When Civics was taught in our public education system students memorized and later recited passages of many of our nations’ seminal documents – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Even to this day I can recall from memory many of these passages that not only defined our nation but shaped the minds and development of those who were fortunate at an early age to be exposed to the philosophy and thinking of America’s Founders. The powerful and timeless message contained in President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address still rings true and in view of our current political divisiveness and deserves reexamining.
To refresh your memory, the address was delivered by President Lincoln on November 19, 1863, during the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery known today as Gettysburg National Cemetery. This hallowed ground was where the brutal Battle of Gettysburg – the high-water mark of the Confederacy – was fought four and one-half months earlier. The Civil War was America’s most brutal and costly war fought in an effort to save the unity our nascent nation. To this day its scars are forever seared into our national psyche even though it occurred well over one hundred years ago.
President Lincoln was not featured as the event’s main speaker but rather the featured “orator” was Mr. Edward Everett, a former US senator, Governor of Massachusetts, and President of Harvard University. His now forgotten speech was 13,607 words in length and lasted over two hours. However, in less than 275 words Abraham Lincoln captured the essence and humanity of the Civil War and charted a course for a deeply divided nation to move forward.
As the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History points out “he drew upon the biblical concepts of suffering, consecration, and resurrection.” Lincoln described the war as “a momentous chapter in the global struggle for self-government, liberty, and equality” and that “a government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
For a nation that had been torn asunder by the ravages of a brutal war these were comforting words, not only those loyal to the Union but indeed a foreshadowing to those soon to be vanquished members of the Confederate States of America. Even though each side disagreed violently on the issues of the day – slavery and states’ rights – at the end of the conflict we put our differences aside and moved forward as one people to become the world’s lasting beacon of democracy.
In view of the current Federal Government shutdown where the Democratic Party is making unreasonable demands and our rancorous state-wide election, and our fractured nation, the idealistic side of me says perhaps it time that we revisit and act upon the words of one of America’s greatest Presidents before it is too late ,e.g., lets us as neighbors reach across the aisle, compromise, and move forward. However, the realist in me says we are past that point at a Republicans we must stand and fight for what we believe in and know in our hearts what is right because as we know today’s Democrats do not compromise and only seek to remain in power to enact their extremist agenda. One only look north to New York City as a harbinger for what is to come in the Old Dominion unless we take our state and nation back.
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Tucker Carlson — a discredited loser — interviewed for 2 hours Nick Fuentes — an anti-Semie, white supremacist — and now the Heritage Foundation is coming apart at the seams, taking sides for/against Carlson and Fuentes.
Meanwhile, Trump — the leader of the cult now calling itself the Republican Party — clearly is rapidly declining physically and mentally.
So — what we are seeing now is the fight over leadership of the Republican Cult after Trump.
The stench of Trump drenches the former Republican Party while state and local Republicans try to figure out what to do because everything they tried in the Nov 2025 election failed. For example the failed “Moms for Liberty” ran 31 candidates in various races — every single one of the went down by huge margins.
This is gonna be very much like the last days of the Reich, when you had Himmler angling for the succession and trying to negotiate with the Allies on the sly, Bormann hellbent to make sure Himmler didn’t get the job, and Göring waiving around the piece of paper authorizing him as next in line and trying to figure out when to make his move.
FIFTEEN Virginia cities or counties that voted for Youngkin flipped to Spanberger. Because:
— Voters realized – too late – that Youngkin’s “CRT” message was nonsense and a lie.
— Voters realized that the Youngkin-Sears-Miyares “message” about “boys in girls bathrooms” was just more of the same lie that had nothing to do with reality and had nothing to do with their lives.
— Voters rejected any- and everything with the foul stench of Trump on it — Youngkin, Miyares, Sears, Reid were covered in Trump’s foul odor.
The recently elected Virginia government is a mirror image of Mamdani only at the state level. Frankly, the situation is worse than NYC because the entire state is fully blue. Virginia is clearly California East, and anyone with a brain can see the coming decline. Just a few years ago, Virginia’s virtue signaling Dems got rid of the very effective death penalty, an example of the suicidal empathy that infects the nation – also see attacks on ICE or on anybody wearing a MAGA hat.