Lincoln's Depression and the 2008 Vote!

There's a new book out called "Lincoln's Melancholy" by Joshua Wolf Shenk that everyone raves about. If you admired Lincoln before, you'll admire him even more after you've red Shenk's book

I admire Lincoln. He was dealing with a manic-depressive wife who was as much trouble when she was up as she was when she was down. He had the weight of the union on his shoulders. He was a tender hearted man and God placed him in the breach and told him to hold the walls and he did a splendid job against all odds.

AND he suffered chronic depression as well.

The man was extraordinary.

Isn't it amazing that whenever the country has faced a crisis, God always gives us a President with honor, courage and wisdom to stand in the breach and defend us.
When the country was new and threatened by England and virtually every other country in Europe, George Washington set the tone for every president who came after him. When they started a movement to make him King, he had the fortitude to say "NO". His legacy has stamped every man who came to the presidency after him.

When the country was ripped asunder by Civil War, greedy industrialists, arrogant Southern aristocrats and crooked politicians, possibly the last honest man in the country won the presidency almost by accident.

We've had others like Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan who brought a sound practical sense to the country at a time when everything was falling apart and dark forces threatened. We had Franklin D. Roosevelt when the country needed reassurance and FDR was a master at it. We had Eisenhower's steady hand on the tiller when the country was threatened by communism and our own corrupt military-industrial complex as he called it. We got JFK when we needed a cheerful optimism and lower taxes. We got Dubya when we needed to respond to terrorism with strength and decisiveness.

These men weren't perfect. Some I won't mention were pretty dismal. They weren't always right, but they had what it took when we needed it and still, incredibly, America stands.

Remember Lincoln when you line up to vote this Fall. A lot of people didn't think he'd make such a good president. A lot of folks voted for him because they thought the alternative was worse.

Makes me feel good to know Somebody's up there looking out for us. When He stops helping us pick the presidents we need when crisis looms, it'll be because it's time to down tools and go home anyway.....

See you at the voting booth.

Tom