Althouse: "4 Ways Martin Luther King Was More Radical Than You Thought."

January 20, 2014

"4 Ways Martin Luther King Was More Radical Than You Thought."

At Think Progress, where "more radical than you thought" implies and that's a good thing.

115 comments:

tim maguire said...: Given their examples, I'm sure they think it's a good thing. All I see from those examples is that MLK was not an economist.; 1/20/14, 2:04 PM
Meade said...: "1. He pushed for a government-guaranteed right to a job. In the years before his assassination, King re-shifted his focus on economic justice in northern cities as well as the South. […] The bill of rights also included 'the right of every citizen to a minimum income' and 'the right to an adequate education.'”

On minimum income and adequate education, MLK's more-radical-than-you-thought radicalism would have led him straight to the radicalism of Milton Friedman.; 1/20/14, 2:05 PM
Tank said...: Meade

I could be wrong here, but I don't think Friedman believed there was a "right" to a minimum income. I think his point was that it would be much more efficient to do welfare that way then by funneling the money through the numerous existing programs. Then the recipients would be free (one of his core principals) to spend the money as they wish.; 1/20/14, 2:10 PM
Tank said...: In this 1968 interview, Milton Friedman explained the negative income tax, a proposal that at minimum would save taxpayers the 72 percent of our current welfare budget spent on administration.

Summary of interview he gave.; 1/20/14, 2:15 PM
Paul said...: Like Nelson Mandela, no doubt he was a closet communist.; 1/20/14, 2:43 PM
Anonymous said...: MLK was a Republican. Radical indeed.; 1/20/14, 2:50 PM
garage mahal said...: Paul said...
Like Nelson Mandela, no doubt he was a closet communist.

Livermoron said...
MLK was a Republican. Radical indeed.

------------------

Haha.; 1/20/14, 2:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: Daddy King was the Baptist preacher in the middle of downtown Atlanta. Ebeneeze Church was a half mile from the State Capitol and two blocks from Henry W Grady Hospital. Black Atlantans did vote for mayor, and Hartsfield earned their votes integrating the Atlanta Police Dept.

The benefits came to Atlanta's black community primarily from northern liberals sponsoring Atlanta University Center institutions like Morehouse College where MLK got his degree.

The Rockefellers sponsored that educational Black Atlanta culture, and they were liberals with a capital L.

So MLK came by his positions honestly.; 1/20/14, 3:06 PM
Alex said...: It's old news that he was a Marxist.; 1/20/14, 3:12 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: The MLK who was the Republican was the senior not the junior.

The idea of a right to gainful employment or to a decent education is not that radical, depending on how the right is to be achieved.

The welfare idea is that you are entitled to an income if you don't have a job. And the effect if the not-so-Great Society was to lock large segments of the black population out of the labor market for 30 years.; 1/20/14, 3:22 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: I can think of one way he was crazy rightwing Teabagger. He believed a person should be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin.; 1/20/14, 3:32 PM
Robert Cook said...: "I can think of one way he was crazy rightwing Teabagger. He believed a person should be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin."

To quote Garage Mahal: Haha.; 1/20/14, 4:05 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: They left out (5): Believing that information ought to be free (as the saying goes), and that wise words are wise whoever is deemed to have written or spoken them, Dr. King had no particular problem attaching his own name to other people's work.

ThinkProgress mentions Planned Parenthood, but it does not mention abortion. My own suspicion is that anything MLK had to say about abortion rights would've been unprintable. (And I think he would have balked at PP's early history, too. I wonder how far Ms. Sanger's conception of the "unfit" ran, exactly?)

The difficulty you run into with a guaranteed job is that some people actually do not want to work, period, because it involves getting out of bed at a certain hour, and putting on certain clothes, and getting to a particular place at a particular time; and then doing what someone else tells you to do, which all sucks. What happens when there are no-skill government jobs in the offing and there are still people who don't take them; or nominally take them, but don't show up most days; or take them and don't do anything once at a job site?; 1/20/14, 4:05 PM
The Godfather said...: Those of us who were alive and sentient during Dr. King's lifetime were aware of all these things. That's why there were, for many years after his death, many reasonable people who opposed his sanctification.

