The Meaning Of Gettysburg

Few people outside Pennsylvania know that for a long time now, there have been plans to build a gambling casino 1/2 mile south of the Gettysburg National Military Park—

The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, the Union victory in the summer of 1863 that ended General Robert E. Lee's second and most ambitious invasion of the North. Often referred to as the "High Water Mark of the Rebellion", it was the war's bloodiest battle with 51,000 casualties. It also provided President Abraham Lincoln with the setting for his most famous address.

Gettysburg and the surrounding area are as close to Sacred Ground as you can get in America. Yesterday, casino friends and foes testified before the state's Gaming Control Board. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has been covering the story (and here)—

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

GETTYSBURG -- It's Pro-Casino vs. No-Casino, as advertised.

The state Gaming Control Board is holding an all-day hearing today on whether a $75 million resort hotel casino should be added to the existing Eisenhower hotel and conference center, just south of the southern border of the Gettysburg National Military Park, where thousands of Union and Confederate troops died in early July 1863.

"NO!" shouted Susan Starr Paddock, leader of No Casino Gettysburg, who said a casino so close to "hallowed'' Civil War ground would be a national disgrace. She was supported by Nicholas Redding of the Civil War Preservation Trust, who urged the board to "save the hallowed nature of this ground for future citizens and preserve Gettysburg."

"YES!" said David LeVan, owner of a Gettysburg motorcycle dealership and lead developer, along with Penn National Gaming (which would finance and operate the casino), plus several Adams County and Cumberland Township officials (where the casino would be located), who each stand to get $1 million a year from the casinos, to help them add jobs and hold down taxes.

State Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Carrick, wasn't here today but did have a statement of support that was read. Mr. Readshaw, who has spent the last 13 years restoring the monuments at the Civil War battlefield, said Mr. LeVan "has assisted me in numerous important ways,'' including an annual fund-raising motorcycle ride from Harrisburg to the Battlefield Harley Davidson dealership in Gettysburg, which Mr. LeVan owns.

The opponents of the casino showed a video in which author David McCullough, filmmaker Ken Burns, actor Sam Waterston, Susan Eisenhower, grandaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower (who lived here after leaving the presidency) and others urged the board to give the second and final resort casino license to one of three other applicants.

Map from the Civil War Preservation Trust, which opposes the casino

It will be impossible to please everybody in this contentious fight—someone must win and someone must lose. I believe there is a novel solution to this dilemma which transcends petty local disputes—

Put this fucking casino right on the battlefield, preferably where the Union men repulsed Pickett's charge, or even better, on the very ground where Lincoln spoke. Whereas in the past Gettysburg has served as a powerful symbol of our desire to be better than we are, of the desire of the United States to rid itself of the moral stain—the evil—of slavery in which one man "owns" another, we now have an opportunity to invest Gettysburg with a new meaning more fitting to the times we live in.

Let this fucking casino be a powerful symbol to future generations of what an open, running, rancid sewer the United States had become by 2010. It is altogether proper that Gettysburg remain an unwavering emblem of who we are, and what we aspire to. Let us resolve today and henceforth to give a New Meaning to Gettysburg.

And now without further I ado, I give you Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which many consider the most beautiful prose ever read, spoken or heard in the English language. The address was delivered on November 19^th, 1863. (You can open this window or tab to listen along as you read the words. Below, left — the only known picture of Lincoln at Gettysburg.)

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

It is for us the living to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought at Gettysburg so nobly advanced. Here's a bonus video about unfinished work. This song is dedicated to all Americans.

Comments

[Gail]

Bravo!

[Danny]

Dave - I read your post once, and thought it was a bit angry, then I read it a again, and then I read the Gettysburg address again, as I have done a thousand time before, and then I got angry too. Eloquently stated, my friend, as is fitting and proper.

[TonyWeddle]

This kind of moral fight goes on all the time, not just in the US. It's odd that some activity is considered perfectly OK, until it's done near something that one holds dear. If legalised gambling is wrong, it is wrong everywhere. If it is right, it is right everywhere, is it not?

It reminds me of a political funding incident, here in New Zealand, a few years ago. I don't recall all the details but the party in government then refused donations from some company because of the industry they were in (it might have been the tobacco industry, the gambling industry or something like that). And I thought, how can this party, in government, not accept such donations but not bring in legislation to outlaw that industry (or any industry it would not accept donations from)? Either something is OK or it isn't, surely it can't be OK in bits?

Perhaps it's a good example of how screwed up we are.

[Bill Mcdonald]

Just because something is legal doesn't make it right.

I think this country is definitely on the wrong foot when something like this is even proposed in the first place.

Pennsylvania is a big state, I am sure there are lots of places that would be perfect for a casino.

This hallowed ground where so many were killed or injured, is not the place.

I believe most would agree that Gettysburg belongs to all Americans, not just to the local residents there.

[TonyWeddle]

"Just because something is legal doesn't make it right."

Of course, and just because something is illegal doesn't make it wrong. We each have a different set of morals but one would suppose that society, as a whole, legalises those things it considers right (or, at least, not wrong) and outlaws those things it considers wrong. It doesn't allow for an activity to be right in one place but not in another (so long as other legal rights aren't infringed).

"This hallowed ground where so many were killed or injured, is not the place."

I don't think the proposal is for the casino to be located on that ground, just next to it. I agree that it's inappropriate but there are no rational grounds for prohibiting it.

My point is that people are all mixed up everywhere. Their behaviours are self-contradictory. I'm sure that many of those who object to the casino's placement will happily partake of its facilities, if it was built somewhere else.

[usa casino]

Great post as always!! But site is loading very slowly.