The Land of Lincoln needs more lawyers like him

“Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. . . . A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser – in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.” – Abraham Lincoln

One gathers from Facebook and other online repositories of ignorance and misinformation that many of our fellow citizens misconstrue the purpose of President's Day. Not knowing that it resulted from a consolidation of two separate holidays celebrating two, and only two, presidents – the one who launched the union and the one who preserved it – they not unnaturally assume that the occasion is meant to honor all of our nation's chief executives.

To their credit, many of these mistaken citizens bristle at the thought of such an indiscriminate celebration, correctly noting that some of our presidents are best forgotten

It would be interesting to know how many of our countrymen can correctly identify the two presidents celebrated on President's Day. (We might be better off if the ones who can't were prohibited from voting.

Given the hint that one of the two was a lawyer from Illinois, how many miseducated Americans would name the current occupant of the White House, who is from Illinois and is a lawyer but who has never been accused of being Lincoln-like.

Every year, Texans for Lawsuit Reform use the occasion of President's Day to remind us of Abraham Lincoln's “strong stand against lawsuit abuse and his expressed belief that meritless lawsuits waste time and money and are rooted in greed.”

Lincoln urged young men who could not be honest to enter some profession other than law. More than 150 years later, it's still good advice.