Go Shoot Yourself

In the middle of the Civil War, Nancy Pelosi has reminded us, President Lincoln issued an emancipation proclamation, freeing the slaves in the rebel states. His act was clearly illegal.  His lawyers cobbled together a weird justification for what he was doing. They held that slaves were part of the rebel war machine and all parts of that machine were subject to federal seizure (or something like that). Lincoln freed the slaves in the face of the Constitution, many court decisions and the laws of the land. He took away from Southern white men about half their financial worth. But we don't mind that today because what he did was morally correct. (So he cut a few corners.)

Now President Obama, following in the footsteps of many earlier Presidents, has issued an edict that protects the status of families that contain American citizens and undocumented immigrants, and the Republicans are threatening to sue. Are you kidding me? Break up families? Why not just shoot yourself in the knee and acquire a permanent limp?