I spent the day in Gettysburg, walking the battlefields, touring the National Park museum, looking out over the landscapes of Cemetery Ridge and Little Round Top. <\/p>\n
One of the most compelling parts of the experience was listening to and reading the words of lawmakers and activists who led the Union in the years before the Civil War.<\/p>\n
The downward spiral of violent language and the dismissal of opposing views were recognizable to anyone watching our current political discourse.<\/p>\n
Distinctly similar were claims by the South that the election of Abraham Lincoln — even in a legitimate democratic election — would shatter the Republic.<\/p>\n
When American voters chose him, a Republican, to lead the country, states began to secede. <\/p>\n
Rather than wait for the next election — rather than rely on the rule of law and the power of the franchise — weak hearts chose war and bloodshed.<\/p>\n
I don’t think we are anywhere close to that crisis now.<\/p>\n
But it is troubling to hear so many critics dismiss and deligitimize our first African American president, Democrat Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
When critics of a duly and fairly elected government complain of “treason” and insist that the “real” America is being ignored, it raises real questions.<\/p>\n
What exactly does Sarah Palin mean when she urges tea party activists with this phrase: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!”<\/p>\n
If democracy is only legitimate when your side wins, is that democracy? <\/p>\n
Abraham Lincoln asked a fascinating question here at Gettsyburg. He wondered aloud, at a time of ultimate peril, whether a republic dedicated to human freedom “can long endure.” <\/p>\n
But he noted, too, that horrific amounts of blood had been shed so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”<\/p>\n
We live in a time when the people of our nation are changing. We are more diverse, more multi-ethnic, more complex in our moral and political views.<\/p>\n
But two things remain true. <\/p>\n
First, our nation is the greatest experiment in the history of human civilization, more fair and open and free for a longer period of time than any other.<\/p>\n
This government was elected by the will of the people, in a tradition that stretches back through the heroism of Gettysburg to the Revolution. <\/p>\n
Second, we should always remember our experiment is a fragile thing. Words matter and our better angels can sometimes be shouted down by our angry demons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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