Dishonest Abe Lincoln

[Fisherking]

The American way is to see compromise as a fault, as it is self-evident that one's own side is the good side, with the corollary that the other side is the evil side. England, since its re-unification and centralisation under the Tudors, has had the same tendency relative to mainland Europe, probably due to the same geographical isolation that America enjoys, but the US takes it up another notch, aided by its founding war myths against the British. In your case, you're seeing your own side (the Confederacy) as the side of freedom, while the Union represents tyranny. Northerners saw the struggle in the same terms, but with the sides reversed. Same old Americanisms, same old dualisms. The Bonnie Blue Flag and The Battle Cry of Freedom especially make me laugh.

"We are a band of brothers and native to the soil
Fighting for our Liberty, With treasure, blood and toil
And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!"

"Yes we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!"

When you fundamentally see conflict in these terms, what compromise is there to make?

Last time I checked there was no Confederacy. My criticism is a criticism of the US government and its official history.

The split between the British and the American Colonies was over minor differences made large. It appears to me that the US attempt at limited government was a failour of some magnitude and had they remained would have ended up much like Canada, with a much less warlike outlook on the rest of the world, after fighting a few more wars for the sake of empire.

It could very well be that our shared heritage has brought shared flaws in our moral makeup.

One may tolerate those and except them as inevitable or speak against them and try to see our false logic in how it effects us today.

I know my government can be wrong. It can be tyrannical. We have in the past made a good cause from the bad. We are just as susceptible to propaganda as anyone else. Your county has suffered from it as much as any.

And the lyrics to the song Bonny Blue Flag were written by an Irish immigrant taken from a Victorian Irish commercial toon. I always thought he was writing for more than one audience.

Root, who wrote Rally round the flag also wrote some 35 war songs, made a lot of money and gained a lot of honor for his songs, but never saw fit to enlist himself. It was quite popular in England as well.

The melody was from Lincoln’s campaign song. He was from Boston but later moved to Chicago before the war.