However, as time went on, and as what had begun as the civil rights movement morphed into a racialist spoils system (see, e.g., Jesse Jackson), reasonable people remembered that Dr. King was the one who said that he wanted his children judged on the content of their character, not the color of their skin, they remembered the Christian foundation of the Letter From Birmingham Jail, and they concluded, This guy is a good candidate for sainthood -- notwithstanding his nutty views on economics and foreign policy.

Maybe some conservative publication should remind leftists about some of Dr. King's beliefs that they disparage every day.; 1/20/14, 4:13 PM
Michael said...: Despite the fact that much of the African American community took the path offered by Malcolm X, the softer path, Malcolm X does not enjoy a national holiday. King's mission and much of his example have been squandered. And that is as much a tragedy as his assassination.

He would be profoundly disappointed.

May he rest in peace.; 1/20/14, 4:28 PM
rhhardin said...: I like to point out

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring - when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children - black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

And why are the jews and gentiles then free?

They're free of their racism.

Something the blacks are not allowed to do.

So the blacks are not free at last, by the choice of their MSM-appointed black leaders, who are running a power scam.; 1/20/14, 4:38 PM
traditionalguy said...: MLK deserves the leadership role he is credited with.

The white conservatives were not supportive of integration of the Negro Race, and they despised him for beating them.

The miracle was that he lived until 1969.

Today they all love Tiger Woods, Russell Wilson et al.But King paid the price for being right when he was a lawbreaker to play golf on a white course or play football at an SEC school.I can respect a Christian man with that much courage.; 1/20/14, 4:48 PM
gadfly said...: Here are some points that then George Soros blog forgot to mention:

1. MLK was involved with Communists, including his lawyer and advisor, Stanley Levison.

2. MLK was a womanizer and he most certainly was fond of sex outside of his marriage.

3. MLK was a frequent plagiarizer, beginning with his Doctorate thesis and sprinkled into most of his writings and speeches.; 1/20/14, 4:53 PM
Anonymous said...: MLK Jr. was a lifelong Republican. His father as well. Don't confuse Republican with conservative.

Hey Cook, ready to explain how the Nazi's weren't socialists? Or are you going to run from yet another thread? Explain away their party platform, if you can.

You bigoted, ignorant schmuck.

Ha Ha.; 1/20/14, 4:56 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Robert Cook said...
ouch!.

1/20/14, 4:05 PM

FIFY; 1/20/14, 4:59 PM
Unknown said...: @traditionalguy

FYI

April 4, 1968 was the death of MLK, so he did not make it until 1969.; 1/20/14, 5:00 PM
Drago said...: Robert Cook: "To quote Garage Mahal: Haha."

Cookie quotes Mahal.

Absolutely. Perfect.; 1/20/14, 5:16 PM
Drago said...: Livermoron: "MLK was a Republican. Radical indeed."

Just like Lincoln Chafee only more "radically"!; 1/20/14, 5:19 PM
traditionalguy said...: @Jeffrey Levin...yes April 4, 1968 . I had tried to remember the date from what I was doing that morning when an ominous silence hit town and those driving in to work put their lights on like a funeral does.

Many white Atlantans cried uncontrollably that morning. We loved him too. He was a good man. Still hating him makes absolutely no sense.; 1/20/14, 5:19 PM
Drago said...: Robert Cook: "To quote Garage Mahal: Haha."

Cookie quotes Mahal.

Absolutely. Perfect.; 1/20/14, 5:19 PM
gadfly said...: @rhhardin

Maybe you are confused by the end of the "I have a dream" speech which were not really MLK's ideas since he borrowed them.

The original words were:

"That's exactly what we mean -- from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia -- let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States but for . . . the disinherited of all the earth -- may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside, LET FREEDOM RING!"

