Posted by Matt Hawes on 01/31/10 02:43 AM Last updated 01/31/10 10:05 AM   [Newer: The Judge on YouTube] [Older: Thousands in Tokyo Want U.S. Troops Out]

I don't think that question is too hard to answer, and it is also the name of one of our C4L-sponsored events at CPAC 2010 - taking place Feb. 18-20 in Washington, D.C. - that I am really looking forward to.

Featuring Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo, our Thursday, February 18 "Lincoln on Liberty: Friend or Foe?" event will directly confront the myths surrounding one of the establishment's favorites.

Here's our promotional information for the lecture:

In modern times, President Abraham Lincoln is viewed as a secular saint, a figure of legend who receives almost universal reverence.

But does a close examination of the historical record support conventional wisdom? Or do the facts paint a different picture of our sixteenth president?

Was Lincoln the Great Emancipator? Or was he a dictator in all but name who destroyed the Founders' vision of our Republic?

Author and Loyola College economics professor Thomas DiLorenzo explores the Lincoln legacy in this FREE one hour lecture.

The speech will take place in the Delaware Room on Thursday, February 18 at 1:00pm. A Q&A will follow the presentation.

Volunteers are coming in from all across the country to help us make an impact at CPAC, and discounted tickets and lodging are going fast.  "Lincoln on Liberty" is just one of many great activities we have planned(including the nonintervention forum mentioned earlier by Jesse, a live taping of Judge Napolitano's Freedom Watch, a Tom Woods event on nullification, and much, much more.)  Find further CPAC details here and reserve your spot today.

Posted 01/31/10 10:19 AM abjectivist Springport, MI

Hoohh! You guys are playing with elemental fire. Sure hope a video of this and the reaction make it to the web.

Posted 01/31/10 11:36 AM BruceKoerber Cedar Rapids, IA

Lincoln was President when the world was coming alive and he was an ego-driven interventionist just like all politicians. Emancipation came about despite Lincoln, and emancipation was used to camouflage the crimes of Statism. There is a similarity to today where 'racism' is used as a camouflage to hide socialism.

Posted 01/31/10 1:58 PM RiverRock Concord, NC

This is an unfruitful endeavor. You will be branded racist by most people even if you are right.

Posted 01/31/10 2:17 PM Isomies Mechanicsville, VA

As someone who didn't grow up in the USA, I really don't have a horse in the "North vs South" race. As a historian it's been my desire to seek out the truth of the past. I think a great part of the freedom movement has been to discover the truth in all areas; history, economics, philosophy, politics, etc. When Ron Paul stood out in the debates and said it was U.S. foreign policy that motivates terrorists, it was the truth but he was branded extremist and unAmerican. When Austrian economists predict that real estate bubbles will lead to busts and depressions, they are branded as doom-sayers and on the fringe. When you look at the early history of Christianity and scripture and point out the hypocrisy of modern-day Christian Warmongers, you are branded as a coward, unpatriotic, ungrateful heathen. Take a look at Lincoln for a minute and what he did, and you will see he was no angel. I am interested in the truth, and if I let fear of ridicule shut me up from speaking the truth then I might as well call it quits. I feel like I'm in good company with principled people like Dr. Paul. I'm reminded of the motto of the Mises Institute "Tu ne Cede Malis sed contra audentior ito", do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.

Posted 01/31/10 2:17 PM MRoCkEd Cheshire, CT

I hope lots of typical neocons attend this

Posted 01/31/10 2:18 PM dpetersen45 Quincy, WA

I agree, I think we could use our time more wisely. There are other fish to fry other than Lincoln.

Posted 01/31/10 2:34 PM Thomas Woods Auburn, AL

Keith Olbermann says the words "flippant" and "arrogant," when used by white men to describe Obama, are racist code words. At some point you have to stop caring what terrorizers like Olbermann think. As for "racism," have you ever read Lincoln's opinions of blacks?

Posted 01/31/10 2:59 PM zonraalder East Lansing, MI

While I agree Lincoln was no friend of liberty or the constitution it would be wrong to say the confederacy was right as I remember reading a piece by Reason(the libertarian blog/magazine) that highlighted some of the very anti-liberty things the confederacy did, which is right here http://reason.com/blog/2009/09/18/the-confederate-leviathan

Posted 01/31/10 3:06 PM jaustin168 Lenoir, NC

Lest anyone forget.... we have already been labeled for our views and our stand against foreign intervention. Should we fear any other label of contempt from lesser men of weak minds. It is they who fear truth and it is they who can only silence us at the barrel of a gun, and only then if we let them.

