Ron Paul: Clueless on Abraham Lincoln

Geoff Elliott at the Abraham Lincoln Blog dissects the comments presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) made about our 16th president while appearing on "Meet The Press" Sunday.

However, Congressman Paul uttered some shocking, if not downright bizarre, comments yesterday during his interview. He claimed that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had everything to do with government taking over property rights and nothing to do with race relations. He claimed that Ronald Reagan was a "failure" because he didn't bring down the federal government to "constitutional levels," whatever that means.

Even more surprising and dismaying to me is Congressman Paul's complete lack of understanding about Abraham Lincoln and the reasons for the Civil War. Paul stated in the interview "Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war…. [President Abraham Lincoln] did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic," Paul said. "Every other major country in the world got rid of slavery without a civil war. I mean, that doesn't sound too radical to me. That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach."

Let's dissect this. Paul claims that Lincoln started the Civil War. In a matter of weeks after Lincoln was elected president, southern states began seceding from the Union. In his first inaugural address, Lincoln told the south that in their hands, not his, lay the "momentous decision of Civil War." The South responded by attacking federal government property, culminating with the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Dr. Paul either buys into neo-Confederate beliefs about the war or shows a complete lack of knowledge about it.

You're wrong again, Dr. Paul.

UPDATE December 25 7:00 PM CST: Billy Dennis of Peoria Pundit, a self-described "small L" Libertarian, has the "Meet the Press" video up, and he all but says that what Paul said on Sunday has ended his "flirtation" with the the Paulies.

Related posts:

Andrew Ferguson video on his new book, Land of Lincoln
Book review: Andrew Ferguson's "Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America"
Thirty hours in Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois
Bush to kick off Lincoln bicentennial celebration next Feb. 12
Abraham Lincoln birthplace site
Abraham Lincoln birthplace site's log cabin
"My earliest recollection is of the Knob Creek place"
I found this bit of history in downtown Chicago today
Lincoln Bicentennial Commission playing with Lincoln Logs
Illinois lagging in Lincoln bicentennial celebrations

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