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My Letter, "Betraying Lincoln's Legacy," is in today's Phila. Inquirer (on Migrants and DeSantis) [1]

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Date: 2023-02-21  

They did what?

My letter, Betraying LIncoln's Legacy, is published in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

The Union League of Philadelphia describes itself “as a patriotic society to support the Union and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln.” Last month, the group gave its gold medal to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a move that flies in the face of one of Lincoln’s most important legacies. In April 1863, just six months after the League was formed, Lincoln issued a code of military conduct for the Union armies, which states: “Military necessity does not admit of cruelty, that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge, nor of maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions.” Last September, DeSantis grotesquely mocked this principle by sending two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, dropping them off without making any provision for their care. There was no “necessity,” military or otherwise. It was a stunt, trying to embarrass Democrats by dumping migrants into a blue state. Fortunately, local nonprofit groups and the federal government took care of them.* These stunts dehumanize real men, women, and children by treating them as a nuisance to be gotten rid of. As pawns in a perverse joke on more welcoming places. As wretched refuse, not to be welcomed, but exploited for political gain. As part of a process of lies, misinformation, and cultivation of hate. We can and should debate short- and long-term immigration policy. But condemning gratuitous cruelty requires no debate, only an immediate and continuing censure by government officials, media, religions, and all who treasure decency. Peter Janovsky, New York City

The key word is “decency.”

Despite many who applaud aberrant behavior like migrant stunts, I firmly believe there is a “decent majority” in this country.

All we have to do is get them to vote:

Let’s register millions of young voters”. Please support these groups:

***

*Omitted from the Paper for space reasons:

”Governor Abbott of Texas performed a similar stunt last Christmas Eve: dropping off three buses of inadequately dressed migrant families on the freezing, 18-degree streets of Washington, D.C., near the Vice-President’s official residence.”

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/21/2154189/-My-Letter-Betraying-Lincoln-s-Legacy-is-in-today-s-Philadelphia-Inquirer

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