What will your vote mean 150 years from now? Odd question huh? I
ask it because I’ve recently begun re-reading Doris Kearns
Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals,” which portrays Abraham Lincoln and
members of his cabinet. In 1862 (150 years ago), our nation was
in the midst of the Civil War. Despite having some argue about
State’s Rights, it’s hard to dismiss slavery being a major cause
of the conflict. What else was going on way back then? In
addition to the Civil War, 150 years ago the Sioux Indians were
involved in a major uprising that eventually led to their demise
(and the largest mass execution ever conducted by the United
States). It wasn’t a good time to be a person of color. It
wasn’t a great time to be a woman either. In fact, I’ll conclude
this paragraph by stating women were not even allowed to vote
back in those days. America was certainly a different place in
1862. Do you ever wonder what America will be like in the
future? What will we stand for? Will it still be the great
melting pot “for the land of th