Posts Tagged ‘Presidents’ Day’

“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain –
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom –
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

~ Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

“With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
~ Abraham Lincoln – Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865

“I am a firm believer in the people.
If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis.
The great point is to bring them the real facts.”

~ Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (Feb 12, 1809 – Apr 15, 1865)

Honoring Abraham Lincoln on Presidents’ Day

Dear Friends,

On the annual U.S. “Presidents’ Day” national holiday, US Presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s February birthdays are commemorated.

Washington and Lincoln are leaders who who successfully fought the US revolutionary war for Independence from Great Britain, and the US Civil War to end human chattel slavery.

Both wars were fought in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence to secure human life, liberty, and happiness pursuant to “the laws of nature and of nature’s God”.

The US founding fathers recognized, that governments and their chartered transnational organizations do not exist by Divine right; that they are established by people to serve people – not to unfairly tax, exploit or oppress them – and that they are illegitimate unless they serve human rights and happiness.

In the US Civil War over 600,000 non-indigenous Americans died; more than during all other US wars, from the Revolution through Vietnam.

Thereafter, in his famous address dedicating a Gettysburg national cemetery, President Lincoln eloquently invoked divine providence, and called for a national rebirth of equal rights, liberty and representative government, proclaiming:

“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain –
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom –
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.”

~ Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

Representative government and empire cannot coexist.

Contrary to President Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg aspiration and dedication, and to the Declaration of Independence, the USA has paradoxically become history’s most colossal and hegemonic world empire.

Instead of peacefully furthering human life, liberty, and happiness, the vast American empire has been perpetually involved in wars, either directly or vicariously, in ways Washington and Lincoln could have never imagined. It is possible that the US has killed more than 20 million people in 37 “victim nations” just since World War II, including millions of non-combatant civilian women and children.

Moreover, the American government is no longer a republic or democracy. Lincoln’s egalitarian ideal of a US government “of the people, by the people, for the people” has been insidiously co-opted by and for obscenely wealthy olipoloists, trillion $$$ transnational hedge funds, and corporations constituting a mere tiny fraction of 1% of Humankind. (*see Footnote)

Furthermore, in recent years there has been much American civil and political discord, concurrent with unprecedented worldwide turmoil, social unrest and adversity. Countless people are experiencing serious deprivations of God given human rights and necessities. Accordingly they are angrily and anxiously displaying polarized and violent behaviors and emotions. Moreover, many justifiably fear nuclear, climate, or biological catastrophe ending human life on Earth as we’ve known it.

Thus, while some Americans celebrate their past presidents during the Presidents’ Day holiday weekend, others are deeply concerned about deprivations of purported American democracy.

Whether or not we are citizens of the American empire, whatever may be our political, cultural, generational, or geographical perspectives, we all share overriding common needs and aspirations which are critically threatened by imminently disastrous world crises involving U.S. policies. So it is appropriate for us all to seriously reflect on Presidents’ Day about the current state of our precious planet.

[*Footnote Even ex-president Jimmy Carter has publicly recognized that the US is no longer a democracy. Eg. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-zuesse/jimmy-carter-is-correct-t_b_7922788.html
https://theintercept.com/2015/07/30/jimmy-carter-u-s-oligarchy-unlimited-political-bribery/
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/13/jimmy-carter-speaks-out-against-us-oligarchy-and-trumps-diplomatic-failures]

Evolutionary opportunity.

These are obviously critical times of immense worldwide jeopardy and suffering. But they can also afford us extraordinary evolutionary opportunities for conscientiously promoting world peace and social justice, and for equitably redistributing limited planetary resources which are now greedily and unsustainably monopolized, hidden or hoarded by a few obscenely rich oligopolists. And thereby we have opportunities for rededicating Humanity to the sanctity of all life on Earth.

As His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has observed:

“It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.”

Thus, it is appropriate for us to collectively consider how we can accomplish most good for ourselves and others.

And how our precious planet can be guided for common good by humble, harmonious, and compassionate people, rather than insanely dominated top-down by malignantly exploitive oligopolists.

Dedication.

This posting is dedicated to advancing Lincoln’s eloquently articulated aspirations:

“With malice toward none, and empathy for all,

Let us end the iniquity of inequity in our society,

So “that government of the people, by the people,

for the people, shall not perish from the Earth”

~ Ron Rattner, Sutra Sayings

Invocation.

May we thereby advance universal peace and justice,

for the welfare of the World and all it’s life-forms everywhere, until ultimately we consciously coexist beyond this world

As the Eternal light of Cosmic LOVE

And so may it be!

Ron Rattner