Recently, on a website that originates in Chicago, I asked one of the regular commenters who was blaming the “socialist liberals” for the crime, violence and corruption that is rampant in Chicago, who, in his opinion, was the first president to connect with Karl Marx and his socialist philosophy on government. He responded it had to be Bill Clinton. I responded that in the eyes of the International Socialist Review, he was incorrect.

Even though countries all over the globe are failing economically due to years old, implemented socialist programs, all of our present candidates for president in 2015 embrace socialism to some degree. On the left, Bernie Sanders is proud of his Marxist socialist principles and Hillary Clinton openly embraces a combination of Marxism and National Socialism such as that embraced by Mussolini and Hitler. On the right, Trump, from his campaign speeches, believes in a highly centralized government, an imperial presidency, and forms of National Socialism as well. (Boots on the ground in Syria)

As we look around us and see countless examples of colossal failures in government directly linked to socialist policies and programs, why would any of the electorate in this country believe that somehow we can defy the odds and lessons from history and make socialism work for us? Could the answer be found in the visions of those seen by the masses as anointed in our society?

Socialism requires a highly centralized government to implement its agenda. Socialism and a Republic, such as that envisioned by our founders, cannot exist on the same political plane.

For years, I have heard politicians, political pundits, media whores, members of academia and others refer to our system of government as a “democracy.” Nothing could be further from the intent of our founders. John Adams said “there never was a democracy that did not commit suicide” while Marx himself said, “Democracy is the road to Socialism.” Well, we have been on that road for over 150 years now and are nearing our final destination and the attendant political and economic suicide.

Is it simply coincidence or just fate that the American president who first implemented the tenets and doctrines of socialism is also considered one of our greatest presidents? What American president had close ties to Karl Marx himself? What president received a letter praising his political stance from Marx? Which president’s political strategies were praised by the National Socialist, Adolph Hitler?

What if the abolition of slavery was the conduit used by the socialists of the failed 1848 revolution in Europe to implement their socialist doctrine in these United States, a doctrine which in its maturity is destroying the government intended by our founders? A strong case can be made that those who embraced a combination of Marxism and National Socialism rode the Civil War and the abolition of slavery into power in our country. Talk about doing the wrong thing for the right reasons!  What if these socialists influenced an American President in 1860 into going along with their plans?

The answers to many of the above questions can be found in a book by Professor Robin Blackburn, former editor of the New Left Review titled “An Unfinished Revolution: Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln. The question about Hitler’s praise for Abraham Lincoln’s policies can be found in  Hitler’s Mein Kamph. Here is an excerpt:

“The mischief of individual federated states… must cease and someday will cease… National Socialism as a matter of principle must lay claim to the right to force its principles on the whole German Nation without consideration of previous federated state boundaries.”

This was exactly the principles espoused by Abraham Lincoln when it came to “preserving the Union.” Lincoln sought to enforce the tenets of Socialism on the people of the South at gunpoint, just as Hitler did to many countries in Europe in the 1930s and 40s.

Today, as we look around us at the loss of private property to government bureaucracies such as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Forest Service (USFS), we see the fruits and end game results of the policies of Hitler, Marx, and Lincoln. It was Marx who said, “The theory of Communism can be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.”

At the very center of all the rhetoric about transgender bathrooms and dressing rooms are the base principles of Marxist culture. If you own a bathroom or dressing room facility you have no say so over who uses that facility; as a state you have no right to pass laws that would limit the central government’s Cultural Marxists or as Hitler’s agenda previously stated: “National Socialism as a matter of principle must lay claim to the right to force its principles on the whole… nation without consideration of previous federated state boundaries.” (Good-bye 10th Amendment) The principles of the Cultural Marxists, using the powers Lincoln initiated upon this country in the form of a highly centralized government, will force your daughter or granddaughter to use the same bathroom and dressing facilities as a pervert.

The very essence of a highly centralized government is simply raw force. We see in North Carolina that a people who supported a law that would require people to use the bathroom or dressing facility which corresponds with their sex at birth will be forced by the central government to accede to its wishes. Here we see the basic tenet of socialism at work: the tyranny of the minority. The principles of reconstruction again are foisted on the people of the South using a strong centralized national government.

