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Debbie Harbeson

Selllersburg Resident


HARBESON: Looking at Lincoln’s legacy

By DEBBIE HARBESON
Local Columnist

I’m used to seeing lots of references about Abraham Lincoln in February, but the volume has certainly been pumped up this year since we are celebrating his 200th birthday.
Tourism dollars aside, he has always enjoyed popularity due to the historical context of his life and political career. Lots of myths and controversy surround Lincoln, though, and as I continue to learn more about him, it’s becoming apparent that he was basically just another politician taking advantage of the issues of the day to maintain his own power.

It’s clear that Lincoln did not go to war to free the slaves, but he certainly used the issue to his advantage. He was just like any other politician today in that the most important thing to him was maintaining the power of the government entity, in which he had gained control.

He was no better or worse in that regard at all. He stated clearly that his intention was to preserve the union and did not believe any state had the right to opt out. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing the revenue.

Lincoln also wasn’t too keen on individual freedoms, and he took the typical route of using war, danger and crisis to infringe on individual rights, most notably by suspending Habeas Corpus. I was also particularly interested when I learned he had the military arrest newspaper editors and owners who disagreed with his actions.

But the most fascinating event relating to individual rights that happened during the war that really makes me think is that Lincoln had to resort to conscription to continue his fight. Well, to be clearer, he conscripted the ones too poor to pay their way out of it.

Why do you think he had so much trouble getting people to go and die for the cause? Do you think the average person thought that those who wanted to opt out of the Union had as much right to do so as the founders who opted out of King George’s rule?

This does not mean I think the Confederacy was any better. They wanted the same thing Lincoln wanted, power and control over people — including the much more extreme government-sanctioned slavery. It’s interesting that they had to resort to conscription, too.

Thus, it makes me wonder how this all would have gone if neither side could have forced the average low-income person to go die for their power struggles, especially when I learned that almost every other country ended slavery through peaceful means.

Now here we are in 2009, still trying to figure out whether individual rights get any consideration against government actions. In Indiana, we’re currently discussing townships, county executives and consolidation. In Clark County, we’ve seen how governments can even increase their territory through forced annexation. Notice all the movement is more toward creating a larger “union” with fewer in charge. Do we have Lincoln to thank for this?

How about individual freedoms? Have we really progressed? Have we learned to leave each other alone to pursue our own goals and take responsibility for our own lives?

Or are we pushing individual freedom aside and trying to control others by promoting the creation of state laws forcing private businesses to not allow smoking on their property? These are just some recent examples of the continuing struggle of freedom versus power and control over the individual.

Is this Lincoln’s true legacy? Have we successfully rid ourselves of the awful idea that one private individual can own another only to move into another type of slavery where groups can control individuals through a variety of government “unions”?

Sellersburg resident Debbie Harbeson is planning her 200th birthday celebration and you’re invited. Write her at Debbie@debbieharbeson.com



MATTHEWS: Read your history, Ms. Harbeson

DAVE MATTHEWS
Local Guest Columnist


How utterly disgusting that we should even dignify so selfish an opinion as Debbie Harbeson’s piece concerning Lincoln’s legacy. Of course, I’m sure that being a “local columnist” from Sellersburg gives her the high ground on which to judge what even historians have not been able to destroy as still one of our greatest presidents.

Of course, if your intent was to stir up emotion by encouraging what has become the most common of American pastimes — tearing down any leader that continues to inspire respect and honor — then you certainly accomplished that with Ms. Harbeson’s invective comments.

I have traveled around the world and found that only in the United States do we now so highly elevate the absolute rights of the individual that we are willing to tear down those who might subjugate those rights to a higher good. I’m sure there is no selfishness so permanent in Ms. Harbeson’s personality, however, that couldn’t be remedied by a good tour in the military, which I would highly recommend to her.

Or, maybe she should sell all she has, give it to the poor and be a missionary in a communist country to those who don’t have the same rights she has — the same rights that allow her to slam one of our few remaining American heroes. Or even better yet, how about if she actually runs for office herself, gives up her personal life, stands against critics like herself who tear down every good thing she tries to do and then comment on how bad other politicians are.

Have we really become so cynical in this nation that we can’t see the good in any political action unless it somehow promotes the welfare of one’s self? If Ms. Harbeson will read the speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln, she will find that he did everything he possibly could — against continuous criticism like hers — to keep the union of our nation alive less than 100 years after it had been established.

Read your history, Ms. Harbeson. It was liberals such as President Buchanan and Sen. Steven Douglas who argued that they “cared not whether slavery be voted down or voted up” that Lincoln argued against in his “House divided against itself” speech of 1858. That doesn’t sound like a man who was “just another politician taking advantage of the issues of the day to maintain his own power,” as you have so crudely suggested. Only someone with absolutely no experience in leading people, politically or otherwise, would look upon the Civil War as being caused by a president who could not “bear the thought of losing the revenue” from some slightly unruly states who just wanted their personal freedom to own slaves. Please!