Posted 01/31/10 3:12 PM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

"Christian Warmonger" is an oxymoron.

Posted 01/31/10 3:20 PM MichaelKoffenberger Stewartstown, PA

"The Real Lincoln" by Thomas DiLorenzo is a pure eye-opener and a must read for everyone! I'm certain that this talk will be the "talk" of CPAC!

Posted 01/31/10 4:27 PM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

"Christian Warmonger" is an oxymoron.

Posted 01/31/10 5:00 PM ChadSweigert Annville, PA

Lincoln in his own words had no care or position on Slavery. His simple, main goal was to "preserve the union" at any cost.

Posted 01/31/10 6:22 PM Thomas Woods Auburn, AL

It doesn't exactly take an awful lot of courage for Reason to condemn the Confederacy in 2010. Gee, they're upset at a government everyone has been taught to loathe -- how visionary. DiLorenzo doesn't say the Confederacy was "right" in the sense that everything it did could be defended. Why would DiLorenzo support the military draft, paper money inflation, etc.? That's just a p.c. caricature of his position. His point, rather, is that according to a great many authorities there was indeed a constitutional right of secession. The South was invaded. Yes, its government was guilty of the usual run of outrages of governments at war. No sensible person disputes that. But it's kind of relevant to note that they were in fact invaded.

Posted 01/31/10 6:31 PM Isomies Mechanicsville, VA

@BillNM: I am referring to those who profess to be Christians and pro-life who unquestioningly give loyalty and obedience to the state, especially when it is at war, and support any military intervention as just. I think Laurence Vance does a good job in contrasting the behavior of some modern-day Christians with that of the decidedly anti-state, non-cooperative early Christians, many of whom in letters and in action defied the state especially when it came to war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkE69fKPNTY

Posted 01/31/10 7:00 PM Spencer Rocky Mount, NC

Mr. Woods covers the subject very well. Ivan Eland in his book "Recarving Rushmore" ranks Lincoln #29 versus the Constitution. Personally I think he's being generous. Mr. Dilorenzo's "The Real Lincoln" is one of the best I've read on the subject. Walter D. Kennedy and Al Benson Jr. wrote "Red Republicans and Lincoln's Marxists" which is also very interesting. There is no question Lincoln centralized power in Washington and had no problem ignoring the Constitution.

Posted 01/31/10 7:30 PM Paul S. Brighton, MI

Did anyone ask Justin Raimondo. His years of hard editorial work at anntiwar.com and the work on his book "Reclaiming the American Right" certainly would be good historical background for a truly conservative foundation.

Posted 01/31/10 7:55 PM jaustin168 Lenoir, NC

I just finished Di Lorenzo's "Lincoln Unmasked" last night. Talk about timing, huh! I knew of most of what I had read from small articles and hearsay from blogger's and conversations. But when you get it all wrapped up tightly and delivered as Di Lorenzo does then it really hits home. We've been getting screwed for so long now and most of us (the unawakened) don't even notice. Wish I could be there to hear it from the horses mouth.

Posted 02/01/10 12:53 AM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

I have no idea how I posted twice and that is a first for me. A book I just finished re this subject is "Lincoln Uber Alles" by Emison. It will make your blood boil. The counterrevolution Lincoln fought was unconstitutional and was not North vs South, but the Federal Government vs the Confederate States. And, it was about money, as usual. Lincoln was a racist of the first stripe and the only time he held audience with blacks was to discuss their deportation. And, I have only touched the hem of the garment.

Posted 02/01/10 01:47 AM abjectivist Springport, MI

As an unemployed Michigander, watching my life savings evaporate, I can say I do have a horse in this race. The modern conservatives who think they own my soul are no better than the modern liberals who think they own my pocketbook. Both beleive in the primacy of the state. Both are wrong. If Tom DiLorenzo's unique mixture of vitriol humor and fact can cause a few of these cpacers to question their beliefs about the Honest Mr Lincoln maybe they will question the change in the nature of our government that took place during his reign. Maybe they will see that a when nation is conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, that nation must be subservient to each of us.........Oh hell, I want a smaller useful government. Go to Mises and read the Law. I'm really looking forward to this. Any money spent to shake up this status quo is money well spent and a youtube video can be seen by many and is cheap. Give them Hell Tom.

Posted 02/01/10 08:02 AM MichaelBarry Sebring, FL

At the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln is depicted as this huge figure sitting in an immense chair. The front legs of the chair are modern reproductions of the ancient Roman fasces.

