The election of 2012 will be the – THE – most important election in our 235-year history. We’ve heard this said and while many agree, I believe it needs context. To say an election is THE most important, one really needs to know which previous election set the standard.

To do that, I believe we must go back and have a look at the election of 1860.

It was the 1860 election which gave us President Lincoln – but it was what led to that momentous moment which makes the 1860 election so important and to this day, the most…MOST important we have ever seen.

We all know that slavery was the…THE issue in that election but few people know why. Of course there are the known factors in that slavery was wrong, the south wanted it, the north did not and the divide would lead to civil war – but what was it which lit the fuse?

To be frank, it was the Kansas–Nebraska Act.

In 1854, that Act, which replaced the Missouri Compromise, was written by and pushed to passage by Lincoln’s future opponent Stephen Douglas.

The Missouri Compromise drew an imaginary line to the west along the southern border of Missouri and stated that any new state thereafter south of that line would be a slave state while any new state to the north of it would be a free state.

The Kansas–Nebraska Act which replaced it stated that any new state would vote, regardless of their north/south geographic position as to whether or not they would be a free or a slave state.

Douglas, for his part, was anti slavery – but wasn’t vehement regarding that position – but Lincoln was. Lincoln, who had all but given up on politics, was driven back in because of the firestorm surrounding Kansas–Nebraska and because of the hard line defense of it by Douglas.

Competing speeches lasting 2 and 3 hours each by Douglas and Lincoln respectively, led to the Lincoln/Douglas debates and eventually, Lincoln’s election as President.

It was just months later that the civil war broke out. That war would have occurred whether or not Lincoln had become the President because of the tensions and the friction between the north and the south. It was going to happen and there was nothing which could have been done to prevent it and that is exactly why that election, the 1860 election was THE most important in our history and remains so to this day.

Were it NOT for that election, had Lincoln NOT become the President, the outcome of that civil war could well have been vastly different.

Lincoln, through all his self doubt, through his own distaste for war and through his anguish regarding the deaths of Americans and the tearing apart of his nation stood firm. Lincoln accepted the losses and pressed forward because his moral compass led him. Lincoln knew if he gave up, gave in, let up or backed down, the Nation would be ripped in two.

What was at stake was the very future of the Republic.

Let me say that again.

What was at stake was the very future of the Republic.

Leading up to that election of 1860, it was the enemy within which threatened the Republic. Slavery was the catalyst but make no mistake, it was those who favored slavery, those whose ideology was firmly entrenched who were the enemy.

The enemy were Democrats. Southern Democrats to be specific – but Democrats nonetheless. Democrats were hell bent on slavery or they would rip the nation apart, secede from the Republic and start their own nation.

Lincoln, a Republican, held fast to the constitution and the words stating that all men were created equal. Lincoln understood that a country divided would not stand and that the Democrat ideology would lead to its destruction.

At the time, leading up to and during the 1860 election, America faced no enemy except that which was within and only a President of true moral fiber, a President who held the Constitution dear and a President willing to fight for his nation’s future against the forces of its destruction in the present despite the costs, could preserve it.

Americans voted on November 6^th, 1860, for just such a man. Lincoln, by providence of northern states which held the bulk of the electoral college, won that election but failed to carry a single southern state. Those states were Democrat states. Many northern Democrats voted FOR Lincoln realizing the crisis at hand was not just slavery but the future of the Republic which increased Lincoln’s margin of victory.

The push for slavery by the south was based upon the economy. Southerners and the Democrat ideology relied on slaves to work their cotton and tobacco fields and without then, those who subscribed to that ideology were certain their economy would crash. Without slaves, they were sure they wouldn’t be able to maintain their crops, their farms or their economic power.

In the north, people worked in and owned factories and were against the idea that those in the south were able to rely on cheap or free labor provided by slavery. In the south, those who owned and worked slaves could, because of their cheap or free labor, be progressive by expanding their holdings, acquiring more land and buying more slaves.

The crisis reached deeper than moral soundness, it was, without doubt, economically based.

Standing in the way of progressive ideology was the Constitution and the very ideas of capitalism and self reliance.

Another factor and again, economically based, was the recession of 1857.

In a nutshell, the recession of 1857 is widely regarded as the first worldwide recession and here, in the United States, in 1857, leading up to the 1860 election, this recession was causing bank closures, inflation, land prices were dropping, loans were hard to get, bankruptcy was becoming rampant, municipal debt was skyrocketing and thousands of properties were going delinquent.

In the south, because of slavery, landowners had more capital on hand to pay their taxes while in the north, property and business owners suffered. This, it was thought by the south, would lead the north to back off on their anti slavery stance if not adopt slavery.

President Buchannan, a Northern Democrat, had a different idea.

Buchannan started to level thing off not through bailouts printing money but by decreasing the supply of paper money to allow the specie (basically, coin for paper money) payments to catch up and decrease inflation rates. Buchannan asked congress to pass a law allowing for immediate forfeit of bank charters if they suspended specie payments and encouraged state banks to keep at least one dollar in specie for every three in paper money.