Note that Archibald Carey included "the disinherited of all the earth" in his 1952 plea for freedom.; 1/20/14, 5:21 PM
richard mcenroe said...: I honored the memory of MLK by mugging two inner-city yoots for their Nikes.; 1/20/14, 5:24 PM
SGT Ted said...: What Cookie doesn't care to acknowledge is that the idea of the Nazis being "rightwing" was Communist propaganda meant to discredit them.; 1/20/14, 5:25 PM
heyboom said...: "I can think of one way he was crazy rightwing Teabagger. He believed a person should be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin."

To quote Garage Mahal: Haha.

As a conservative of black heritage (who grew up in the Deep South) and a supporter of Tea Party ideals, I can say from personal experience that conservatives and Tea Party members are the least racist groups of people I have ever had the pleasure to know and work with.; 1/20/14, 5:30 PM
Unknown said...: We are told in the future there may be no White people.
We are told in the future there may be no White sharks.

What's the difference between these two beliefs?

"Anti-racists" will pay money to make sure White sharks are biting people years to come, but will pay money to stop anyone trying to save White people.

You see, White genocide is their intent.

Anti-racist is a codeword for anti-White.; 1/20/14, 5:31 PM
Anonymous said...: When I am king everyone will have a right to a job

Just don't complain if the job's not right for you.; 1/20/14, 5:31 PM
lemondog said...: re: Archibald J. Carey, Jr., fascinating information.

Audio from 1952 GOP convention shows extent to which MLK Jr. borrowed from Chicago preacher’s speech.

Long lost civil rights speech helped inspire King’s dream

Wiki on Archibald J. Carey, Jr; 1/20/14, 5:42 PM
David said...: "4. He championed Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights."

I do not think King would be silent about the abortion of 20,000,000 black children over the last 40 or so years in the United States. He would be very unsilent, it seems to me.

And of course King was a Republican, as was his father. The party of Jefferson Davis, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Joe Kennedy, Bull Connor, Orville Faubus and William Fulbright (to name but a few) was the bastion first of slavery and then of segregation, Jim Crow and voter suppression.

Finally a accidental southern President, Lyndon Johnson, took the lead in changing that. Johnson was successful in his effort only because he could count on strong Republican support for Civil Rights laws.

Unfortunately Johnson's Democratic Party also became the party of welfare and of racial gerrymandering, neither of which have been good for black people either.; 1/20/14, 5:45 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Cookie quotes Mahal.

"Absolutely. Perfect."

Okay, then. To quote Livermoron: Ha Ha.; 1/20/14, 5:50 PM
Anonymous said...: As I understand it, MLKJr's 'right to a job' was really about creating more jobs AND tying welfare support to actual effort from the recipient. Kind of like the intent behind welfare reform...provide some dignity to those receiving the handouts.
Apparently dignity is an outmoded concept these days.

Thank God our fine president is 100% focused on job creation.; 1/20/14, 5:53 PM
David said...: King fooled around with women. Here's a partial list of his company:

Eisenhower
FDR
JFK
Clinton
LBJ
Reagan (though not after Nancy--too risky and not for political reasons)
George H.W. Bush (maybe)
Kissinger

That powerful men are emotionally and sexually needy and have considerable opportunity is hardly a news flash, or a particularly good way of judging their worth in other areas of their lives.

And before you bash men remember that each of these men had a woman or women who were equally willing.; 1/20/14, 5:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Still relying on others to think for you Cookie? Y
Shoes you must be conscious of your own lacking intellect.
At least you've raised your game by quoting me.; 1/20/14, 5:57 PM
Spiros Pappas said...: According to Oxfam, eighty-five people hold onto 50 % of the world's wealth. And so it's unfair for Think Progress to characterize economic inequality as strictly a black issue or concern about this ridiculous imbalance as "radical." Maybe it's a way to marginalize the next great civil rights issue. Only poor black men, women and children living in ghettos should be concerned. Us white (and asian) folks have it easy. We're living the dream! We should be happy with our meager allotment.; 1/20/14, 5:58 PM
Anonymous said...: "Shows' not "shoes". I know most of you figured that out. Just thought Garage and Cookie would appreciate the help.; 1/20/14, 6:00 PM
Known Unknown said...: That powerful men are emotionally and sexually needy and have considerable opportunity is hardly a news flash, or a particularly good way of judging their worth in other areas of their lives.

