Paul Krugman:
Karl [Smith] first quotes Lincoln’s words about malice towards none, charity for all. Lovely words indeed. But the Second Inaugural was delivered after Sherman had laid waste to Georgia and South Carolina, ripping out the heart of the Confederate economy; Grant was about to be joined by Sheridan, who had just done the same to the Shenandoah Valley, giving him overwhelming superiority over Lee. If and when austerian ideology is in a state similar to that of Confederate war prospects in early 1865, I promise to be equally magnanimous.