by Tina Grazier
Fifty years ago leftists took a fork in the road and turned to violence and radical protest to further socialist ideas. Today they work from within our society and government to fundamentally transform our country to their un-American vision. The past three years of President Obama’s presidency has given us a strong dose of this extreme left style of governance. But the fantasy that brought Obama to power is finally being exposed along with his record as a radical left socialist.
Today’s new media is pulling at the far left threads woven through the President’s mantle.
One such thread tells of Obama’s involvement in the extreme left Chicago Chapter of The New Party. Barack Obama denies this association but the groups goals have been made manifest in Obama’s policies and his membership is officially documented in minutes from a January 11, 1996 public meeting of the Chicago chapter. Stanley Kurtz of National Review tells of this involvement here and here. Frank Mazzaglia of Metro West Daily describes the New Party’s stated contempt for the American system of government as well as the Democrat Party they would help to subvert to launch their candidate of choice:
The New Party’s Principles dismiss the current political system as a “sewer of privilege and exclusion” and condemns the Democratic Party as “dominated by business, business backed candidates, or upper middle class liberal elites searching for a candidate acceptable to business.” The Statement of Principles demands a guaranteed minimum income for all adults, and a universal social wage, defined as a cradle to grave state provision for health care, child care, and education which is far left of the American Democratic Party’s platform. It’s the socialistic model that got Europe into trouble and makes no attempt at finding a way to pay for these programs.
Barack Obama has accomplished a lot to realize his goal of fundamental transformation of America. He has also said he needs four more years to finish his work and is campaigning hard to win re-election. I can’t imagine how we can survive four more years of high unemployment, bigger government, and demands for higher taxes but that is exactly where President Obama will take us if elected for another four years. In a few months the American people have an opportunity to choose between this radical vision and a more traditional candidate. One will put us back on the path toward opportunity, prosperity, and success. President Obama cannot make that promise.
The road to the presidency will not be a cake walk for President Obama this time.
America has always been a land of live and let live. The American people have great tolerance for differing heritage and points of view. Our God given rights and freedoms mean that citizens can hold wildly differing views and express them openly and honestly. But as we have discovered under President Obama, ideas expressed are one thing but ideas set in motion can be quite another. The president has presided over the transformation he promised. He has presided over an economy that encourages government dependency. He has presided over an economy of government spending to create jobs. He has presided over the partial government takeover of a car company and unporecidented government authority over banks. He has passed an extreme healthcare law that few of our citizens want; a plan that favors big insurers, imposes a tax for those who fail to purchase insurance, imposes a non-elected board to make healthcare decisions, and is so complex that legal experts are still attempting to sort out the laws meaning for our citizens and businesses. The Presidents fiscal policies have created economic stagnation and misery with unemployment stuck over 8% for most Americans. Unemployment is much higher for the most vulnerable among us, the working poor and young people. Businesses are failing or marking time and they certainly aren’t hiring. The President’s policies have placed burdensome regulations to stifle traditional energy production while lending support to alternative energy companies that cannot meet demand. Obama’s policies have increased our country’s debt and damaged our standing in the world. What can the American people do when toxic leftist ideas have harmed the structures of our society and threatened us at our very core?
We cannot look to our political parties alone for solutions. Our political parties too often act as machines of survival and self-promotion. We need leaders who see themselves as servants of the people competing in the arena of ideas and dedicated to upholding our Constitution and founding principles but it is up to us to find and promote them. We cannot count on the old media. Our media has failed as guardians and disseminaters of information and truth. It is up to the us to seek out information and spread what we find by word of mouth and through the mighty keyboard. The founders gave the people the power of the pen, the soap box, and the ballot (They also granted us the right to bear arms and this right ensures our voices will be heard.) But will these rights be sufficient to save our republic?
When we find our country being transformed into something quite different from the land of the free we must vow to become the home of the brave!
It will take personal commitment and courage to stand up to the enemies of freedom but stand up we must. America is not a “sewer of privilege and exclusion”! Neither is America a pitiful band of dependent serfs. The American people are not needy waifs waiting for the government to deliver fundamentals we are capablke of providing for ourselves. That lie, and the fools who believe it, must be politically obliterated. The current administration has shown itself, through words and actions, to be representative of this extreme cadre of socialist, Marxist, fascist others. These others are too far left to be considered for leadership positions in America. They must be driven from the halls of Congress and they must be driven out of the presidency! Barack Obama was too far left in 2008, which is why he hid his past and manufactured a fairy tale biography to feed to the masses. The President is still too far left for America and he must be defeated in November.
