Posted by Patrick Ryan in DID YOU KNOW THAT REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. WAS A CONSERVATIVE?
Admittedly, most people have probably not ever even considered the question of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. being a conservative. Most people see him as a great, great leader for the civil rights movement. Somehow, over the past 46 years since his “I Have a Dream” speech, and in the 41 years since his assassination in 1968, his image has been distorted and mutated by the political left. Today, in 2009, the liberal left feels as though they are the stewards of his legacy. But what exactly was the message of this great American. When you examine his message and the things for which he stood, the only real conclusion you can reach is that he was a conservative. This is self evident in the following points:
1. He fought for the expansion of opportunity.
2. He marched forward against powerful, institutional resistance.
3. He wanted the government out of the business of picking winners and losers.
4. He wanted people judged for their content, not for their packaging.
5. He was fighting against the mentality of entitlement.
It is quite easy to see that he was leading the fight for the expansion of opportunity. Quote from his “I Have a Dream Speech,” “the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” He was pointing out here that opportunity was being denied to a significant portion of our population and that the promises made in the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclomation were not being kept. The true conservative fights for opportunity and insists that promises be kept.
Was he marching forward against powerful, institutional resistance? Educational institutions would not allow black children to be educated along side of white children. Public transportation required black people to give up seats to white people. Many businesses would not even consider hiring black people for certain jobs, simply because of their race. Could we conclude anything else from these facts other than that he was fighting against powerful, institutional interests. Today the most powerful institutional movement is the expansion of government into the businesses and lives of the American people. Today, the true conservative fights against this expansion of government because of its assault on liberty and opportunity.
He wanted the government out of the business of picking winners and losers. In his time, the government, at the local, state and national level had rigged the game against people of color. They were quite frankly told that there were things to which they could not aspire in areas in which they could not participate. This may not meet exactly the definition of picking winners and losers, but when you deny people the opportunity to participate in the game, you are certainly denying them the opportunity to win the game.
He wanted people judged for their content, not for their packaging. Quoting again from his “I Have a Dream” speech; “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He understood that content, the content of a person’s character, was what is really important. Today, all too often judgements are made based upon the packaging. Is image really everything? Our politicians want to lump us all into nice, easily definable groups based upon our packaging; white, black, hispanic, jewish, etc. This packaging does not benefit us or define who we really are. It simply makes it easier for the government, the politicians, and the media to deliver back to us packaged sound bites with questionable content. We have been so overwhelmed by such messages that we have become numb to their implication. Heaven forbid a black man like supreme justice Clarence Thomas, or former congressman J. C. Watts, has ideas and philosophy (content) that don’t match the institutionalized packaging. The conservative today fights for the freedom and liberty for men like them to be who they are, regardless of the color of their skin.
He was fighting against the mentality of entitlement. The entitlement he was fighting in his day was feeling of many a white majority that they were somehow entitled to better opportunities, better education, better jobs and better incomes simply based upon the color of their skin. In 2009 the most destructive addiction in this country is the addiction to the allure of entitlement. It seems every powerful interest fights for one entitlement after another, to be doled out by the government, the elite in power. The true conservative fights against this addiction to pursue entitlements, to pursue something for nothing. The conservative understands that this is a battle that must be fought and won because, “if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.” Again, I am quoting from his “I Have a Dream” speech. The conservative understands that an over reaching and over expansive government places new shackles upon its people, crippling their desire to dream their individual dreams, aspire to pursue their individual mission and to pursue their individual interests.
Somehow the conservative has lost hold of this message. It is not proclaimed loudly. The conservative movement does not own the message delivered by this great American. The message is his, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. He paid the price to own it. Somehow, it seems, his message of hope and justice, his message of the fulfillment of a promise made to all men by our founding documents, has been robbed of its content and turned into packaging, glossy wrapping paper, for content that says that one group is entitled to this, and another is entitled to that. The contents of the package we are being sold by our political leadership today is not worthy of this packaging. It is not worthy of being wrapped in the heartfelt vision and rhetorical clarity of a great man. It is fraud for us to be sold this package. It was brilliantly defined for us in our founding documents that rights do not come from government but from our creation, and we were not created by government. Government is an institution of men. Our rights and responsibilities are an endowment of our creation. When we ignore our responsibilities we find ourselves falling prey to the entitlement predators.
Thanks Pat for pointing this fact out. It is always assumed that colored people are instant democrats. It is refreshing to see that not everyone is naive enough to drink the poison koolaid of Democratic liberalism. It is often overlooked that President Lincoln (a Republican) freed the slaves. What the Democrats do is perpetuate the “free slave” mentality, by wanting big government to take control of every aspect of our lives through legislation. Self reliance is not a new concept, it is practiced my many colored people. If you have traveled throughout the south, you will find many colored people of wealth and many of those people happen to be Republicans. The further north you go, the more likely it is that you will find colored people in large numbers are Democrats. My question is: What have the democrats done for anyone of any color lately?. Kudos to you Pat. Well done.