Just Curious

Abe Lincoln

I'm not sure where this is leading to, but I might read Elton Trueblood's "Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish" over the summer.

Now I would not characterize Trueblood, an old-time Republican, as a neoconservative. His political philosophy was probably much closer to libertarian conservatives who had isolationist streaks, like Herbert Hoover (a fellow Quaker too!) and Robert Taft. But his understanding of Lincoln as a "realizer" of the Founding Fathers' ideals is very close to Harry V. Jaffa, a former student of Leo Strauss; and his idea of the republic as means by which individuals could become 'virtuous' is almost certainly non Anglo-American in origin: He's talking about positive liberty here, and Anglo-American political ideology is all about negative liberty.

posted by James Chang @ 8:56 PM