Buchannan also revised 1846 Tarriff by reducing the tax rate paid on items bought under it.

All of this, essentially, made it easier for northern industries to do business and make profits and evened the playing field with the south. While these measures eased the recession they also fanned the flames as it allowed the north to retain their anti slavery stance and Buchannan, being pro slavery was not supported by Southern Democrats in 1860, the Democrat party splintered and slavery became the key issue.

The line was drawn and clearly so. Democrats stood for slavery, Republicans against it but look just a little deeper. Slavery, as I said, was the catalyst but it was the economy at the heart of the matter.

Democrats, in 1860, were against the lowering of those taxes which made it easier for industries to show a profit and it was those lower taxes which eased the recession of 1857.

Okay, now look at the situation we have today and you will find that today, we have a lot in common with 1860.

Are today’s Democrats, who like to call themselves “Progressive” really progressive or, are they in fact…Regressive?

Today’s Democrats are as hell bent on fostering illegal immigration as those in 1860 were on fostering slavery. Economically, slaves provided cheap or free labor. How does that differ from illegal labor today?

Today’s Democrats are against lower tax rates just as they riled at the lower taxes on those items under the 1846 tariff.

Today’s Democrats are against corporations showing profits just as they were against northern industries doing so back in 1860.

While the ideology of Democrats in 1860 was centered on slavery, today, that focus has shifted to an ideology based on socialism and in some respects, it’s not much of a difference. While slavery relies on the toil of others, socialism relies on the money of others but both mean that someone else’s hard work is being exploited.

In 1857, Democrats were against decreasing the supply of money to level the recession and stave off inflation and today’s Democrats are in favor of the wholesale printing of money causing the devaluing of the dollar and resulting in more inflation.

So, why then is this upcoming 2012 election THE most important election in our history?

As you can see, the economic issues of today are much the same as they were in 1860 and the wedge is being driven by the same party now as it was then but today we have many more issues to consider.

In 1860, the strife, the enemy of the future of the republic was almost entirely internal but that is simply not the case today. Yes, we have soaring unemployment, labor issues, foreclosures, bankruptcies, inflation and tax issues now just as were faced in 1860 but today, we have outside pressures as well.

The rise of Sharia law, the ongoing threat of Islamic terror, the constant threats to the very existence of our allies and the losses of key strategic national security interests around the world are all playing a part against the future of our Republic.

Today, we have a President with a failed foreign policy or a policy bent on propping up our enemies while dismissing our allies.

Today, we have a President who insists that those who support terror have a seat at the table to form new governments in countries whose people have overthrown their tyrants.

Today we have a President and an administration who want an open border and sell weapons to foreign drug cartels who would increasingly destabilize our society.

Today, our President and his party side with those who stand against capitalism.

Today, we have external AND internal issues threatening our Republic and a President, an administration and a party who would rather punish success, expand government, create an entitlement generation and sidestep congress to implement measures that the congress, elected by the people, would not pass.

They call themselves… “Progressive?”

How exactly is an agenda, so closely based, at least domestically, on an ideology of socialism, class warfare, devaluing of the dollar, promotion of illegal immigration and entitlements… “Progressive?”

How exactly is an agenda, internationally, based on legitimizing terror organizations, turning our backs on our allies and allowing key national security interests to slip away… “Progressive?”

How exactly is an agenda of continued racial division and antagonism, class warfare and ignoring the constitution… “Progressive?”

Just as it was in 1860, the future and the existence of the Republic are being threatened and just as it was then, the party at the heart of that threat, whether from internal forces or external, is the Democrat party. Just as it was then, the American people will vote and it will be the decision of the people which determines whether the Republic stands or falls.

As a nation, since 1860, we have endured much from wars to depressions but not since then have the stakes been so high and that is why this election, in 2012, will be THE most important in history. To save this Republic, to once again become a great nation, we, the people, must decide carefully. We must choose, as the people in 1860 did, a leader with a strong national moral compass and constitutional clarity. We must elect a President who can reverse the agenda now foisted upon us.

Our next President must act to reverse recent policies, repeal unconstitutional acts and restore our place on the world stage. Our next President must work to instill pride in OUR culture rather than try to instill the culture of others into our society. Our next President must reaffirm and strengthen our commitments to our allies and stand firm against our common enemies. Our next President must foster the principles of capitalism and self reliance rather than replace them with ideological structures which have failed everywhere they have been attempted.

We MUST return to a government of the people, by the people and for the people and reject any further attempt to create a government over the people.

In 1860, the people elected a President who, through strong and unwavering leadership brought the nation from the brink of self destruction to a place of unquestioned prosperity previously unimagined opportunity. Today, we find ourselves again at that same brink and while history rewarded Lincoln with a gleaming monument in our nation’s capitol, we do not yet know how our next President will be presented to posterity should that President, as did Lincoln, save the Republic but perhaps the most fitting tribute to both would not be carved in stone rather, let it be the Republic itself, strong, principled as the founders intended and enduring.