Reading Ms. Harbeson’s column would make one think that the real issue of the Civil War was whether or not any citizen should ever be subjected to a higher authority than their own personal liberties. I guess you are suggesting that if you wanted the personal right to own a slave, why should any government agency tell you shouldn’t, right Ms. Harbeson?

Maybe you have actually hit upon the real issue of the Civil War after all. And it could not be more of an appropriate discussion for our society today than ever. Your attitude expresses exactly why our nation remains divided. As in that day, people like you insist on maintaining their personal rights, no matter how it affects anyone else.

Only selfish attitudes like yours keep insisting on the right of smokers to blow their carcinogens into the faces of others, as you have suggested, so that they can maintain their personal liberties, no matter who it affects. Only a narrow, selfish view would see conscription into the military during time of war and loss of personal liberties to maintain the public welfare and safety as a serious attack on their personal liberties.

I still remember the few members of my generation who exercised their “personal liberties” to sneak off to Canada, so they could avoid conscription during the Vietnam War, while their fellow countrymen sacrificially gave up their lives for something bigger than themselves.

Of course, today, we castigate those “warmongers” and praise those who were so brave that they’d leave their homes instead of giving up their personal freedoms.

Thankfully, Ms. Harbeson, there are far more Americans still around who see self-sacrifice and subjugating their personal liberties to a higher good as worthwhile.

So, while you’re complaining about not being able to smoke in a restaurant, please be so good as to thank one of our returning military members for giving up their rights so you could keep on complaining.

Dave Matthews is the chairman of the Floyd County Republican Party.





HARBESON: Let’s learn together, Mr. Matthews

By DEBBIE HARBESON
Local Columnist


Being the selfish person that I am, naturally I was happy to read Mr. Dave Matthews’ response to my recent column because I got to see my name in print nine times.

Before I sent in my words that week, I wondered how they might be perceived by those who desperately want us to keep President Lincoln up on a pedestal. Now I know.

I don’t know a lot about Mr. Matthews. The only thing I know — besides the fact that he can get pretty darned disgusted with me — is that he’s also the local chairman of a major political party. Now, if I were a total cynic, I would probably just take notice of the obvious connections that brings to my points and leave it at that.

However, one reason I write this column is to encourage and participate in community dialogue. I do this all the time with the folks who e-mail me, but when someone responds through the paper, I suppose that means I should do the same. So that’s why I’m writing this column. Besides, I want to publicly proposition Mr. Matthews.

He tells me loud and clear to read my history, but that’s exactly my problem. If I’ve learned anything over the years, I’ve learned that there are always alternative viewpoints on all sides of a topic. This means my curiosity always gets the best of me, because I am constantly interested in looking at an issue from all sides, analyzing it, pondering it and trying to come to conclusions that make sense. So, I have been reading my history Mr. Matthews; I just haven’t stopped at the point of reading only those texts that worship Lincoln.

History involves interpretation, and lately, I’ve been looking at the words and actions of historical figures in the context of consistent and principled morals that should apply to everyone equally. I know there are lots of people who would just like for us to sweep uncomfortable truths under the carpet, but if we keep doing that, the carpet’s going to get pretty lumpy. I think we need to clean all the dirt out from under there so we can all move about without tripping over one another.

All men and women have failings, and when we elevate anyone too high and imagine that they don’t, it does us all a disservice. That includes me, of course, and I must say Mr. Matthews does a mighty thorough job of laying out what he thinks are all my personal faults — and even suggests specific methods on how I can deal with them.

I guess I should not really be surprised at yet another person involved in government trying to tell me how I should live my life, but this way of discussing controversial issues is exactly what I’m hoping we can move past. Therefore, since Mr. Matthews seems to think he has me all figured out — and since I’m always interested in improving myself — I’m thinking he may have something valuable to offer.

So here’s my proposition Mr. Matthews. Rather than you trying to tell me what to do, why don’t we voluntarily cooperate with each other and in the process both learn more about Lincoln?

Let’s trade our favorite books and after studying them, we can get together and see if we can figure out where the real truths may be. Oh, and while we’re chatting, maybe we can also talk about my past political involvement and the time I ran for office. I’ll even go against my selfish nature and buy the coffee. What do you say?

Sellersburg resident Debbie Harbeson, also known as Ms. Harbeson or even Mrs. Harbeson, enjoys seeing her name in print. You can write to her at debbie@debbieharbeson.com



MATTHEWS: "huh?"




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