The Black Republican

As I said yesterday, mentioning the Civil War or Gettysburg will probably get you a post on this site. Mentioning Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, will positively get a post.

Like Martin Luther King Jr. a century later, Lincoln seemed to understand that epochal decisions are rarely made in a secular frame of mind. When great leaders make daring leaps, they often feel themselves surrendering to Divine Providence, and their strength flows from their faith that they are acting in accordance with transcendent moral truth.

I like David Brooks, and admire how he has woven the history of this country - and Lincoln in particular - into this article. I must, however, take exception to the second half of the conclusion he reaches:

One lesson we can learn from Lincoln is that there is no one vocabulary we can use to settle great issues. There is the secular vocabulary and the sacred vocabulary. Whether the A.C.L.U. likes it or not, both are legitimate parts of the discussion.

Another is that while the evangelical tradition is deeply consistent with the American creed, sometimes evangelical causes can overflow the banks defined by our founding documents. I believe the social conservatives' attempt to end the judicial filibuster is one of these cases.

I was with him up to that last sentence. The attempt to end the judicial filibuster is based on the Constitution and Originalism, not because of pressure from the evangelical right. Abraham Lincoln never wrestled about whether or not to uphold the Constitution, and would have sided with anyone (Republican or Democrat) who was attempting to do so.