Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. vs. George W. Bush On Monday, America celebrated a national holiday in honor of the legendary civil rights warrior and philosopher, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I negligently failed to recognize Dr. King on his birthday (January 15), so today I'm making up for it. Let me begin by saying that Dr. King is the greatest historical figure in American history. Other greats such as Lincoln, FDR and Washington were all flawed men despite other achievements. Dr. King's separation from the intimate nature of politics kept him pure. Further, his motivations were to acheive fairness and a more moral America. Politicians necessarily have other motives behind their acts. Dr. King brought an articulate, relentless, hopeful voice to the Civil Rights Movement. He was a master orator who could change minds with his words. Dr. King's work helped unravel 200 years of evil and illegality that had led to the unconscionable segregation in the conservative south. What the mainstream media and the Republican Party want you to forget today is two-fold: 1) Dr. King also was a passionate anti-war activist and champion of the poor ; 2) conservatives and the Republican Party fought his work at every turn. I. THE ANTI-WAR CRUSADER FOUGHT FOR THE POOR If Dr. King were alive today, one person would emerge as his polar opposite on all issues: George W. Bush. The Republican Party's love of entrenched privilege and hatred of the freedom movements of the 1960s stand diametrically opposed to Dr. King's message of equality for all peoples across race and class. Dr. King was a vehement anti-war activist who pointed out the moral bankruptcy of killing other men while ignoring the problems of poverty: Now what are some of the domestic consequences of the war in Vietnam? It has made the Great Society a myth and replaced it with a troubled and confused society…It has given the extreme right, the anti-labor, anti-Negro, and anti-humanistic forces a weapon of spurious patriotism to galvanize its supporters into reaching for power, right up to the White House. It hopes to use national frustration to take control and restore the America of social insecurity and power for the privileged. …It is disgraceful that a Congress that can vote upwards of $35 billion a year for a senseless immoral war in Vietnam cannot vote a weak $2 billion dollars to carry on our all too feeble efforts to bind up the wound of our nations 35 million poor. This is nothing short of a Congress engaging in political guerilla warfare against the defenseless poor of our nation. When I first decided to take a firm stand against the war in Vietnam, I was subjected to the most bitter criticism, by the press, by individuals, and even by some fellow civil rights leaders. There were those who said that I should stay in my place, that these two issues did not mix and I should stick with civil rights. Well I had only one answer for that and it was simply the fact that I have struggled too long and too hard now to get rid of segregation in public accommodations to end up at this point in my life segregating my moral concerns. For this noble stance, Dr. King would be called a freedom-hater who coddles terrorists by President Bush. For his fight in the civil rights movement, Dr. King would be called a reverse racist who fails to see the benefits of a color-blind society. For adovcating spending more money on the problems of poverty instead of optional warfare, Dr. King would be assailed as a socialist who hates the free market. For speaking out against cash giveaways to the rich in the form of tax cuts, Dr. King would be called a madman. All Bush shares with Dr. King are words, and those are empty words coming from Bush. George Bush and the GOP have done nothing to help the problems of race relations other than to ignore them. His party has fought affirmative action for years by claiming that we have a level playing field in America. This despite the fact that half of our country was totally segregated just 40 years. This despite the fact that whites hold nearly all positions of power in our nation. This despite the fact that the evil blemish of slavery is but a few generations past. The evils of war were opposed by Dr. King. A war of choice, when larger problems of poverty and racism persist at home, is even more appalling. Instead of spending billions fighting poverty, educating the nation and building up our country into something far greater, we have wasted all of it killing civilians and lining the pockets of immoral defense contractors. Dr. King would not let this evil stand unchecked. II. THE REPUBLICANS' HATRED OF DR. KING'S IDEALS Bush and his corporate tool cronies in the GOP have fought the poor at every turn. Dr. King would not have been silent; he would have fought the GOP's "War on the Poor." When Reagan cut social programs in the 1980s so that he could give huge tax cuts to the richest Americans, Dr. King would have protested. If Dr. King could see that the Republican Congress was about to confirm a man with an affiliation with a racist group, he would have protested. This is nothing new nor accidental. Although he remained officially nonpartisan, Dr. King's only political allies lay in the Democratic Party. After JFK's victory in 1960, Dr. King took partial credit for his success: "It is pretty conclusive now that the Negro played a decisive role in electing the president of the United States, and maybe for the first time we can see the power of the ballot and what the ballot can do...Now we must remind Mr. Kennedy that we helped him to get in the White House. We must remind Mr. Kennedy that we are expecting to use the whole weight of his office to remove the ugly weight of segregation from the shoulders of our nation." The Democrats did not forget the help of African-Americans in (temporarily) preventing the future criminal Richard Nixon from taking office. JFK's baby was the Civil Rights Act; LBJ ultimately signed it into law. LBJ famously said that "we have lost the South for a generation" and he was right. A painful, but incredibly necessary, split emerged in the Democratic party. Racist Southern Democratic Senators led a filibuster that ultimately failed. The majority of these Democrats, known as "Dixiecrats," fled the party for the Republicans after the Civil Rights Act. Dr. King was instrumental in purging the Democratic party of its most racist and vile elements. The Republicans greeted these villians with open arms. Today, the Republicans have a solid majority in the still racist South. King was a strong supporter of the Voting Rights Act. The George Bush White House, while publicly raving about the Act, undermines it constantly in practice. Not suprisingly, conservatives everywhere fought against the establishment of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Rep. John Conyers introduced legislation for a holiday four days after Dr. King's assassination. (Conyers remains in the House and is a hero in his own right.) The bill became stalled but Conyers faithfully reintroduced the legislation every single legislative session . Ultimately the Civil Rights Marches of 1982-1983 forced the creation of the holiday. Still, conservative states that had become GOP strongholds resisted the celebration of the great Dr. King. Republican Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona rescinded the holiday as one of his first acts in office. This evil man was later impeached for illegal campaign contributions. In 2000, GOP strongholds South Carolina and Utah finally enacted legitimate MLK holidays. CONCLUSION Dr. King was a man of peace, love and integrity. He constantly fought entrenched power and privilege in order to create a more fair America. Today's Republican want you to believe that optional wars and tax cuts for the rich create "freedom" that helps everyone. This sad message remains mostly unquestioned by modern progressive leaders. If Dr. King had not been murdered in cold blood, he'd be the number one soldier in the War on Corporate Evil. Think about this: If you want to be a Republican, you have to oppose Dr. King.