[Switiespils]

What's with the agenda?

I'm pointing out examples of American authoritarianism and you seem to be defending or ignoring the examples by playing a gotcha game of ad hominem moral relativism.

You've introduced the slavery strawman as an excuse to discount federalism and the principles of a republican form of government.

You've parroted an absurd assertion by Tim Russert ("We’d still have slavery") in an attempt to delegitimize Paul's retelling and interpretation of American principles and deficiencies.

As for regurgitating a Claremont Institute book review as a counter to my characterization of Lincoln as an authoritarian, it misses the mark completely.

Lincoln was an authoritarian by any definition and committed abhorrent crimes against humanity and the constitution.

Some (from a long list):
19. Supporting a conscription law.

20. Sending troops into New York City to quell draft riots related to his emancipation proclamation, resulting in 300 to 1,000 deaths.

31. Invading the South without consulting Congress.

32. Illegally declaring martial law.

33. Illegally blockading ports.

34. Illegally suspending habeas corpus.

35. Illegally imprisoning thousands of Northern citizens.

36. Tolerating their subjection to inhumane conditions in prison.

37. Systematically attacking Northern newspapers and their employees, including by imprisonment.

38. Deporting his chief political enemy in the North, Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio.

39. Confiscating private property and firearms.

40. Ignoring the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

41. Tolerating the arrest of ministers who refused to pray for Lincoln.

42. Arresting several duly elected members of the Maryland Legislature along with the mayor of Baltimore and Maryland Congressman Henry May.

43. Placing Kansas and Kentucky under martial law.

44. Supporting a law that indemnified public officials for unlawful acts.

45. Laying the groundwork for the establishment of conscription and income taxation as permanent institutions.

46. Interfering with and rigging elections in Maryland and elsewhere in the North.

47. Censoring all telegraph communication.

48. Preventing opposition newspapers from being delivered by the post office.

52. Executing those who refused to take a loyalty oath.

53.Closing churches and arresting ministers.

54. Burning and plundering Southern cites.

55. Quartering troops in private homes unlawfully.

58. Engineering a constitutional revolution through military force which destroyed state sovereignty and replaced it with rule by the Supreme Court (and the United States Army).

62. Waging war on civilians by bombing, destruction of homes, and confiscation of food and farm equipment.

64. Using civilians as hostages.

70. Establishing precedents for centralized powers and suppression of liberties that continue to be cited today, (Not least among them Hitler).

With little hyperbole Abe is compared to Saddam