I guess the self-proclaimed "wise and erudite" here would call Lincoln a "dummy" too.
"In his Second Inaugural Address, which would be his final address to the American people, Lincoln endowed the Civil War with sacred meaning, creating an American Scripture and articulating an American civil religion that still suffuses the idea of the nation with religious significance.
"Fondly do we hope -- fervently do we pray -- that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, ... as was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"
http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/peop...m-lincoln.html