This last weekend my eight year old son had the privilege of reciting the Gettysburg Address for a group of 75-100 year old patriots. Not only did it make me a proud “papa” but it made me think of the great liberators in American History.
We can almost start and end with the appropriately titled Father of our Country, George Washington. This man, who, at times with only his force of will, liberated fledging America from our “benevolent” mother country. Then, unlike Napoleon several decades later, Washington had the wisdom and strength of character to not only turn down an American “kingship” but to serve only two terms as President that set a precedence of citizen leaders. (If only FDR would have had that same level of self esteem.)
The next great liberator has to be Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is so unique in our history because he began his presidency so hated by so many and ended his presidency so beloved. He not only saved an entire race of Americans, but in doing so, he saved the country. His few modern detractors other than throwing unbelievable and evil spirited attacks on his character try to make arguments that he wasn’t “pure” enough with true federalism and his actions are the basis for so much extra-constitutional powers that we now suffer under.
A "small" point that is not included is that Lincoln did the right thing at the right time, period. I know in our age of moral relivism we can’t tell the difference between a great liberator and a crazy tyrant hell-bent on taking over the planet, but there is a difference.
In my mind, the next great liberator is Truman. Why Truman? He made the tough decision to save millions of lives and use the atomic bomb to end WWII. Technically, Truman is the only Democrat on my list but the truth is most modern progressives deny his existence in the Democrat Party because he was an adult making an adult decision. Very un-Democrat like.
Next Eisenhower. Dwight Eisenhower was not only instrumental in winning WWII but saved South Korea from the evils of communism. We are now blessed by Hyundai.
Then JFK (not John F. Kerry, the great Vietnam warrior) liberated the people of Cuba from a dictator and stopped the rise of communism in the Western Hemisphere… oh… he didn’t?
If one was to judge liberators by the sheer number of people brought to political freedom, there may be no single greater liberator than Ronald Reagan. Millions of people have been liberated by The Great Communicator because he was also the great political action hero. “…tear down that wall…” didn’t just apply to the people behind the Iron Curtain. Reagan also liberated American business which led to almost thirty years of wealth that no nation has ever experienced in the history of the planet.
Finally we have George W. Bush. Bush liberated Iraq from a Nazi-like dictator and now democracy has a real chance in a nation that less than a decade ago just being a soccer player (or a woman) would have been grounds for torture and murder. This is a real modern miracle and a point of true clarity between the ideas of classical liberalism and the childish whining of those who agree with the crazy musings of Cindy Sheehan.
So haven’t Democrats liberated people from anything significant? (They are called liberals, aren’t they?) Yes, in fact they have. Democrats have liberated men from the responsibilities of fatherhood through government welfare programs and Democrats have liberated women from the guilt of killing their unborn babies. God bless America.
- Think men, think!
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In high school, my friend and I spent a lot of time at a place called The Forest Hill Bridge. Sometimes his girlfriend was with us, sometimes mine, sometimes it was just the two of us. Normally it was at night which meant there wasn't a whole lot to see from the bridge but you could hear the thin river many hundreds of feet below. |