In the past few years, Republicans have compared themselves to the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln. The reality of this similarity is only name deep. Lincoln’s Republican Party was big government, establishing the first income tax, the first military conscription, big government bureaus (i.e., Depatment of Agriculture, Bureau of Pensions), federally funded railroads, federally funded higher education and supporting an explosion of federal government contracts. They supported social welfare and opposed limits on immigration. The Republican Party now is more like the Democratic Party and the know-nothing party then, but as recent events have shown the Republicans are masters at rewriting history and creating a lie to support their image and agenda.
