Just Sayin'

I've been reading Lincoln Unbound by Rich Lowry lately.  He is the editor of the magazine, The National Review.  I listened to a local public radio broadcaster interview him about the book and politics.  The book sounded interesting, the premise being that Lincoln saved the Union once and we are in dire straights now, so what would Lincoln do today?

The first two thirds was Lincoln history setting up the end of the book. I have to admit I've been intrigued about Lincoln and wanted to learn more.  I did.  Some is different than legend and some the same.  He was known for splitting logs and farm work, but despised working in such a manner.  He got out as soon as he could to work at anything else, but this formed a core of his belief, a person should profit from their own labors, not someone else.  He believed slavery took many forms, not just the industry he destroyed.

I'm going to share some of Lowry's guesses of what Lincoln would do today.  I'll spread them out over a few days.  This is as much for me to remember them as you to read them.

Writing about Social Renewal:  "It is well established that adherence to rudimentary cultural norms is the most effective of all antipoverty programs.  It the head of a family graduates from high school, works full-time, and waits until age twenty-one and marries before having children, it almost guarantees his family will avoid poverty. According to Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill, only 2 percent of the families who adhered to all three of these norms were poor in 2007 ( a year of low unemployment, it must be stipulated).  Of the families who adhered to one or two, 26.9 percent were poor. Of the families who adhered to none, 76 percent were poor."

"It [the government] has launched effective crusades against drunk driving, domestic violence, and smoking and on behalf of recycling. Yet government is neutral or implicitly hostile toward the twin bedrocks of American aspiration:  work and family"

Makes me wonder.