You left out Herman Cain.; 1/20/14, 6:23 PM
Known Unknown said...: According to Oxfam, eighty-five people hold onto 50 % of the world's wealth.

That would be an outright tragedy if 'wealth' were a static construct.; 1/20/14, 6:24 PM
garage mahal said...: So all the "where's the birth certificate?" signs and the "go back to Kenya" signs at Tea Party rallies were a form of respect for a black man?; 1/20/14, 6:28 PM
Known Unknown said...: So all the "where's the birth certificate?" signs and the "go back to Kenya" signs at Tea Party rallies were a form of respect for a black man?

Be careful cherry picking. It works both ways.; 1/20/14, 6:31 PM
Michael K said...: "The white conservatives were not supportive of integration of the Negro Race, and they despised him for beating them."

I guess that's why Goldwater was an ACLU member and a member of NAACP.

That sound you hear is lefties heads exploding.

Goldwater was a department-store proprietor and a member of the Phoenix city council. He was a very conservative Republican, something that was not at all at odds with his membership in the NAACP, which was, in the 1950s, an organization in which Republicans and conservatives still were very much welcome. The civil-rights community in Phoenix, such as it was, did not quite know what to make of Goldwater. It was already clear by then that he was to be a conservative’s conservative and a man skeptical of federal overreach; while he described himself as being unprejudiced on what was at the time referred to as “the race question,” the fact was that he did not talk much about it, at least in public. His family department stores were desegregated under his watch, though he was not known to hire blacks to work there. -

Ancient history unknown to this generation.

“Most historians characterize the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education as the death knell for de jure public school segregation. Yet a little-known legal victory by . . . the Arizona NAACP before the Arizona State Supreme Court in 1953 provided an important precedent for the ruling by the highest court in the land.” The NAACP had not been getting very far suing on behalf of black students, but it had made some progress with suits on behalf of Mexican-American students: A 1951 decision had outlawed segregating Hispanic students in the Tolleson School District, and Phoenix refused to comply with the new legal standard, so it was targeted for a lawsuit, too: one that would have ended racial discrimination against any student. -.; 1/20/14, 6:33 PM
Scott said...: It's loopy when a "progressive" website embraces anti-materialism as one of their values. In fact, materialism is all the left is about. Currency is the, um, currency used by progressives to obsessively calculate morality and social justice. It's why the gap between rich and poor matters them -- they can't conceive of a society where it's irrelevant. In other words, they can't comprehend the kind of society that MLK Jr. was hoping for.; 1/20/14, 6:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Conservatives and Tea Partiers pretending to honor MLK, to quote Cook and Garage: haha.; 1/20/14, 6:40 PM
Dr Weevil said...: If Oxfam says that "eighty-five people hold onto 50 % of the world's wealth" they are liars or fools. That would mean those 85 have as much money as the other 99.999999% of the population of the world combined.

In fact, the claim floating around the web this week is that the richest 85 people in the world have more wealth than the bottom 50%: a very different thing. Of course, millions of people have a negative net worth, and they're all in the bottom half, so including them in the average cancels out an equal amount of positive net worth held by others who may be doing tolerably well, especially if you adjust for local living standards. What I mean is that a Cameroonian or New Guinean with a net worth of $1,000 US is pretty damned rich, but in making a world average 40 such people will be canceled out by one stupid American with a drug habit and a credit-card debt of $40,000.

Not to mention that a negative net worth is not necessarily a bad thing: if you're going into debt to pay for a degree in (e.g.) petroleum engineering, a few years with a negative net worth will be more than made up for by a hugely positive net worth later on (assuming you don't spend it all on hookers and booze).; 1/20/14, 6:47 PM
Scott said...: Progressives pretending to own Martin Luther King Jr's legacy.: hahahahahahahahaha; 1/20/14, 6:48 PM
heyboom said...: So all the "where's the birth certificate?" signs and the "go back to Kenya" signs at Tea Party rallies were a form of respect for a black man?

