When historian Jon Meacham addressed the Abraham Lincoln Association banquet in Springfield Tuesday, he recounted Lincoln's advocacy of a peaceful transition of power were he to lose the 1864 election. It is telling that this was one of the biggest applause moments of the evening. That a huge slice of the electorate is captivated by an election-denier liar is a threat to democracy. Though trumpism is different from slavery, both movements are the result of selfishness and greed, which lead, ultimately, to autocracy. "Democracy succeeds where there is give as well as take," Meacham said. Lincoln's war was to give – to broaden rights, the president told soldiers, so that all may have "an open field and a fair chance." The current struggle against the disillusion that stems from delusion can have no more worthy a goal. – Fletcher Farrar, editor
Editors note 6/23/22
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