Thursday, May 25, 2017

Sage words from Lincoln

For the 1963 worlds fair, Walt Disney created a show about Abraham Lincoln.  I detail the show in a podcast http://disneyview.blogspot.com/2016/03/episode-243-great-moments-with-mr.html that I created last year.

Basically, James Algar wove together real quotes from Lincoln to be brought to life.  There's one particular quote that should resonate today, with the state of politics such as it is, and talk of ties to russia. It's at about the 11 minute mark in the video:

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of EuropeAsia, and Africa combined could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, [that] if it ever reach us, it must spring [from] amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we [ourselves must] be [the] author[s] and finisher[s]. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time[s], or die by suicide."