Outliers and plants who are not representative of the Tea Party as a whole.; 1/20/14, 6:49 PM
Anonymous said...: "So all the "where's the birth certificate?" signs and the "go back to Kenya" signs at Tea Party rallies were a form of respect for a black man?"
-----------------------------
"Outliers and plants who are not representative of the Tea Party as a whole."

1/20/14, 6:49 PM
---------------------------
Good grief, this coming from those who preach responsibility. Seriously? Outliers and plants, hahahaha.; 1/20/14, 6:53 PM
Michael K said...: "Conservatives and Tea Partiers pretending to honor MLK, to quote Cook and Garage: haha."

Hey, Inga. Did you honor the anniversary of Bull Connor ?

"In 1960, Connor was elected Democratic National Committeeman for Alabama, soon after filing a lawsuit against The New York Times for $1.5 million, for what he said was insinuating that he had promoted racial hatred. Later dropping the amount to $400,000, the case would drag on for six years until Connor lost a $40,000 judgment on appeal. "

"In 1962, Connor ordered the closing of sixty Birmingham parks rather than follow a court order to desegregate public facilities. After the failed attempt at the Albany movement, Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference decided to put their efforts on the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States, Birmingham. It was called Project C (for "Confrontation"). The SCLC wanted to target the business section of Birmingham through economic boycott and demonstrations. Throughout April 1963 Martin Luther King led smaller demonstrations, which resulted in his arrest along with many others.[11]"

I thought maybe you had forgotten, Inga,

You're welcome.; 1/20/14, 6:54 PM
Scott said...: "Outliers and plants who are not representative of the Tea Party as a whole."

Yup. And it's amazing how quickly the internets blow the progressives' rhetorical fog away.; 1/20/14, 6:54 PM
Michael said...: Inga: Fuck off you stupid bitch. I was in the civil rights movement in the 60s and was deeply involved in helping to advance King's ideas both in my private life and in teaching at an historically black school. Many many conservatives helped in that cause and an equal number of limousine liberals sat on the sidelines during that hard and dangerous time. Smug sanctimonious assholes like you. 14% of blacks born out of wedlock when you fucks started "helping". Over 70% today. Smug, stupid, bitch.; 1/20/14, 6:55 PM
heyboom said...: Conservatives and Tea Partiers pretending to honor MLK, to quote Cook and Garage: haha.

Projecting again as usual, Inga. You should talk to my black conservative family members about how they feel about conservatism and the Tea Party.; 1/20/14, 6:56 PM
Scott said...: @Michael: I know it's tempting to be genteel, but dude, don't hold back, tell us what you really think. :); 1/20/14, 6:59 PM
heyboom said...: Good grief, this coming from those who preach responsibility. Seriously? Outliers and plants, hahahaha.

Have you seen the ethnic makeup of a typical Tea Party chapter? Extremely diverse ethnic makeup unlike most liberal organizations which invariably tend to be whiter than your legs in the winter.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/01/black_tea_party.php; 1/20/14, 7:01 PM
garage mahal said...: Yup. And it's amazing how quickly the internets blow the progressives' rhetorical fog away.

Give it a shot.

What I found interesting was your post suggesting income inequality was completely irrelevant to MLK? Wowee!; 1/20/14, 7:03 PM
Michael said...: Scott: I usually try to keep my temper but on this particular day I am not inclined to be smeared by a drunk on a matter that is important to me and completely unimportant to the drunk.; 1/20/14, 7:03 PM
Michael said...: Inga: Have another drink. You smug piece of shit; 1/20/14, 7:12 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/20/14, 7:13 PM
Known Unknown said...: I smell comment moderation in the air.; 1/20/14, 7:13 PM
Scott said...: (Going to the kitchen to make some popcorn.); 1/20/14, 7:15 PM
Scott said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/20/14, 7:15 PM
Michael said...: Inga: Don't drink myself. It makes you stupid. Very very stupid.; 1/20/14, 7:15 PM
Illuninati said...: Both the liberal right and the leftists are tussling over MLK. His I have a dream speech was full of ideas which all Americans could embrace. That's why he succeeded.

