in Snopes to seek other sources to verify either the quote or Snopes' opinion, don't just accept that because Snopes said it, it must be true.

[pnorman]

9. Good point!

I recall an instance where they declared as FALSE, something in Fahrenheit 9-11. Accordingly, I felt a little ambivalent about Michael Moore. Later I checked again, and saw where they had corrected themselves (sorta).

I feel that the couple there are honest, but naturally can be unconsciously affected by their own politics. Still, Snopes is the "best" single source. If they label it as FALSE, I'll handle it with extreme caution.

And I DO so want to use that quote!! I'll just keep Googling. Now that I recall, it was quoted in the novel "The Iron Heel" by Jack London.

pnorman

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. Here's my source. I looked to authenticate it before I posted.

http://www.ratical.org/corporations/Lincoln.html

Now granted, this might not be a legit source but he sounded sincere.

[Karmakaze]

13. That is what I mean!

See, I don't think Snopes was out to "cover up", but that Snopes often relies on sources that ARE. So, as in the F9/11 case they took the word of the government and mainstream media sources, and would not believe otherwise until other mainstream media sources could be given to them to prove they were wrong.

Of course, considering they are a small outfit that is trying to verify (or not) every rumour, legend or claim, they don't do too bad a job. Just don't take them as gospel anymore than you would take any other single source.

In this case the link you provided seems to me to be more believeble, simply because it provides more avenues to falsify it - they cite sources, give more context to the quote in question, and provide exact cites. Of course, I wouldn't say that is 100% either unless you can find corroborating sources.

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. Actually it is. Snopes is incorrect. (link)

http://www.ratical.org/corporations/Lincoln.html

[pnorman]

12. what can I say?

I LOVE my DU!!

pnorman

[pnorman]

14. I can't stress enough the necessity of

rigorously double-checking every important quote. It's certainly easy enough to do these days with search engines. Do it!

Here's a case in point from that Thom Hartmann article I had mentioned earlier: "There is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by... corporations

Here's the complete quote: "Besides the danger of a direct mixture of religion and civil government, there is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by ecclesiastical corporations." http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/history_of_the_separation_of_chu.htm

The ellipsed word in the earlier quote was: "ecclesiastical"; not surprising since the topic was separation of church and state. That Madison would also regard it as valid when referring to business corporations, could no doubt be inferred. But a "GOTCHA!" type opponent in a discussion could score BIG ... with "ellipsed word!!", and "out of context!!".

pnorman