made the statement implying compromise is necessary and could have prevented the civil war. But what compromise would have been preferable to prevent the civil war? Keep slaves? Keep some of the slaves? Get rid of slavery at some point in the far future?
Yes, those would be compromises. I've had this discussion like 10 times in this thread now and I am a it tired of it because when points like this are made they ignore key facts, such as the Union keeping slavery as legal for the country until the ratification of the 13th amendment. Delaware was the last state to free slaves.
In other words, to keep Delaware in the Union, Lincoln compromised and allowed them to keep slaves for 5 years after secession.
Since it is now over 150 years since the civil war, I have no idea what compromises would have worked, but clearly Lincoln - at least - was willing to make them. As to whether or not any of these theoretical compromises would have been 'good,' I don't think anyone can say because it is all hypothetical and there is no good answer. Is 5 additional years of slavery 'worse' than a million deaths? Again, subjective. I bet most people would give 5 years of their life to save the life of someone they love, but in this situation it is 5 years of life to save someone that thinks you are less than a person and would keep you enslaved. Or it could be 5 years of life to save an abolitionist who was fighting for yours.
Finally, he said that we shouldn't judge Christopher Columbus, who raped, murdered, and enslaved countless islanders, by today's standards.
And this is a completely fair point. He doesn't need to be glorified, but we judge every founding father by the standards of their time - not the standards of our time. They were all slavers. Even going back just twenty or thirty years, you are hard pressed to find any politician on the right side of LBGT issues.
Consider MLK's stance on homosexuality. His response to a young gay man who asked about being attracted to men:
Answer: Your problem is not at all an uncommon one. However, it does require careful attention. The type of feeling that you have toward boys is probably not an innate tendency, but something that has been culturally acquired. Your reasons for adopting this habit have now been consciously suppressed or unconsciously repressed. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with this problem by getting back to some of the experiences and circumstances that led to the habit. In order to do this I would suggest that you see a good psychiatrist who can assist you in bringing to the forefront of conscience all of those experiences and circumstances that led to the habit. You are already on the right road toward a solution, since you honestly recognize the problem and have a desire to solve it.
In 50 years will we condemn him for that?