November 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln made the most famous speech in American history at Gettysburg, Pa., the site of one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Civil War.

This was the speech that began.

“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….”

Within that speech Lincoln crystalized the American concept of government in words that rank equal to the words in the Constitution and its Preamble.

“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.”

Now the people of Egypt, embracing these sentiments exactly have peacefully overthrown the regime of Hosni Mubarak.  This is a good day for Democracy and we should do everything we can to see that it bears fruit in the September elections, if not sooner.