At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
It seems that suicide is what we are doing now. In Lincoln's time the sectional differences were the threat. Today, it really is takers vs payers.