We think our politics today is more screwed than ever before but here’s a quote from a politician during the age of horse drawn carriages: In 1860, President James Buchanan said, I don’t think states have a right to secede. But, if a state does secede, I don’t think the federal government has a right to stop it.

Talk about a politician straddling the fence. Buchanan managed to get a foot on both sides of one of the issues that led to the Civil War. But, of course, the country ended up paying a high price for Buchanan’s two-stepping.