Posted 02/01/10 11:43 AM technomaget Robbinsville, NJ

While this may have educational value, attacking Lincoln is not a wise political move unless you attack the confederacy even more. They were the first to institute conscription and their violations of individual rights (even taking slavery aside) were even more extreme than the violations Lincoln did. And this made them greater hypocrites because their talk of an intrusive federal government turned out to be just talk when it came time for the confederate government to be all intrusive.

Posted 02/01/10 1:27 PM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

Both the Federal Government and the Confederate Government began with voluntary troops but both engaged in conscription. The South simply wanted to depart the Union peacefully. If that had been permitted there would have been no war; no conscription; and 600,000 lives would have been saved.

Posted 02/01/10 1:42 PM technomaget Robbinsville, NJ

Yes, but there was the small matter of enslaving a couple of million people. The consequences that followed were at least as much the south's fault as the north's.

Posted 02/01/10 1:54 PM MichaelBarry Sebring, FL

Had no slavery compromise been made at the time of the Constitutional Convention...the north and the south would have gone separate ways from the beginning. Slavery would have ended much sooner and without war for economic reasons. The compromise of the Constitution itself was the main reason that slavery lasted as long as it did.

Posted 02/01/10 2:22 PM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

"The consequences that followed were at least as much the south's fault as the north's." I disagree. I don't accept the premise that it was North vs South, but the Federal Government vs the Confederacy. Slavery was practiced in both the South and the North, being good for business. Manumission was being practiced mainly in the North as a slow form of release, but it had many loop holes designed to carry over the benefits of slavery to the owners. Interestingly, the slave was generally better off than the free Black in the North who was even restricted from redress in the courts unless there was a white man for a witness. In Indiana the Black only had the option of leaving the State; he could not enter the State. Slavery was not and is not the issue. Money was and is.

Posted 02/01/10 6:44 PM Willij4lib Everett, WA

I have been amazed at the statements in this blog asking myself if the folks back then had computers would they have been going back in forth is some odd agreement non-agreement state? In the time of Lincoln where were the sources of education of the time? How did these people so determine such a direction? Were they such leaders they grasped at straws and went to war? Or was it influences of things before them? When we live in a present time now? Is the things that happened only today that I see or is it an accumulation of many things, books, stories, views made on such things? Or is it past history that effects still linger today? Why do we go on so much about such a small pieces, is it to clear the path to make this destination? What is the destination and what is it that is really holding us back from our arrival? History has a very long trail, these are but bits and pieces along the way or its path. How long has it been since freedom was really free anyway? Has it been so free since? When, where, I do not see it though I look all around. When I spend all my time looking at all the little pieces I have a really hard time locating the real picture and the cause of me being here, for if freedom was as brilliant as I dream it then would we be here? Lincoln was just another man linked in a chain of events. Not a starting point nor the finish, how much time shall we spend? How far is Liberty away?

Posted 02/01/10 8:34 PM Paul S. Brighton, MI

"How far is Liberty away?" Willij, Only as far away as your question. Individual liberty is a personal responsibility. Then what? I leave you free, I call you 'friend' [from Old English freond, prp. of freogan "to love, to favor," Related to Old English freo "free."]* How serious am I about this friendship? Am I willing to invest in the scholarship needed to finally put the puzzle together? If you are free to pick up that yoke how might you experience liberty? Perhaps by making it real for yourself and if you are lucky for others. Your questions deserve answers. Its a good start. *http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=friend&searchmode=none

Posted 02/02/10 08:31 AM Willij4lib Everett, WA

So are you attempting to tell me then I am free to do as I choose presently? I can go ride my ATV in a forest because its there? Or is there some Ruler dictating my rights? Liberty is a responsibility, it is an action that is done and then hopefully achieved. Are you able to achieve for all others as well as your self? Why not? To many flowers along the path to look at instead of the focus on that I wish to reach? Seriousness takes no place in my mission, actions do. To focus on my mission is how it gets done, is it done yet? No. Can I do it alone? No. Invest means to know what to look for, the whys, the stopping points, the causes of such a deficiency. These are investigative and take time and many actions amongst the group, what have you found what do you suggest? What is the achievement we seek? The trail of history starts some where and ends some where and with it shares its experiences and its results. Are these the results you seek? If you take the present Document the Constitution of the United States would you say we have achieved its goal? Why? Is it because the road map is filled and inundated with audacities, with Rule and Thinking of the ages? Maybe the real focus should be on the building the road map, clearly defined and understood by the most basic of us, you know, the working people of America, the producers, the ones that make you live by the products they produce so you may experience a much better life. How did such road maps get put in place anyway, magic or by friends of such an act as Liberty? I ask these questions to make you get your shovel out and dig because it is the actions of digging the truth is revealed. Shovel ready?

