Having heard President Trump’s command to fight the current “cancel culture” movement targeting U.S. history, the Department of Veterans Affairs has taken the lead to protect and defend its motto attributed to former President Abraham Lincoln.
Under largely Democratic fire for using Honest Abe’s words to describe its mission, acting VA Deputy Secretary Pamela Powers pushed back hard this week, charging that foes would “sow the kind of divisions that President Lincoln sought to heal.”
At issue is the motto pulled from the last sentence in Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address in 1865: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” They are etched into the walls of the Lincoln Memorial.
VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a Memorial Day memo that he would put the motto at 140 VA cemeteries. “Those words are the basis of our VA mission to care for our living Veterans and their families. That’s why, later this year, we will memorialize in bronze Lincoln’s charge to the nation at all our VA cemeteries,” he said.
But critics said by using the pronouns “him” and “his,” the motto is unwelcoming to women, gay and transgender people, and others.
Democratic House Veterans Affairs Chairman Rep. Mark Takano in a June letter said the words, which the department is memorializing in brass plaques at cemeteries, is outdated and discriminatory, and he wants them replaced.
He first said it was because of money and then added, “In a divisive time in America, we encourage you to create a VA culture that is welcoming. You begin by changing VA’s motto to reflect dedicated service to every veteran, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.”
Nobody feels that Lincoln was being discriminatory with his words. But Takano still wants the motto changed to, “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for those ‘who shall have borne the battle’ and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.”
Powers not only rejected the request but suggested that Takano and other congressional critics take a look in the mirror before rewriting American history.
“The Congress in which you are a member is governed by a Constitution that refers to ‘he’ or ‘him.’ The concerns you raise might equally suggest that Congress has never evolved beyond the Founders’ vision and is unwelcoming to everyone other than men and excludes people based on their gender or sexual orientation,” she wrote.
And as for the larger issue, she added, “Attempts to rewrite history are dangerous, especially the history surrounding President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural speech. In many ways, that speech marked the birth of this nation as we know it today — one that showed it will shed blood to ensure freedom and liberty for every citizen, not just some. And while the critical theory that calls for the destruction of our history and our institutions is in fashion, this part of our history is not one that should ever suffer revisionists edits or parsing.”
