Words of Wisdom from Honest Abe

[Volzfan]

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

......Abraham Lincoln

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Would the person or person's monitoring these forums for the BHO administration PLEASE pass this along to the acting President?

Thank You!

[Guest Jcochran88]

You would think since he is so intrigued with Lincoln that BHO would understand this....guess not.

[Oh Shoot]

You would think since he is so intrigued with Lincoln that BHO would understand this....guess not.

Maybe BHO understands that Lincoln did NOT say any of those things.

Which he didn't.

Among a ton of places, if you want verification:

The Ten "You Cannots" Abraham Lincoln Did Not Say (ART Blurbs)

Here's a compact explanation, from:

AmericanHeritage.com / POSTSCRIPTS TO HISTORY

"YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE …

On Lincoln’s Birthday this year Tiffany & Co., the fastidious New York jewelry store, ran an advertisement in the equally fastidious New York Times under the heading “Abraham Lincoln said more than 100 years ago.†There followed ten quotes that presumably Tiffany thought would appeal to its clientele. Among them were “You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich,†“You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer,†and “You cannot really help men by having the government tax them to do for them what they can and should do for themselves.â€

When the ad appeared, a number of people complained that the quotes sounded like nothing Lincoln had ever said. And they were right. A few days later Tiffany’s ran a short statement admitting that “President Lincoln did not pen these words†and apologizing for the mistake.

But where did the quotes come from? In fact, they have been around for years, having originated in the epigrammatic mind of one William J. H. Boetcker, a former Brooklyn clergyman who abandoned the pulpit in favor of delivering lectures on industrial relations. In 1916 he published a booklet called “Inside Maxims†that contained a series of “gold nuggets.†These nuggets, an early form of the “Lincoln quotes,†were refined in subsequent pamphlets. In 1942 they turned up, along with some authentic Lincoln statements, in a leaflet distributed by the Committee for Constitutional Government, a conservative Washington lobby backed by the newspaper publisher Frank Gannett.

Seven years later Congresswoman Frances P. Bolton of Ohio, attempting to invoke Lincoln as an opponent of the welfare state, read Boetcker’s maxims—now firmly attributed to Lincoln—into the Congressional Record. Look magazine, delighted by the quotes, promptly ran them across a full page, along with a portrait of Lincoln and the stern exhortation that “it’s about time for the country to remember . .â€

A cry of protest was raised that time, too, but we can see that these false Lincolnisms are with us yet."

- OS

[Volzfan]

I guess that I ain't the first to fall for this!

[Oh Shoot]

I guess that I ain't the first to fall for this!

The InterWebz thing has it's own self-propagating untruths.

The old "tell a lie often enough and people will believe it" doesn't just apply to liberals, I'm afraid.

- OS

[dwcz]

Doesn't make them any less true though.

[Oh Shoot]

Doesn't make them any less true though.

Agreed.

But history being important, why not attribute them to William J. H. Boetcker, who actually penned them?

Incidentally, he didn't write them all at once, either.

- OS

[USMCJG]

He did say these though:

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.

--August 27, 1856

I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle. --February 21, 1861

Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.--April 6, 1859

On the question of liberty, as a principle, we are not what we have been. When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that "all men are created equal" a self evident truth; but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim "a self evident lie.--August 15, 1855

[Guest Rick O'Shay]

He did say these though:

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.

--August 27, 1856

Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.--April 6, 1859

Say what you want to about "Honest Abe", he was neither honest nor a constitutionalist. He did what he had to do to preserve the Union, and did it like no other president in our history could have done IMO. I respect the man for his abilities, drive, and adherence to his principles (The Ends justify the Means) but he was by no means a Saint. Slavery aside, I hope he is rotting is Hell for what he did to the Constitution, and the price we are paying for it today.

In the words of Walt Whitman, probably paraphrased, the "Civil War", (aka "The War of Northern Aggression", or "The Second American War of Independence"), changed the united States of America to the United States of America.

What will it take to immigrate to the Republic of Texas?