Lincoln's warning: Beware changes brought about by 'towering genius'

Barack Obama has made no secret of his admiration for Abraham Lincoln.

He was sworn in as president with his hand on the same Bible that Lincoln used at his first inauguration, and announced his bid for the presidency in Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Ill., during the anniversary week of Lincoln's birthday. During that speech (as well as many times since) Obama talked about Lincoln repeatedly, so it seems entirely appropriate two years later to measure Obama's words and actions by the yardstick of Lincoln's own legacy.

"Let us transform this nation," Obama said in his 2007 announcement address. "Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy… And as our economy changes, let's be the generation that ensures our nation's workers are sharing in our prosperity…. Let's be the generation that ends poverty in America…. Let's be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis… Let's be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil… Let's be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did here."

Sounds like at the very least no one should have been surprised when President Obama began his campaign to reshape America. He had already told us what he wanted to do - change everything. So how could you be surprised when candidate Obama told Joe the Plumber he wanted to 'spread the wealth around"? Hadn't he already told us he wanted to 'share [the] prosperity" in his Springfield speech? Nor should there have been any cause for surprise when President Obama began dismantling the free market in banking, housing, the auto industry and much more since he had already told us he wanted to lead "the generation that reshapes our economy."

In part, Obama hoisted his "hope and change" agenda on the back of Honest Abe, whom he called "a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer [whose life] tells us that a different future is possible." Obama equated Lincoln's battle with his own, and noted that, "As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say: 'Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through.'"

"That is our purpose here today," said Obama. "That's why I'm in this race. Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation… I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America… Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth."

Um, hold on a second. The speech sounds good, but just what "purpose" of Lincoln is Obama aligning himself with? For Lincoln's purpose and Obama's purpose are diametrically opposed. Despite the rhetorical flourish of quoting Lincoln, the battle that the earlier president waged was to PRESERVE the Union, not to TRANSFORM it.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, is not about preservation, but about wholesale change - not about civil war but about revolution - so now, on the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, it is worth pausing to heed the advice of that "gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer" who was arguably the greatest president in the history of the United States.

It is well known, of course, that Lincoln's historic accomplishment was to save the Union, but it is almost completely unappreciated that even as a young man, Lincoln was dedicated to that goal. At the age of 29, he addressed the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield on Jan. 27, 1838, on the topic of "The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions," by which he meant our sworn duty to preserve the "political edifice of liberty and equal rights' built up by our Founding Fathers and to transmit it "to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know."

Lincoln clearly saw himself as a guardian of the fragile gift of liberty. It was by circumstance, not by design, that he achieved the additional greatness of becoming the Great Emancipator. Indeed, Lincoln warned against those who would strive to reshape the institutions of America for their own purposes of legacy building, and it is worth considering today whether President Obama and his "transformational" presidency would fall under Lincoln's watchful eye as a potential danger.

Lincoln notes that the earliest leaders of the American experiment "were to be immortalized, their names … to be revered and sung, and toasted through all time" because they provided a practical demonstration of "the capability of a people to govern themselves."

What Lincoln perceptively realized in 1838 however is that just 50 years into the American experiment of democracy, "this field of glory is harvested," and that for future generations some new challenge must present itself beyond simply "maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others."

"Towering genius disdains a beaten path." Lincoln warns us. "It seeks regions hitherto unexplored… It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving freemen."

That is an interesting turn of phrase, isn't it? Lincoln would have us believe that for the towering genius, the primary goal is to make a mark on history. Whether for good or ill does not matter.

Thus, Lincoln notes the responsibility of "we the people" to be on guard. "Men of ambition and talents' will continue to spring up among us, he warns - men comparable to "an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon" - and, when they do, "they will… naturally seek the gratification of their ruling passion, as others have so done before them… Is it unreasonable then to expect, that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time, spring up among us? And when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs."

This is an interesting perspective, don't you think? That ambitious men will always want to reshape history in their own image, and won't care much how they do so? And that the people must unite to oppose such an ambitious leader and protect their sovereignty. Perhaps, it even provides an entry point to understanding why President Obama has been so focused on "change" as his mandate, and why the "tea party" movement has arisen to oppose him and the Congress that does his bidding.

"Towering genius… seeks regions hitherto unexplored… It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious."

Thus, to the extent that he is indeed the "towering genius' his admirers perceive, President Obama may quote Lincoln, but he certainly doesn't want to be him. He wants not to preserve the work of presidents past, but to "transform" the nation, to "take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America," as he said in Springfield. It certainly inspired millions of Americans to hear such words and to dream of such challenges, but if you agree with Lincoln that the American republic must be preserved at all costs, you should be wary.

Lincoln wisely foresaw that the greatest dangers to our revered institutions would come not from outside but from within, not from invasion but from usurpation. As he warned in 1838:

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

Of course, if it were anyone other than Lincoln speaking, this would be called fear-mongering. But one hopes that with the imprimatur of Obama on him, Lincoln at least may speak without threat of obloquy.

In any case, Lincoln foresaw the charge of fear-mongering and answered it:

"…[I]t may be asked, why suppose danger to our political institutions? Have we not preserved them for more than fifty years? And why may we not for fifty times as long? We hope there is no sufficient reason. We hope all dangers may be overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise, would itself be extremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have not existed heretofore; and which are not too insignificant to merit attention."

Lincoln referred to the arrival of an ambitious leader as one such "probable case" and classifies it as "highly dangerous' to the future of the union.

"Distinction will be 'such a leader's' paramount object; and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm; yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down."

Now, Abraham Lincoln was not a prophet - just a very wise man. His words provide food for thought, but should not themselves be considered an indictment of any individual. Nonetheless, for those of us who are concerned that Barack Obama means exactly what he says, and does indeed intend to "transform" the nation, they are one more opportunity to make a plea for "preservation" of the "temple of liberty" instead.

"Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense. Let those [materials' be molded into general intelligence, 'sound] morality and, in particular, a reverence for the Constitution and laws," said Lincoln.

"Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of Seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor."

n Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com