Posted 02/02/10 10:15 AM technomaget Robbinsville, NJ

I agree that the problem was with the compromise in the Constitution, no question about it. But I don't agree that the war was only about money and not about slavery. All the discussions, debates and writings at the time are about slavery. And you can't really separate money from slavery anyway since slavery was the means for rich southerners to make more money.

Posted 02/02/10 10:35 AM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

No question that emancipation was the subject of the day and it was used to rally the troops; but the South was trading with Europe for industrial goods that were superior to the industrial goods from the North. The central government was losing tariffs. Lincoln is on record stating that his purpose was preservation of the union. Slavery was just a tool. No Lincoln; no war.

Posted 02/02/10 11:20 AM technomaget Robbinsville, NJ

Actually, no Republican; no war. I think any Republican being elected would have made the south secede, which means the only way to avoid war would have been to elect a slave supporting democrat. Not that I am excusing Lincoln from starting a war. I just think it is easier to condemn from the point of view of the present knowing what happened, than from the point of view at the time not knowing that it would be the biggest war in US history dwarfing all other casualties combined. My point also, was that focusing on Lincoln (other than in a purely academic setting) is asking for trouble and doesn't help the cause of liberty today. It's like we are asking to be marginilized if we go this route. Let's focus on the politicians of today rather than revered politicians of the past. The politicians of today don't have the aura of sainthood Lincoln has (even Barack Obama) and are fair game for attack.

Posted 02/02/10 12:03 PM MichaelBarry Sebring, FL

I find myself in agreement with the comments of BillNM. Keep in mind that slavery is a very expensive social structure inasmuch as it utilizes an unwilling work force. Slaves are not motivated to rise early and work hard, and receive no reward for self improvement. The typical slave is going to do the absolute minimum to avoid being horse whipped. Yet the the indolent slave must be housed, clothed, and fed. Levels of worker productivity are necessarily very low. At the end of the day, the lower price and higher quality of European industrial goods would have enabled the South to eventually harvest huge revenues from tariffs. Much of the difference in pricing could have been harvested in tariffs while consumers would still celebrate the acquisition of higher quality products. In due course the value of a motivated work force would have been realized as well as the replacement of workers with mechanical devices. War was unnecessary and might have been avoided without the slavery compromise of the Constitution.

Posted 02/02/10 1:21 PM Willij4lib Everett, WA

The fact that slavery existed in the first place and that the Constitution has always been a compromise period, is evidence something else is in the air. Had the Constitution made its desired result as some have put it we would have had a real Republic and we do not and have not is precisely my point. Lincoln had nothing to do with it. He was merely the affect of that before him, Slavery and an unclear Constitution diluted by Tyrants and their typical game of obscurity. List one time in the history of our country we were truly free without the pounding of idiots at the door step? When? It reaches far back before Lincoln and its display loud and clear, what on earth is it source? Today we see it as clearly as then only in bigger form, it has never gone away. It has never gone away because it has always been in disguised right in front of you. You used their books, studied their history, you went to their universities and yes this is not looked at. How sad, because it was their words that they shared. Words and more words, these words were not for you. They were developed for the elitist, you have only acquired many and hope you know most but doubtful. Read the dictionaries and wonder why it is filled to the brim. Where did all of these come from, what reasons were used? So many read books and claim knowledge, ha. Not so, it is the validation of such information, how is this done? Yes you have to go through an experience to really see if it is bull or not. Awe but read my books and pass my tests and call yourselves educated, LOL. Who is laughing now? Like I said, Dig…

