Who is the racist, Abraham Lincoln or Ron Paul?

Ron Paul is once again making headlines with his often controversial, libertarian minded views. Last week, it was reported that he refused to return a $500 donation from Stormfront founder Don Black. Asked by Neil Cavuto why he has not returned the donation, Dr. Paul says, “Why should I give him money back to promote his cause? That doesn’t make any sense to me.” This time, it was his suggestion that the Civil War was unnecessary that has many suggesting that he is a racist. Ron Paul also suggested on Meet the Press that if the United States wanted to end slavery, it could have done so by purchasing, and then freeing the slaves.

So, here is a short, easy quiz. I have listed six quotes and the goal is to identify whether these were uttered by Ron Paul or Abraham Lincoln.

1. “It is better for the Negro and white races to be separated.”
2. “You and we are different races. We have between us a broader physical difference than exists between any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both.”
3. “Your race suffer very greatly, many of them, by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason, at last, why we should be separated.”
4. “Even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with white people.”
5. “On this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours.”
6. “Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is still upon you. I cannot alter it if I would. See your present condition, the Country engaged in war, our white men cutting one another's throats, and then consider what we know to be the truth — But for your race among us there would be no war, although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or another. It is better for us both therefore to be separated.”

Now, total your responses by adding one point for each answer you think is attributed to Ron Paul, zero for each quote you think was said by Abraham Lincoln.

Answers

If you scored 3-6 points on this quiz, then you have bought the media’s anti-Ron propaganda hook, line, and sinker.

If you scored 1-2 points, you tend to believe everything you read in the media.

If you scored 0 points, Congratulations, because you know that all six of these were quotes from Abraham Lincoln, and were from address made by Lincoln on to some 500 free African Americans, on the White House lawn, April 14, 1862. These quotes can be verified on page 370 of Volume 5 of the Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler and published by Rutgers University Press.

Surprised?

At first glance, Ron Paul's comments about the Civil War seem outrageous and possibly racist. After all, Lincoln is one of our most admired Presidents, and he is often credited for having ended slavery in America. However, in August of 1862 Lincoln replied to editor Horace Greeley stating his objective was to save the Union and not to either save or destroy slavery. He went on to say that if he could save the Union without freeing a single slave, he would do it. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was a reluctant gesture, that proclaimed freedom for slaves within the Confederacy, although not those in strategically important border states or the rest of the Union.

Before you condemn Ron Paul for suggesting that the Civil War should not have been fought, consider that the United States is the only country in the world that went to war to end slavery. Also, consider that there are many forms of slavery, many of which are still abundant in society today.

According to Wikipedia, Slavery is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services. The term also refers to the status or condition of those persons who are treated as the property of another person, household, company, corporation or government. This is referred to as "chattel slavery".

Considering the definition of slavery as such, isn't Selective Service a form of slavery? Doesn’t the idea of Selective Service run contrary to a free society? Ron Paul objects to Selective Service on the grounds that it implies that the state owns you.

Isn't the income tax a form of slavery? After all, the income tax implies that the government owns all of the fruits of your labor and arbitrarily decides what percentage you get to keep. This is one of the fundamental arguments for why Ron Paul would fight to repeal the 16th Amendment.

We must also consider the Bush Administration’s suspension of Habeas Corpus and the detention of “enemy combatants” that may ultimately be subjected to forced labor in one of the Halliburton constructed gulags across this country, which would also be a form of slavery. At this point, it would also be relevant to mention Lincoln was the only U.S. President to suspend habeas corpus nationwide, which he did on April 27, 1861. He did so largely to suppress dissent by the Copperheads, a group of Democrats in the North that wanted to settle the Civil War peacefully. According to Wikipedia:

“Lincoln was also motivated by requests by generals to set up military courts to rein in "Copperheads" or Peace Democrats, and those in the Union who supported the Confederate cause. His action was challenged in court and overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court in Maryland (led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney) in Ex Parte Merryman, 17 F. Cas. 144 (C.C.D. Md. 1861). Lincoln ignored Taney's order. In the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis also suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law. This was in part to maintain order and spur industrial growth in the South to compensate for the economic loss inflicted by its secession.”

