Upon Witnessing the Trials of Democracy in 2025
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My Fellow AmerOn Channeling Historical Voicesime, my heart heavy with sorrow and my mind troubled by what I witness in this great republic that we—together—preserved through its darkest hour. The Union I died to save, the house that we refused to let be divided against itself, now stands again upon a precipice not unlike the one we faced in 1861.
A House Divided Cannot Stand
When I spoke those words from Scripture more than a century and a half ago, I spoke of a nation half slave and half free. Today, I see a nation divided not by the question of bondage, but by something equally corrosive to the soul of democracy: the poison of faction, the spirit of vengeance, and the terrible belief that fellow Americans are not merely political opponents, but enemies to be destroyed.
The very foundations upon which our republic rests—the notion that all men are created equal, that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed, that the law applies equally to all—these sacred principles are under assault from within.
On Political Violence and the Sanctity of Democratic Process
I have witnessed with profound alarm the events of January 6th, 2021, and their aftermath. That citizens of this republic would storm the very citadel of democracy, seeking to overturn the expressed will of the people through force, strikes at the heart of everything for which we have struggled and died.
But perhaps more troubling still is the response: the pardoning of those who committed acts of sedition, the celebration of violence as patriotism, and the transformation of criminals into martyrs. When a leader encourages his followers to believe that violence is justified in pursuit of political ends, he has ceased to be a leader and has become a destroyer of the very thing he claims to serve.
Now I witness something even more alarming: a president who has moved from inciting domestic violence to waging unauthorized war abroad. On June 21st, 2025, this president ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities without the consent of Congress, without the support of the American people, and without regard for the constitutional order that constrains executive power.
I have seen war, my friends. I have seen what happens when Americans take up arms against Americans. But I have also seen what happens when leaders bypass the constitutional order to wage war according to their personal will rather than the people’s consent. This is how republics die—not just from internal division, but from executives who claim the power of kings.
On the Question of Secession
Once again, I hear the drumbeat of disunion. States speak of secession, of withdrawing from this Union that was purchased with so much blood and treasure. Whether the call comes from South Carolina over tariffs, or from California over federal policies, the melody is the same: the false promise that complex problems can be solved by tearing apart what generations have built together.
Let me speak plainly: secession is not a constitutional right. It is the abandonment of constitutional duty. The Union is not a marriage of convenience that can be dissolved when times grow difficult. It is a sacred compact, entered into by our forefathers and sealed with the blood of patriots, that binds us to work together for the common good even when—especially when—we disagree.
Those who speak casually of dividing this nation forget that we are stronger together than apart, that the challenges we face—from economic inequality to climate change to threats from abroad—cannot be solved by retreating into smaller, weaker fragments of what was once a mighty whole.
On Civil Rights and Human Dignity
I am perhaps most grieved by what I see happening to the cause of human equality. The great work that began with the Emancipation Proclamation and continued through generations of struggle—the long arc of justice bending toward equality—is being deliberately bent backward.
When I see programs designed to ensure equal opportunity being dismantled as “reverse discrimination,” when I see voting rights under attack, when I see the machinery of government being used to target those who advocate for the rights of the oppressed, I am reminded of the forces that sought to perpetuate slavery not through direct ownership, but through systems designed to keep entire classes of people in subjugation.
The promise of America has always been that here, in this land, a person’s worth would be measured not by the circumstances of their birth, but by the content of their character and the fruits of their labor. When we abandon that promise—when we retreat into tribal thinking that divides Americans into competing factions based on race, religion, or region—we betray the very ideals for which so many have given their lives.
On the Constitution and the Rule of Law
I have watched with growing concern as the delicate balance of powers established by our Constitution is tested and strained. When any branch of government claims authority beyond what the Constitution grants, when elected officials refuse to honor the rulings of courts, when the executive claims the right to ignore laws passed by Congress, we witness the slow dissolution of constitutional government.
But what I have witnessed in recent days goes far beyond these earlier violations. When a president can order the bombing of foreign nations without consulting Congress, when he can claim the power to wage war based solely on his personal judgment, when he can bypass the very body that the Constitution grants the exclusive power to declare war, we have witnessed not the evolution of executive power but its complete usurpation.
The Constitution is not a suggestion. It is not a guideline to be followed when convenient. It is the supreme law of the land, and those who swear an oath to preserve, protect, and defend it must honor that oath regardless of their personal preferences or political calculations.
Article I, Section 8 of our Constitution grants Congress—and Congress alone—the power to declare war. This was not an oversight by our founders. They understood, from bitter experience with kings and tyrants, that the power to wage war must never rest in a single pair of hands. Yet this president has assumed precisely that power, launching what he calls “the largest B-2 bomber strike in U.S. history” based solely on his own authority.