Posted 02/02/10 2:03 PM Paul S. Brighton, MI

Willij, If someone tells you how to act, are you willing to submit to them, to me? So much for being free. But your liberty ends where another's begins. Is the forest your property? Is there risk of fire that may damage life and property you do not own. Are you not serious about your actions, will any actions be OK, as long as your are doing something. By the nature of the questions in your posts, it does not seem so. I find it most useful to think of the Constitution as a work in progress. It is only a paper barrier unless men stand for its principles. It is the task of each generation to discover those principles and find their place in history. A history that only that individual will know for sure. Millions have gone this way before and history will not remember them, yet their contributions are the very spirit by which the Constitution lives. Not as a mere piece of paper but as an ideal men of action and energy give heed. The Bill of Rights does not give you rights it tells the government they must not interfere with your inalienable rights. Assemble becasue you are free. Speak of liberty if you are free. Stand up for another whose freedom is under seige. Practice being free, it may be your courage and example that leads others. Sometimes it is the simple things. Our current economic turmoils may leave many in great difficulty. Take action to preserve your freedom even in difficult times. Paying off debts might be the ticket for some. Then there are those who have become dependent on government or charity. Is there a way to help them rediscover their lost freedom. The government does not produce anything but it too often takes from some and gives to others, based on political whims. We are the producers and we should keep the fruits of our labors. The Federal Reserve works to reduce the value of the money about 1% a year. If you save $1000 this year it will only buy $990 worth next year. If you pay the government $10,000 in taxes, do you ever think that you could better use that money on health care or nest egg, yourself. Many do not believe that the government way off in DC can make a one size fits all plan. Plus they get a fee for administering their plan. No magic. Just people like you and me doing our best to be useful and observant. Each has to find their own strengths and interests and use them to make freedom real. I call you friend, that is I leave you free. Friend and free have the same roots. (history of language) It doesn't cost me anything and I expect nothing in return. It's really nothing at all but means everything. Shovel Ready!

Posted 02/02/10 3:30 PM BillNM Carlsbad, NM

"Actually, no Republican; no war." Your speculation that any Republican elected would result in the South seceding is probably correct. That that would lead to war is an assumption. Many in the North were opposed to war including some prominent Republicans. And, yes we should concentrate on politicians of today. Too many are just like Lincoln. I get the sense that you believe that the people in the North were morally superior to the people in the South during those days; a position expounded by many of the Lincoln scholars and taught in the government schools. I will not try to persuade you otherwise.

Posted 02/02/10 5:33 PM Willij4lib Everett, WA

Paul, It all depends on what act they ask for, when they tell me I look them in the eye and ask how high, really? The forest is public land for all users, O don’t get me wrong there are those destine to impose by their own view of authority the land is theirs but it is a view only, they are like me a user of it. Hopefully with a little respect and responsibility for it. Quoting fire in a forest from an ATV only shows you have no clue, that’s the thing about the actual experience you would know it does not constitute fire. No, I prefer to decide, go do the action, then look at it, see what the result is. Sometimes I go O crap back to the drawing board and other times I go HELL YA!! Excellent work. I don’t know about you but for me that’s called fun and far from serious. The nature of the questions I asked? hmmmmmm, I did asked them did you go look? I have to tell you, there is a big difference between defining principals clearly in a simple form for the masses and the constitution, yes many agree with the ones stated as I but its clarity and understanding a poor product at best. I work real hard not to think and work to view what is there, what result we gettin? Looks bad to me, I am not proud at all it is stomped on. I had to know how it was achieved, how about you? You are correct, the Bill of rights says this, when is the last time you have seen it enforced. I am taxed highly, told stories that I know are lies and I am supposed to sit and act like this is workable. This is not going to happen. Right now my courage and my findings are real tough for some to swallow, cannot say I blame them either, it was damn tough to look at to be honest. The government is infiltrated with liars and cheats intent on steeling. Encouraging people not to work, hey more power when people are desperate and not working. These folks have not produced a good result that I have seen yet that is highly successful at sustaining itself. Nothing, its results poor, there not even worth the paper they right this stuff on. You are absolutely correct, there is not a bit of magic, it’s tooth and nail baby. Time to get her done by actions, a clear road way to follow, a clear destination to arrive at. No architect could achieve a building without his drawings. Nor can a civilized nation get it together with documents such as these, where criminals can run the roost. Friends tell each other things, some listen and some don’t, some are far more curios than others. But bottom line is a good friend shares what he knows. The language is a tool by the elitist, you better check your history books, I have been there, I looked right in the eye from its inception and what I tell you is true. Take it with you, throw it away, but since I have rid myself of the education of these elitist I have seen far far more and ask myself, what the hell is this and then demanded I must work to stop the stupidity from spreading for another 5000 years. Be willing to go look for yourself and fallow it all the way back to its first recordings, be damn ready for what you will see. Liberty will have to be earned by our actions to make it, it must be known well and clearly by the many. Guidance is not a bad thing poor control is. Guidance is only a form of pointing in a direction and creating curiosities to find out for yourself and no book on this planet will ever achieve this with out application.

Posted 02/02/10 11:17 PM TrevBenson Surry, VA

Well said Mr. Woods. It is easy to rip on an already subjugated enemy of the Federal Government. What takes guts is pointing out the atrocities committed by the winner of that conflict. Many Libertarians still follow the status quo by regarding Lincoln as a good President, the Mises Institute is one of the few groups willing to point out the truth in defense of liberty and I'm happy to see the Campaign For Liberty follow suit.