Weekend reading; something to think about. – Ilene
Crisis Approaching
"We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. 
It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood. . . . It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."
The passage appears in a letter from Lincoln to (Col.) William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864.
Source: Excerpt from an essay by Rick Crawford.
Why am I posting this? My friend Elliott Eldrich sent me an email (below) which led me to do a search on the above quote. We were discussing politics and the financial crisis.
Worst Supreme Court Decision ever, according to Elliott:
"County of Santa Clara vs. Southern Pacific Railroad." You can read about it here.
From the wikipedia article: "Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394 (1886) was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with taxation of railroad properties. The case is most notable for the obiter dictum statement that juristic persons are entitled to protection under the Fourteenth Amendment."
This was the beginning of the end for America. Once corporate personhood became established, the Republic was mortally wounded. As President Lincoln (himself a lawyer for the railroads early in his career, that’s how he made his money and was able to get started in politics) once wrote in a letter, "I see a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned. An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed."
I’d say he pretty much nailed that one. What is it about politicians and military leaders who spend their whole careers making fresh new horrors possible, and then get religion at the end of their careers and/or lives and start expressing eloquent regrets about the very things they spent their lives constructing? Lincoln and the corporations, Eisenhower and the "Military-Industrial complex", Hyman G. Rickover and the nuclear navy, Smedley Butler and the "military henchmen for the corporate gangsters". Same blasted pattern over and over…
