wcw43921

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EDIT: Hope he had the decency to reply
 

Quite possibly the best photobomb ever--

Quite possibly the best photobomb ever--

Quite possibly the best photobomb ever--

"...or any nation...conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...can long endure. ...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." ~ Abe Lincoln
 
Today, the 19th of Nov (+/- a day), I celebrate one of America’s greatest sons, Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address. This short speech encapsulates the values he inherited from the Founding Fathers.
 
Earlier this year and for many months afterward, I've been interested in US history in a way I haven't ever been before. I’m still learning, reading, clarifying and verifying, a lot of this info. Chief amongst this, is what is referred to as the American System of economics (political economy) tradition founded by Alexander Hamilton and advocated by the likes of Henry Clay, Abe Lincoln, Henry C Carey, William McKinley, FDR, and others. I'm not sure yet if JFK was also a supporter, I need to find out more. 
 
The American System (AS) is an alternative to the Adam Smith laissez-faire economics, also known as free trade, and AS is for a “tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other ‘internal improvements’ to develop profitable markets for agriculture…[f]unds for these subsidies would be obtained from tariffs and sales of public lands. (US Senate quote)” The system is also known as "Protectionism" and by federal subsidies we also mean government-regulated credit. Other features were an emphasis on the productive work of individuals (not money, trade, or scarcity of natural resources); and the empowering of individuals through education, creativity, and civilised work. The high protective tariff and land sales meant America could thrive without income taxation. It was the American System / Protectionism that enabled America to recover so quickly after the Civil War and become a world power; and is the system behind (so it is said) FDR's New Deal. Reading Elliot Roosevelt’s recollection of a discussion aboard the Augustus between FDR & Churchill, FDR favoured the American System. From what I can gather, the New Deal only started to fall apart in the 1970s in favour of free trade economics and the privatisation of public assets. In other words, these 1970 era policies undermined the Hamiltonian political economy model.
(https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Speeches_ClayAmericanSystem.htm)
 
The American System spread internationally to China, Germany, Japan, France and Russia. As I am discovering, four of five of these nations were interested in extending the American railway line to not only create their own national railway lines, but to link them together thus having a transcontinental line from Europe through Russia to Alaska to America to South America, with goods obviously shipped via it. In China the chief supporter was Sun Yet-Sen; Germany was statesman Otto von Bismarck, and economic theorist Georg Friedrich List; in Japan was the Meiji restoration that industrialised Japan (at the expense of losing the cultural identity of its samurai tradition – bad); in France it was President Sadi Carnot; and Russia was a big supporter with Tsar Alexander II and III and other influential high ranking government ministers inc. Witte and Mendeleyev. Between 1865 and 1899 it seemed like there was going to be an American-led coalition centred around its values and political economy...before it vanished. Tsar Alexander II believed in a strong America that he positioned the Russian navy for months along the East & West coasts to dissuade the British, French & Spanish from entering the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. This, he is said to have said, was done to directly support Russia's interests in seeing the Union prevail. Another reason for Tsar’s “friendly gesture” with the Russian Navy was likely due to America’s Monroe Doctrine foreign policy.
(https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/the-russian-navy-visits-theunited-states.html)
(https://archive.org/details/cosmopolitanrai02gilpgoog)
 
"…My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance. I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the internal improvement system, and a high protective tariff."
~ Abraham Lincoln, "Announcement of His Candidacy for the State Legislature. About March 1, 1832."
(https://archive.org/details/earlyspeeches18300linc/page/n19/mode/2up)
 
So this day I celebrate Mr Lincoln, his famous address, his values, the political economy he supported, and his steadfast adherence to his principles in what amounted to great personal danger because of them. I also salute both the Union & Confederate soldiers who fought at Gettysburg, which became, and remain, America’s heartbeat.

Thank you, Abe.  😢  #salutes
 
 
 

No, I was mostly in the lobby, mopping up the dirt you philistines tracked in.

This could fall under Funny, Creepy, or Foods threads...
 
 

As someone who works in a democratic institute, I appreciate the humour, but have concerns that this is entirely the kind of thing that anti-democratic folk build upon.  If you get convinced that you can trust no-one, that there is no value in voting and that those who seek public office should be barred from it, then you open the door to populists like Trump, who tell folk that he is the ONLY one you can trust and we can all see where that gets you.

It is an insidious tendency and undermines both our democracy and our democratic institutions.  Once it is mainstream that you can believe nothing then there is a chance that you will believe anything.
 
I work with politicians every day and I can tell you that they are human beings like the rest of us, the vast majority of those that I meet have honest intentions to make things better, even if their version of better does not match with mine.  I do see their public presentation be skewed by party political stress and the fact the media constantly looks to highlight those that speak differently from their party and forcing the tendency not to deviate from the party line in public discourse.  Intheir work I see nuance and humanity, I wish everyone could have the same insight and engagement.

Doc

Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8, dead at age 95
 
That was the mission on which the epochal Earthrise picture was taken: "Every human but one was in front of the camera."

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.