“The Copperheads sometimes talked of violent resistance, and in some cases started to organize. They never actually made an organized attack, though. As war opponents, Copperheads were suspected of disloyalty, and Lincoln often had their leaders arrested and held for months in military prisons without trial.”

“In 1864, Lambdin P. Milligan and four others were accused of planning to steal Union weapons and invade Union prisoner-of-war camps and were sentenced to hang by a military court. However, their execution was not set until May 1865, so they were able to argue the case after the Civil War. In Ex Parte Milligan 71 U.S. 2 (1866), the Supreme Court of the United States decided that it was unconstitutional for the President to try to convict citizens before military tribunals when civil courts were functioning. The trial of civilians by military tribunals is allowed only if civilian courts are closed. This was one of the key Supreme Court cases of the American Civil War that dealt with wartime civil liberties and martial law.”

Also, critics of Ron Paul's non-intervenionist foreign policy should consider that many displaced Iraqis are being forced into slavery. According to Wikipedia, "Many of the Iraqi women fleeing the Iraq War are turning to prostitution, others are trafficked abroad, to countries like Syria, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran.[100] In Syria alone, an estimated 50,000 Iraqi refugee girls and women, many of them widows, are forced into prostitution.[101] Cheap Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular destination for sex tourists. The clients come from wealthier countries in the Middle East - many are Saudi men.[102] High prices are offered for virgins.[103]"

Here is what Ron Paul himself has to say on racism. From his campaign site’s section on racism:
“A nation that once prided itself on a sense of rugged individualism has become uncomfortably obsessed with racial group identities.
The collectivist mindset is at the heart of racism.
Government as an institution is particularly ill-suited to combat bigotry. Bigotry at its essence is a problem of the heart, and we cannot change people's hearts by passing more laws and regulations.
It is the federal government that most divides us by race, class, religion, and gender. Through its taxes, restrictive regulations, corporate subsidies, racial set-asides, and welfare programs, government plays far too large a role in determining who succeeds and who fails. Government "benevolence" crowds out genuine goodwill by institutionalizing group thinking, thus making each group suspicious that others are receiving more of the government loot. This leads to resentment and hostility among us.
Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than as individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism.
The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence - not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.
In a free society, every citizen gains a sense of himself as an individual, rather than developing a group or victim mentality. This leads to a sense of individual responsibility and personal pride, making skin color irrelevant. Racism will endure until we stop thinking in terms of groups and begin thinking in terms of individual liberty.”
Ron Paul also has written about racism on his Congressional page about the comments made by Don Imus. Paul explains: “The young women on the basketball team Mr. Imus insulted are over 18 and can speak for themselves. It’s disconcerting to see third parties become involved and presume to speak collectively for minority groups. It is precisely this collectivist mindset that is at the heart of racism.”

He has also written of his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

It "not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society. Federal bureaucrats and judges cannot read minds to see if actions are motivated by racism. Therefore, the only way the federal government could ensure an employer was not violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to ensure that the racial composition of a business's workforce matched the racial composition of a bureaucrat or judge's defined body of potential employees. Thus, bureaucrats began forcing employers to hire by racial quota. Racial quotas have not contributed to racial harmony or advanced the goal of a color-blind society. Instead, these quotas encouraged racial balkanization, and fostered racial strife."[195]

“Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals . . . By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called “diversity” actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racists . . . we should understand that racism will endure until we stop thinking in terms of groups and begin thinking in terms of individual liberty.”

As for Ron Paul being photographed with Don Black and his son, if being photographed with a racist makes you a racist, then does this video of John McCain make him a 9/11 truther? Does this picture of Donald Rumsfeld mean that he supported Saddam Hussein? Does this picture of Hillary Clinton with George W. Bush mean that Hillary Clinton is supported by George Bush?
Ron Paul supports the Constitution of this country first and foremost. He is the staunchest defender in all of Congress of your rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. And, he defends these basic rights endowed by our Creator, for ALL Americans. Says Dr. Paul:
“The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.
More importantly, in a free society every citizen gains a sense of himself as an individual, rather than developing a group or victim mentality. This leads to a sense of individual responsibility and personal pride, making skin color irrelevant. Rather than looking to government to correct our sins, we should understand that racism will endure until we stop thinking in terms of groups and begin thinking in terms of individual liberty.”