You are spot on! Unfortunately, most people find it too taboo to admit. The educational system and media focus on Lincoln as if he were the founding father. Perhaps in a sick way, they are right. We are living his federal legacy.

This was written by someone in response to Bill O'Reilly's take on Lincoln:

Commentator and author Bill O'Reilly is fond of continually saying, “we need leadership in this country, WE NEED ANOTHER LINCOLN.” Just why is that Bill?

Do we need to kill another million or so Americans, suspend Habeas Corpus and drag folks out of their beds in the middle of the night (there were thousands of political prisoners in Northern Jails uncharged and with no access to representation). Do we need intimidate voters at polling places with armed military or shut down all opposition news media in the country (in which case O’Rielly would be the first one out of a job). Lincoln shut down hundreds of newspapers in the North.

Perhaps we need to burn down a few of our cities, hang or shoot a few innocents to make an example; disarm the border population and blockade a few of our states for the sole purpose of collecting taxes as Lincoln stated? Should we have a leader that deports his congressional opponents and incarcerates state legislators at will, allows his generals to oversee the theft of private property, rape indiscriminately and dig up the graves of his citizens looking for valuables?

How about relocating thousands of citizens based on ethnicity as Grant did to American Jews with general order #11, or deporting and colonizing the entire black population back to Africa which was Lincoln’s ultimate goal, all while beginning the extermination of Native Americans. Entire volumes have been written about war crimes against Southern civilians perpetrated by his generals and condoned by the president, in some cases even promoting them afterwards.

Almost immediately after taking office, Lincoln became a self appointed military dictator, trampling the constitution and suspending civil liberties. He provoked a war while Congress was in recess and refused all attempts at diplomacy. The principles of separation of powers and checks and balances were nearly nonexistent. He even went so far as to threaten the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with imprisonment.

So just why do we need another Lincoln Bill? If it's a totalitarian dictatorship your looking for I'd suggest North korea or Cuba...

~Robert~

Oh yes, he saved the Union at the point of the bayonet and the war ended slavery, which was accomplished in every other country on earth without blood shed...