What passes for civil rights today has strayed far from MLK's I Have a Dream speech. Whether MLK would have supported racial quotas and affirmative action if he were still alive is anyone's guess. Perhaps we should celebrate him for what he did accomplish and leave it at that.; 1/20/14, 7:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Michael, you know nothing about my real life offline, nothing. You sound drunk, NOT me, jerk.

Scott, don't bother.; 1/20/14, 7:16 PM
pm317 said...: Sarah Palin is getting bombarded on twitter by the lefties. She should have explained that FB post/tweet was in response to Obama playing the race card in his latest NYer interview.; 1/20/14, 7:18 PM
Scott said...: I know from personal experience that Inga freaks out when people don't conform to her archetypes. If you don't fit, you're a liar or a freak.; 1/20/14, 7:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Scott, what I find hysterical are Log Cabin Republicans. Self deception at it's best.; 1/20/14, 7:22 PM
Scott said...: Oh really sweetheart? Why is that?; 1/20/14, 7:23 PM
Scott said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/20/14, 7:23 PM
heyboom said...: Scott, what I find hysterical are Log Cabin Republicans. Self deception at it's best.

Inga, you do realize you just completely validated the mindset that Scott ascribed to you, right?; 1/20/14, 7:24 PM
Michael said...: Scott: Yes, I recall that you were called out for leaving the plantation. An absolute shocking revelation. Progressives are not particularly open minded. Or smart enough to think for themselves if think they do.; 1/20/14, 7:25 PM
Scott said...: @Michael: Historically, plantations were owned by Democrats. They just can't let go of the model. :); 1/20/14, 7:29 PM
Illuninati said...: Inga said...
"...what I find hysterical are Log Cabin Republicans. Self deception at it's best."

What is self deceptive about a person having his/her own ideas?; 1/20/14, 7:36 PM
Anonymous said...: So Scott, next time your fellow conservatives and Tea People tell you that you are a degenerate, I'll be happy to point out to you that your political allegiances make absolutely no sense, unless money is your end all, be all, and that is pretty sad.; 1/20/14, 7:39 PM
Illuninati said...: Interesting, I've never met a Tea Party person who cared what Scott or anyone else does in the bedroom provided both partners are consenting adults.

Some religious people believe that Sodomy is a sin, but that religious belief has nothing to do with the Tea Party which is a political movement.; 1/20/14, 7:47 PM
heyboom said...: @Inga

Next time? Has it happened to Scott before?; 1/20/14, 7:49 PM
pm317 said...: Some religious people believe that Sodomy is a sin,

And they vote Democratic.; 1/20/14, 7:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Scott, maybe you could enlighten Heyboom. Reminder: the Duck Dynasty threads.; 1/20/14, 7:52 PM
Scott said...: Nobody on the right has ever told me that I'm a degenerate. Not to my face anyway. And in any case, if they did, I would probably agree with them. :)

The only people who unfriend me on Facebook are progressives like yourself. It seems that your tribe has the biggest problem with tolerance. You keep proving me right.

And if you haven't had your head buried in the sand, you should have seen the socons becoming more delaminated from the conservative movement; and the conservatives becoming more comfortable with the libertarians. I think socons will find the Democrat party much more hospitable to their mindset.

Just remember that D.W. Griffith's movie "Intolerance" was a story about Democrats. It fit then, it fits now.; 1/20/14, 7:53 PM
heyboom said...: Inga, why are you afraid to engage me directly?

I'm enlightened by real experience, you're enlightened by your biased worldview.

