What would Abe have thought?

I have been reluctant to enter into the topic of the appalling US presidential election but cannot resist the urge to have my say.
 
What is the current population of the USA?
Something near 325 MILLION. That’s 325,000,000 people!
 
Surely, surely someone more suitable could have come forward than the two presidential candidates on offer at the moment?
Surely there are people with intelligence, ability, passion, strength, innovation, personality, Integrity, inspiration, authenticity? Any combination of these would do!
 
I guess it’s just that no one wants the job. It’s possibly a terrible career move for anyone.
Sure, there’d be lots of power and money available …BUT…about half the world would despise you -  and there’s even a chance you could be assassinated.
 
In my lifetime there have been several US presidential elections, most of which I have only held a cursory interest. While I was certainly very keen to follow - and hope for a win for - Barack Obama, this current election has (with the help of much media hype) proved to be both compelling and, at times, unwatchable.
This is in the country that claims to be ‘the leader of the free world’.
Heaven help us then.
 
It is difficult to gauge any benefits that the US public would receive in electing either of these candidates. I have heard very few actual workable plans for advancement of the country. But, then again, perhaps we have only been shown the spectacle of misbehaviour; although I have sat through the excruciating debates.
 
And now, while Donald Trump is busy denying his (alleged) gross misconduct towards women over the years, Hillary Clinton is appearing on tv chat shows, and in amongst her hopes for the nation, is denigrating her opponent with “He says…” , and “He …” like a teenager bagging a classmate.
It’s all a bit hideous to hear and watch.
And yet, it is also hypnotising in its shameful impropriety. I keep thinking it must be some sort of ‘hidden camera’ joke – if it’s not a nightmare.
 
Could we stop it now? Call the whole thing off and start again, with some decent candidates?
Please?
 
How times have changed.
150 years ago, the Republican leader – in fact, President – was Abraham Lincoln.
As far as we know, he was nothing like Donald Trump.
 
Could Lincoln see into the future? Poor man must be spinning in his grave to know what his country has come to!
 
In a speech, he once said, “….If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher…..”
This statement of his is usually re-written as “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
 
Well, hey there, Mr Lincoln. I think the destroying has begun.