tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post2811393090900403857..comments2024-03-28T08:57:53.180+00:00Comments on Darwinian Conservatism by Larry Arnhart: Obama and LincolnLarry Arnharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-16412850541204572402008-12-15T13:26:00.000+00:002008-12-15T13:26:00.000+00:00http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16569.ht...http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16569.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-42048771802478218652008-12-03T02:03:00.000+00:002008-12-03T02:03:00.000+00:00Dr. Arnhart,You do great injustice to Lincoln by a...Dr. Arnhart,<BR/>You do great injustice to Lincoln by asserting a parallel between his rhetoric and the progressivism of Obama. Sure, Obama is not a radical relativist. Should that be such a surprise? Is progressivism simply relativism? Of course not. But neither is it bounded by clear principles. Does Obama's progressivism stop with his own election? Have we finally accomplished Lincoln's supposed "goal", allowing our president-elect to cease his struggles and settle down to calmly administer the trust he has been given? Or is there a new horizon that needs to be conquered?<BR/>Lincoln was no progressive. He was conservative. He looked back, not forward, back to the principles of the Founding, principles rooted in human nature. That all human beings have an unalienable right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. <BR/>To be sure, a Lincolnian could not take a Garrisonian or even Douglassonian position of radical opposition to a moral evil of his day with no easy solution, ignoring the political realities before him. But such a man would certainly never stand before Planned Parenthood and commit to signing FOCA as his first act as president, nor would he champion that travesty Roe v. Wade and commit to appointing the type of "living constitution", activist justices that would fight to uphold it.<BR/>Not even Stephen Douglas would do that. Such a "Lincolnian" would be one who would champion Dred Scott and The Kansas-Nebraska Act and commit to signing an even "better" Fugitive Slave Act than the one passed in 1850.<BR/>So Obama appeals to Lincoln ... just like all of his progressive forebears have done. <BR/>TBTony Bartlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13470869510360459222noreply@blogger.com