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Abraham Lincoln once said "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." I don't know about you all, but I think that Abe was a pretty wise man with a great idea. I sure wish that our government was like that...

Our current government is like Lincoln's in many ways. In the Union (the North) Lincoln was considered very controversial, hated by a large percentage of the population, and his handling of the war was frequently criticized (in New York there were Draft riots). Lincoln was one of our greatest Presidents and truly believed in liberty in general but in his day-to-day handling of a major war liberty was put aside. As it is with today's war. Don't get fixated on Iraq, think War on Terror in general, this will be a multi-decade multi-generational war like the Cold War with Communism.

"With Congress not in session until July, Lincoln assumed all powers not delegated in the Constitution, including the power to suspend habeas corpus. In 1861, Lincoln had already suspended civil law in territories where resistance to the North's military power would be dangerous. In 1862, when copperhead democrats began criticizing Lincoln's violation of the Constitution, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus throughout the nation and had many copperhead democrats arrested under military authority because he felt that the State Courts in the north west would not convict war protesters such as the copperheads. He proclaimed that all persons who discouraged enlistments or engaged in disloyal practices would come under Martial Law."

http://www.civil-liberties.com/pages/did_lincoln.h tm

"In pursuing victory, Lincoln assumed extralegal powers over the press, declared martial law in areas where no military action justified it, quelled draft riots with armed soldiers, and drafted soldiers to fight for the Union cause. No President in history had ever exerted so much executive authority."

http://www.americanpresident.org/history/abrahamli ncoln/

Grover Cleveland did just that.

this bio suggests that he worked for a total of five administrations, four at the cabinet level:
http://www.americanpresident.org/action/orgchart/a dministration_units/officeofcyberspacesecurity/spe cialassistanttothepresidentandchairpresidentscriti calinfrastructureboard/richardaclarke/a_index.shtm l

In 1800, Jefferson's opponent was the morally challenged Aaron Burr, who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, and later still was tried for "high crimes" when his plot was uncovered to take New Orleans by force and make it the capitol of his new western empire http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/b urr/burraccount.html Burr was tried but acquitted (although its likely he was guilty). Jefferson was a fine President and stateman.

In 1824, there was no 'popular vote' in the United States (nor was there in 1800). See http://www.avagara.com/politics/ec_zine/1824/ for details -- no candidate appeared on the ballot in all states, and not all states allowed the people to vote for the President. Regardless of that, the rules set out in the constitution yielded a good President. Adams subsequently became President in 1828.

In 1876, you neglect to mention that massive fraud instigated by both political parties marred the election process over much of the country (Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon) http://www.rbhayes.org/dispute.htm and http://www.rbhayes.org/disputeFAQ.htm. Still, the process resulted in the selection of a President who proved worthy of praise. He was a forward thinker concerned with the rights of minorities and the poor long before that became popular. While we don't know what kind of president Tilden would've benn, he was (later) opposed to the Civil War ... a huge error in judgement in my opinion.

The election of 1888 went exactly as it should have. There's no provision in our Presential Election process for the popular vote to select the president. Other than that, Harrison was a much better President than Grover Cleveland, having the vision and fortitude to accomplish great things during his term. http://www.americanpresident.org/history/benjaminh arrison/

Do we even need to discuss the 2000 Election? Gore absolutely fell apart after the defeat -- he would not have been able to stand up to the pressure of the worst terrorist attack in history. On the other hand, President Bush is a doer that has a long list of accomplishments during his first term.

the system as it stands now has serious deficiencies.

It may have some discussion points, but it certainly does not have 'serious deficiencies.' All the examples you presented are examples of our election process *WORKING*, not examples of it not working.

Part of the animosity in politics today can be partly attributed, at least in my opinion, to the fact that Bush was constitutionally, but not popularily, elected.

I don't accept that for a minute, but that's fodder for another time.

To suggest we change the Constitution because part of a part of the animosity might be reduced is kinda ridiculous. Throughout history there have been losers not happy with the outcome, and will continue to be. Some will hold a grudge. That's how some people work.

The Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they devised the Electoral College and our system of selecting a President. We just need to tweak the voting registration requirements a little.

Thanks. I read in several places (such as this one - scroll down to Tennessee, and this much longer one - going to have to search) that the nickname came from his toughness...that he was as tough as old hickory. I assume that's pretty solid. I'm sure it's better than "Old Balsa" or "Old Cork".

BTW, I have no idea why you were modded as "redundant". Hopefully it will show up in my 3x a day metamod list. I'm getting so many opportunities to metamod I'm beginning to feel like an employee.

We would have been much better off if we could have ended slavery without having its proponents stir up a rebellion.

Umm... I was talking about the American Revolution, not the Civil War.

And for the record, The Civil War was not about slavery, it was about state sovereignty, which Lincoln disagreed with (his election was the last straw that set off the mass secession of the southern states.) In fact, the "Emancipation Proclamation" was something he did that targeted the southern states, which at that point he wasn't even in control of. Lincoln and the North weren't as righteous as the gov't and history books keep trying to make us believe... ... speaking of stuff you don't get in history class, Lincoln inadvertently fucked us all when he let England run our federal reserve, a problem that sticks with us to this day. Click here and here for a history lesson.

I'm not sure where you get this crap about the 1992 election but here's one site I found that contradicts your "evidence." Clinton had a definite majority and again.

Facts my friend, not bullshit.

"Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. Since coming to Washington, I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." Ronald Reagan (Which is ironic given how corrupt the Reagan administration was.)

Please don't be lulled into believing that reform of these stupid laws will happen just because a new session will be starting. Now is the time your representatives should be coming home to get back in touch with those they supposedly represent. Contact them, get out to town hall meetings and meet them, give them some viewpoint other than the paid one.

What the House of Representatives should do is adopt an open source solution, instead of feeding the monopoly that Microsoft currently enjoys around the world. If they had any sense of patriotism, they would recall the Trust Buster" Teddy Roosevelt, and his crusage against big business. If Roosevelt were alive today he would be running 7 Linux boxes in his house, all backing each other up for 100% redundancy, and 100% uptime, freeing up the time he would spend rebooting his WinMe boxes to dismantle monopolies for the working man.

In pursuing victory, Lincoln assumed extra-legal powers over the press, virtually ignored the Supreme Court, declared martial law in areas where no military action justified it, quelled draft riots with armed soldiers, and drafted soldiers to fight for the Union cause. No president in history had ever exerted so much executive authority, but he did so not for personal power but in order to preserve the Union.

"It's a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word!"

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