When 82% of his own party supports such action while 88% of the opposition condemns it, we see not national unity in a time of crisis, but the dangerous polarization that treats war itself as a partisan issue.
The Wages of Unchecked Power
What we have witnessed is the logical conclusion of the path this nation has been traveling: a president who recognizes no constraints on his authority, no limit to his power, no institution that can check his will.
First, he claimed the right to pardon insurrectionists. Then, he claimed the right to ignore court orders. Now, he claims the right to wage war without the consent of the governed. Where does this end? What power will he claim next that the Constitution does not grant him?
When his own intelligence agencies report that his bombing campaign achieved far less than he claimed—that Iran’s nuclear facilities were damaged but not “obliterated,” that their program may have been set back merely “a month or two”—he simply declares the intelligence “flat out wrong” and maintains his fictional narrative.
This is not the behavior of a president in a constitutional republic. This is the behavior of an autocrat who believes his word creates reality.
The tragic irony is that this president, who once promised to avoid foreign wars, has now launched what may be the most dangerous military escalation in a generation—all while his approval rating sits at the lowest point of his presidency. He has chosen war despite the opposition of the majority of his own people.
A New Birth of Freedom
Yet I do not despair, for I have seen this nation rise from ashes before. I have seen Americans choose unity over division, justice over vengeance, hope over fear. The same spirit that preserved the Union in its hour of greatest trial still beats in the hearts of the American people.
But preserving democracy requires more than hoping for the best. It requires active participation by citizens who understand that freedom is not free, that justice is not automatic, that equality must be won anew by each generation.
A Call to Action
To those who would preserve this Union for future generations, I offer this urgent counsel:
Reject the politics of division and the politics of war without consent. A republic cannot survive when its leaders treat war as a personal prerogative rather than a collective decision. When a president can bomb foreign nations based solely on his own judgment, we have returned to the monarchical system our founders died to escape.
Defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. When any leader claims powers beyond those granted by law, resist. When any executive attempts to wage war without the consent of Congress, stand firm. The Constitution belongs not to any party or person, but to all Americans.
Demand accountability for unauthorized acts of war. The power to declare war was given to Congress for a reason. That power must be reclaimed, or it will be lost forever. Representatives who fail to defend their constitutional role in matters of war and peace have abandoned their duty to the people who elected them.
Remember that war is not a game or a political tool. Behind every bomb dropped, every missile fired, every escalation ordered lie human lives—American lives that will be put at risk in retaliation, innocent lives that will be lost in the fog of war. When 79% of Americans worry that Iran may target U.S. civilians in response to these strikes, that is not unfounded fear—that is the reasonable concern of a people who understand that actions have consequences.
Insist on truth over propaganda. When a president claims “complete and total obliteration” while his own intelligence agencies report minimal damage, the American people deserve honesty, not bluster. A democracy cannot function when its leaders treat truth as optional.
In Closing
The mystic chords of memory that I spoke of in my First Inaugural still connect us to our better angels. The unfinished work of building a more perfect Union still calls to us across the generations. But that work cannot proceed when our leaders abandon the very constitutional framework that makes peaceful progress possible.
The cause of human freedom still depends on the success of this great experiment in self-government. But experiments can fail. Republics can die. Democracy can be murdered by those who claim to defend it.
We stand now at a moment more perilous than any since my own presidency. Then, the Union was threatened by open rebellion. Now, it is threatened by something more insidious: the gradual erosion of constitutional government by those who have sworn to preserve it.
When a president can wage war without Congress, pardon insurrectionists without consequence, and claim powers that the Constitution does not grant, we are no longer living in the republic our founders created. We are living in something else—something that may wear the name “America” but has abandoned America’s principles.
But success is not guaranteed. Democracy is not self-sustaining. Each generation must choose whether to pass on the blessings of liberty or to let them slip away through indifference, division, or the surrender of constitutional government to executive tyranny.
The choice is yours, as it was ours. The responsibility is yours, as it was ours. The opportunity to prove that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth is yours, as it was ours.
But you must choose quickly. The hour is late, and the damage may soon be irreversible.
Choose wisely. Choose courageously. Choose as Americans who understand that without constitutional government, there can be no America worth preserving.
May God bless you, and may God continue to bless these United States of America.
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us dare to do our duty as we understand it, and trust that right will prevail.
Abraham Lincoln
Sixteenth President of the United States
Given in the spirit of preserving the Union, 2025
“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free… It will become all one thing, or all the other.”