Parallels in History

Abraham Lincoln,  March 6, 1865

I saw the movie Lincoln the day after the Newtown school massacre.   The movie focused on the drive to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution passed by the House before the end of the Civil War.   The amendment outlawed slavery.   You might think that after four years of war costing 600,000 American lives with the South in absolute ruins, the abolition of slavery would have sailed through the House after passing the Senate.  Instead, President Lincoln faced daunting obstacles, especially from House Democrats.   There were people close to his own administration who thought his amendment was lost and he couldn't get the votes.   The powerful forces of resistance in the North - as well as the slaveholding border states which did not secede - provided almost as great an impediment to change as the armed uprising of the ten Confederate states of the South.   The permanent nationwide end to slavery was by no means guaranteed.    Lincoln was a shrewd politician, but he was resolute in making sure the end of the Civil War meant slavery anywhere in the United States was gone for good.    If a bloody Civil War couldn't eradicate this shameful institution from our society, what would it take?  There was more than a century of work to be done, but President Lincoln prevailed.

 

We have seen our 2nd Amendment uncompromisingly defended by a powerful gun lobby for decades, led by the leadership and lobbyists of the National Rifle Association.   The NRA typically stays silent immediately after any mass shootings, and that pattern has continued after the Newtown tragedy.   With the murder of twenty innocent young children and six adults, their unfounded fear mongering about the administration attacking 2nd Amendment rights has run its course.   This time, Newtown has changed everything.   Politicians, clergy and other disgusted citizens are not backing down.   Has any rational supporter of gun restrictions advocated outlawing handguns for defending your home or rifles for hunting?   No.   Does anyone think reinstating the assault weapons ban will totally end our problems?   Of course not.   Do we have to look at how we've emphasized the entertainment value of violence throughout our culture?   That's at least as important in addressing the root causes.   We need to rethink our mental health system and focus on personal responsibility.    Addressing our culture of violence should be this generation's call to action.    President Obama is determined to prevail.

 

One more thought... Does government need to "put God back" in our schools, as some suggest?    Look at the beautiful, innocent victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School along with the heroes who worked to protect them and those who comfort their families.   How can you believe in God and think God ever left because of a 1963 Supreme Court ruling on prayer?    We find God where we choose to look.