Pat Buchanan has come out with something rather … odd. In “Democracies
& double standards” he argues that President Lincoln’s behavior
during the American Civil War justifies Putin’s behavior in
Russia now. What right did Lincoln have to
suspended habeas corpus, sent troops to prevent a free
election in Maryland, sought to arrest Chief Justice Roger B. Taney,
shut down newspapers, shot down rioters on the streets of New York
and made himself dictator of the Union
or any of the other egregious actions he took during the Civil War?
How does having a failure in our own history excuse the failure
of others? If the south had managed to find allies, how would
that have been different from France aiding us in our revolt from
England? (On a side note, this is exactly what the Emancipation
Proclamation was about: keeping England out of the war.) How can we
NOT call Putin on his retreat towards totalitarianism? What sort
of credibility would we have if we failed to? Basically, what in
the world is going on in this article‽