With all the sturm und drang surrounding Lott‘s birthday wishes to Strom, some have tried to use the Republican Party‘s origins to blunt charges of racism. We’re the party, the story goes, founded by anti-slavery activists with Lincoln as our first elected president.

Indeed, “we are the party of Lincoln” is a favorite refrain of many Republicans seeking honor and legitimacy in one of our greatest presidents. Still, one wonders what Mr. Lincoln would have to say about the Grand Old Party today.

I believe he would find the modern Republican party to be intellectually bankrupt, exclusionary, and greedy beyond comprehension. This is not just conjecture:

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.” — U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864. (Letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
See p. 40, The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

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