P.S. Phil Robertson never used the word degenerate.; 1/20/14, 7:59 PM
Michael said...: I believe Dr. King would find it odd, depressing even, that the "progressives" had not a word of praise for him on this thread tonight. Not a mention of him or his ideas. He wasn't into smug and sanctimony wasn't his deal either. But the smug couldn't find the strength to type his name.; 1/20/14, 8:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Scott, wishful thinking. Socons are still a force to be dealt with in the republican party, tea people and the conservative movement. You have a far way to go before acceptance by your compatriots. You say one wrong thing and they come down on you like a fly on shit, just Iike they did on the Duck Dynasty threads. I was the only commenter who defended you.; 1/20/14, 8:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Michael, progressives don't have to stoop to hypocritical lip service. We live Dr.King's message every single day, not just on MLK day like you.; 1/20/14, 8:08 PM
Iconochasm said...: Hey Inga, remember the Coffee Party? Wasn't that an explicit effort to organize progressives to false-flag racism and stupidity at Tea Party events?; 1/20/14, 8:08 PM
heyboom said...: But the smug couldn't find the strength to type his name.

Save to mock conservatives that is.; 1/20/14, 8:11 PM
Michael said...: Inga: Of course you do you stupid bitch. Of course you do.
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
MLK; 1/20/14, 8:13 PM
chickelit said...: P.S. Phil Robertson never used the word degenerate.

Well, the German word for degenerate is entarten and appears to be a portmanteau word for duck (Ente) + Art.

Robertson is Nazi according to some -- a Nazi Duck Artist. Right, Inga?

do-do-do-doo, do-do-do-doo

Happy Birthday, MLK!; 1/20/14, 8:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Michael, go sleep it off. You make a mean drunk.; 1/20/14, 8:16 PM
Henry said...: There are times when the informal "you" as opposed to the formal "one" is completely wrong. When one is being shallow and condescending is one of those times.; 1/20/14, 8:17 PM
Michael said...: Inga: I repeat myself, but I do not drink. I have found that drink makes people very stupid and given to thinking that using all caps is a useful way to emphasize points.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Martin Luther King, Jr.; 1/20/14, 8:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Yeah sure Michael. Sure.; 1/20/14, 8:26 PM
heyboom said...: Michael, progressives don't have to stoop to hypocritical lip service. We live Dr.King's message every single day, not just on MLK day like you.

How so? By perpetuating the degeneration of the black community through soft bigotry and bad policy? Seriously, what have you or any progressive done to bring people of all colors together? What have so-called civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton done?; 1/20/14, 8:26 PM
Scott said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/20/14, 8:33 PM
Scott said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/20/14, 8:33 PM
Scott said...: Thanks, Inga, I can defend myself. And I felt I was being used as a token. Feh. It's all good.

You know, I think progressivism is half right. There is such a thing as progress. But, unlike modern progressives, I don't think the trajectory of that progress was mapped by some crank economist who died in 1883. And it is not our responsibility to assure conformity to that path.

Progress happens when the collective conscience decides to try something new. Conservatism is society's memory; and it has a critical role. If we don't remember the past...

Much of the past we need to remember surrounds MLK Jr's life and times. His assassination was a point of inflection, a place where progress is marked. Today is a national holiday because every American owns his legacy. Yet the shrill little ninnies at Think Progress seem to imply that somehow, what MLK Jr. was as a man is now exclusively owned by the progressive movement.

This is repulsive. I can't imagine that you subscribe to this notion, do you Inga?; 1/20/14, 8:35 PM
Scott said...: (And now I'm waiting for some progressive to claim that I was saying that MLK's assassination was "progress." It's coming...); 1/20/14, 8:42 PM
Scott said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/20/14, 8:42 PM
Anonymous said...: “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.; 1/20/14, 8:42 PM
President-Mom-Jeans said...: Yeah, you definitely live that one every day Inga.

And I'm a Chinese jet pilot.; 1/20/14, 8:47 PM
Patrick Henry was right! said...: Inga, how is the black community doing, as a result of the progressive welfare state of the last 50 years? Do you call that "progress"? Conservatives think all people would benefit by learning the lessons of the past and not repeating the mistakes.
What is your problem with that?; 1/20/14, 9:03 PM
The Godfather said...: Gosh, this interesting discussion has really deteriorated. Perhaps if everyone ignored Inga . . . .; 1/20/14, 9:28 PM
Revenant said...: I'm not sure why we should care that King believed those things. Plenty of people, good and evil alike, did and still do.