A great case can also be made that after Lincoln, a later socialist in history looked to Lincoln’s actions during our misnamed Civil War as an example. This would be none other than Joseph Stalin. Lincoln and Stalin both jailed people simply because they disagreed with their political programs. Proof of Lincoln’s crimes in this regard can be found in the book “American Bastille: A History of the Illegal Arrests and Imprisonment of Americans in the Northern and Border States on Account of their Political Opinions during the late Civil War. by John A. Marshall. Lincoln imprisoned thousands, expelled a sitting elected member of Congress from the country, shut down the civilian courts and replaced them with military tribunals. Lincoln had arrested members of the legislature of Maryland and the Mayor of Baltimore to prevent a vote for secession in that state. He issued an arrest warrant for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court because he disagreed publicly and in writing with the jailing of innocents. Lincoln disenfranchised voters, shut down opposition newspapers and unconstitutionally created new states. Both Stalin and Hitler could have looked on these accomplishments as inspiration.

So, what was Lincoln’s connection with the Socialists of his time, including Karl Marx? Lincoln and Horace Greeley had served together as one term members of Congress. Lincoln often referred to Greeley as “Friend Greeley.” Greeley was also a political associate of William H. Seward who would become Lincoln’s Secretary of State.

Greeley had the most widely read newspaper of the 1850’s and 60’s called the New York Tribune. One of Greeley’s managing editors at the Tribune would become Lincoln’s assistant Secretary of War (Charles A. Dana.) Greeley often railed against the free market and favored the “working class” over the free market in his paper. In addition, none other than Karl Marx would write hundreds of editorials for the Tribune. Karl Marx’s biographer Francis Wheen wrote of Marx’s contributions to Greeley’s Tribune:

“The Tribune was by far the largest publisher of Marx’s (and to a lesser extent, Engels’s) work…. The Tribune articles take up nearly seven volumes of the fifty-volume collected works of Marx and Engels—more than Capital, more than any work published by Marx, alive or posthumously, in book form.” The “singular collaboration” between Greeley’s paper and Marx continued from the early 1850s until the time of Dana’s departure to join Lincoln’s White House staff.”

There, we see it again, the mention of Charles A. Dana who Lincoln would appoint his assistant Secretary of War. Dana was a dyed-in-the-wool Socialist, a friend of Marx, French socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and his Brooks Farm Association (A Communist organization in Roxbury, Mass.) Dana is credited with saying, “We are all Socialists now.”

Dana would use his influence with Lincoln to bring several raging European Marxists into service with the Union Army. John Nichols wrote in his recent book “The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition…Socialism”  

“Lincoln’s circle of supporters would eventually include some of Karl Marx’s closest associates and intellectual sparring partners, including Joseph Weydemeyer and August Willich. Weydemeyer, who maintained a regular correspondence with Marx and Engels, soon formed a national network of Kommunisten Klubs to promote what the New York Times decried as “Red Republicanism.” Weydemeyer then allied with the new Republican Party and the presidential campaign of Abraham Lincoln, who would at the start of the Civil War appoint the former Prussian military officer as a technical aide on the staff of General John C. Fremont.”

As stated by Nichols, Lincoln would later appoint Weydemeyer to the rank of Brigadier General in the Union Army. A book has been written about Weydemeyer titled: “Joseph Weydemeyer: Pioneer of American Socialism.” This book was written by Karl Obermann and is published at “Red Star Publishers.” I recommend this read to anyone who wants to see the influence of Marx and his associates on Lincoln’s Union Army.

Time and space does not permit a thorough exploration of Karl Marx’s influence and connection with the administration of Abraham Lincoln in this venue. The Socialists of yesterday and today are most proud of the connection between Lincoln and Marx. There are a number of original sources that confirm and elaborate on that connection. Several of these sources are mentioned above.

How terribly irresponsible is anyone who claims the brave men and women of the South who fought against the socialist plague of the Lincoln Administration were racists, and these Southrons, their statues, history, culture and symbols such as the Confederate Battle Flag and the song Dixie should be destroyed and cast on the scrap heap of history?

It defies all logic to believe the 6% of residents of the South who owned slaves could convince the 94% that did not, to fight and die for their “peculiar institution.”

“I am with the South in life or in death, in victory or in defeat . . . I believe the North is about to wage a brutal and unholy war on a people who have done them no wrong, in violation of the Constitution and the fundamental principles of government. They no longer acknowledge that all government derives its validity from the consent of the governed. They are about to invade our peaceful homes, destroy our property, and inaugurate a servile insurrection, murder our men and dishonor our women. We propose no invasion of the North, no attack on them, and only ask to be left alone.” ~ Major General Patrick Cleburne, CSA, “The Stonewall of the West.”