My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail
We had hoped that the white power structure would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
We have seen the financial sector execute a gigantic fraud on the public causing an economic meltdown. The government has moved somewhat to soften the blow for the public, but it has done nothing to the bankers to stop them from ripping off the ordinary citizens a second time.
During the Civil Rights era, the federal courts consistently affirmed it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.
This precious period of enlightenment ended in 1968. Over the years since then we have seen the continuation of poverty and the disempowerment of the middle class. Organized labor has sunk into disrepute. The preparation for war followed by the actual fighting is a never ending cycle. Each escalation of violence fuels the national debt to ever increasing levels.
At each stage our personal liberties deteriorate. In the 1970's the Church Committee revealed a second government most powerful. Infiltrating the security services and corrupting the military, it formed an unholy alliance with business and financial leaders. They mastered the media with information control methods developed by the CIA programs COINTELPRO and MKULTRA.
The second government crushed Frank Church and most of its opposition. Whistle blowers became endangered specie. Investigative journalists were the targets of assassination. Champions of truth in the Congress could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
COINTELPRO and MKULTRA are alive and well important resources for the second government. It remains all-powerful. Evidence of this abounds. Bank regulation never happened. Cap and Trade passed a mere shadow of itself. The Americans must buy wind turbine electricity generators abroad. The Cash for Clunkers funds went mostly to foreign auto makers. The government economists figured positive GDP growth by including sales from foreign subsidiaries. The President persuaded the Chinese to purchase US toxic assets. Harry Reid is using mirrors to "prove" he can provide health insurance for 31 millions previously uninsured while lowering the health bill by $130 billions. These are perilous times.
Obama Is An Excellent Choice to Inspire Not to Lead
The
President can act to inspire others to climb to a new level. However, he is a
poor judge of character and delegates authority usually to the wrong people.
I hope he will change my mind on that. I suspect he has no intention of raising
troop strength in Afghanistan.
If he can get reconciliation, I think he can finesse at least a strong public
option. If he succeeds, he will take the Republicans to powder city.
Who Benefits?
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