We don't respect the man because he was never wrong about anything. We respect him because he was a powerful advocate for racial equality under the law. Sure, he had some dumb views about economics and foreign policy, but what of it? We don't hail him as a paragon of economic and foreign policy expertise.; 1/20/14, 9:43 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Inga,

Did you support Obama in 2008, when he was the sort of bigot who would proclaim that marriage is only between a man and a woman? Or did you bear in mind his contrary statement when he was running for Illinois State Senate, and figure that it was a OK, because he was just lying in 2008 in order to be elected, and this time it was the truth fer sure?; 1/20/14, 10:07 PM
garage mahal said...: The only people who unfriend me on Facebook are progressives like yourself

Do progressives have no shame? Facebook de-friending now too?; 1/20/14, 11:16 PM
MayBee said...: There's no reason to believe MLK was an economic genius or anything. His power was his leadership and his ability to inspire white people do do better and African Americans to peacefully push us to do so.

Nobody has to like all of his ideas, or agree that they were good ideas, to appreciate the greatness of much of his vision.; 1/21/14, 2:31 AM
MayBee said...: Revenant-
You are a genius in this thread.; 1/21/14, 3:10 AM
Scott said...: @MayBee: What you said. :); 1/21/14, 7:04 AM
Fen said...: Inga said: "...what I find hysterical are Log Cabin Republicans. Self deception at it's best."

Because gays issues are the only issue Inga allows them to care about.

"Employment? Taxes? Schools? Foreign Policy? Get back on the plantation!"; 1/21/14, 9:34 AM
jr565 said...: MLK was right on race, but that doesn't mean he was right on everything. And based on these points he was in fact wrong on most things.
Take point 1:
He launched the Poor People’s Campaign and put forth an economic and social bill of rights that espoused “a national responsibility to provide work for all.” King advocated for a jobs guarantee, which would require the government to provide jobs to anyone who could not find one and end unemployment. The bill of rights also included “the right of every citizen to a minimum income” and “the right to an adequate education.”

govt needs to provide work for all?Should govt pay people to dig holes and then fill them in? There has to be some value for the work provided fort he govt agency needing the work. Otherwise you're just paying people to fill time.
So what, there should be 100,000 people at each post office branch sitting at desks doing crossword puzzles all day, since there is nothing for them to do?L Ike the job banks at all the big car companies?
Right now we have 7% unemplyment (much higher if you count people who simply gave up work)
What PROFIT does govt produce? None. how then are you going to give people those salaries, other than by taxing people not in govt.
Also he said people had a right to a minimum education. But to what purpose. If you're going to have an automatic job, why do you need said education? I'm assuming the job would be a guarantee even if you didn't have the education! no?
How is this guaranteed education being paid for, since, unless its private, education is not for profit.
And finally, we have public education and record number of people who drop out. What if they deliberately forgo the minimum education themselves.
II at ok! they'd still have the guaranteed job anyway. So again, it negates the need to actually get the education.
MLK is imagining a world without commerce producing things somehow without assigning a cost to the production of those things. And then saying those things should be guarantees.
If you can't provide. Way to produce those things, then you shouldn't call them guarantees.; 1/21/14, 9:49 AM
jr565 said...: What if you agree with MLK on race but disagree with him on economics? Does that make you a racist?; 1/21/14, 9:53 AM
jr565 said...: It sounds like libs agree with MLK on economics, but not on race. But they couch that in racial terms and accuse those who espouse MLK's racial vision as bigots.; 1/21/14, 9:54 AM
Scott said...: MLK Jr. was first and foremost a Christian. (His name references the leader of the German Reformation, right?) That fact informed a lot of his politics.; 1/21/14, 10:26 AM
AlanKH said...: Well, the German word for degenerate is entarten and appears to be a portmanteau word for duck (Ente) + Art.

If "enlarge" means to make larger, "entarten" means to increase the presence of tarts or tart-like behavior (or both).; 1/21/14, 12:11 PM