Obama’s agenda is to complete the fundamental transformation he promised. His agenda thus far has made misery the new norm. How far left is too far left? Look around. Our country has been greatly influenced by the left extreme even before the great transformation of the Obama presidency. Our schools are failing, our jails are filled to the brim, our streets are arenas of violence, our citizens are out of work, our homes and savings have lost value, our military is being undermined, our standing in the world is diminished and hope about the future is flagging.The far left brings equal misery for all and blocks the light of opportunity and success by confiscating our wealth and oppressing our freedom. President Obama represents the final blow in the far left agenda to remake America to the socialist dream. The socialist state kills opportunity and binds the spirit of freedom until the people are suffocated. Will you be among those who lets this happen to America?
Examples of the American dream can still be seen in Republican led states across this great land. Strong leaders in several states have begun to successfully fight against extreme left polices that have crippled success and opportunity. Likewise states across the land led by leftists continue to fail. This stark contrast shows that power resides in the people, not government. It is the people, working and investing in their own lives, who create the American dream. We Americans love our country. We love freedom and the opportunity we have to become owners of business. We appreciate that when others take this risk they create opportunity so that we can all prosper and live our own version of the American dream. Americans also love the long shot of freedoms promise; the chance that one day we too might become one of the wealthy few. In America anything is possible but it will only continue to be possible if we restore and preserve the ideas and principles of freedom and opportunity that this country was built upon.
November is right around the corner. Mark your calendar and vow to make that day mark the end of far left ideas and the beginning of the rebirth of America.
“Fifty years ago leftists took a fork in the road and turned to violence ….”
Don’t make assertions like this without backing them up. All the “mall-shooter-uppers” coming to my mind repose on your side of the fence, sister.
Tina, you said “Today they work from within our society and government to fundamentally transform our country to their un-American vision.” It would be 100% accurate if you add the word also after “Today they”, liberals are as violent/deadly/dangerous as ever. Other than that one word, I agree with you.
237 years ago, Liberals took to the streets and threw off the yoke of government/corporate oppression on the North American Continent. The yoke is back and tighter than ever on our throats. Now it is up to all loyal patriots to fight the tories among us and throw out the tyrants destroying America!
“Fifty years ago leftists took a fork in the road and turned to violence and radical protest to further socialist ideas.”
Correction: A small minority of American leftists fifty years ago turned to violence to meet their goals. However, the majority of the Civil Rights movement was peaceful. It’s very interesting that you omit their efforts in your analysis of the country’s leftward progression, especially when such an omission is coupled with this statement:
“America has always been a land of live and let live.”
Maybe in theory, but it certainly hasn’t always been this way in practice. It took the efforts of “leftists” such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others before and after him, to make our country this way. They fought hard for equality–not just racial equality, but economic equality as well–and they were branded socialist radicals for doing so. When your rhetoric matches perfectly that of those who fought against the Civil Rights movement, you need to do some self-reflection.
“For years I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of the society, a little change here, a little change there. Now I feel quite differently. I think youve got to have a reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.
How far is too left, eh?
We will find out. Will we fall for all that Schwabola and allow the Gang of 5 to outlaw grocery bags?
Will they be able to pass off the increase of an illegal telephone tax as a tax decrease?
Pure Schwabola, now wil the voters swallow it whole or send the Schwabster packing?
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mithridate-ombud/2010/03/24/medias-myth-right-wing-violence
That is just one list of many. How much evidence do you need? More? I can supply that.
Think “Mars Attacks” when a progressive tells you they are peaceful and rip off MLK about their “reconstruction of the entire society” and “revolution of values”.
Makes me want to vomit.
I got a chuckle when Chris conflated the complaint about left wing violence with the civil rights movement. Remember, it was conservative Republican legislators who passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, not Democrats or the left. True, it was Democrat president Johnson who signed it into law thus making his bid for re-election even more impossible with the rat party deserting him like a sinking ship.
What this is about (correct me if I am wrong, Tina) is “Won’t you please come to Chicago, or join the other side” not racist Democrats in Alabama. This is about the Watts riots, not marching to Selma.
This will soon be about leftist violence at the DNC Convention 2012 as my bet is that there is about to be another left wing explosion of violence. Oakland OWS gave us the first taste.
The zombies are amongst us. I have my calendar marked.
Libby, speaking of backing up…what evidence have you that “mall-shooter-uppers” are political at all much less attuned to the conservative side of American politics?
My sense is that its mostly in yer head but I will consider whatever evidence you have to offer.
Toby, excellent addition…wish I’d thought of it!
wwf you: Liberals did, yes.
Progressive, Marxist, fascist, socialists parading around as liberals (cause they like the dictionary definition) are a different species entirely.
I’d happily support impeachment and prosecution wherever it is warranted. I do my best to stand up for decency, morality, freedom, and property rights. It makes sense to hold guilty persons responsible rather than condemning all companies or legislators. The political differences of the parties are better judged when they are articulated truthfully; I also do my best to identify differences between the parties
I hope you make it to the present century soon we need all hands on deck for this tea party.
Zed: “True, it was Democrat president Johnson who signed it into law thus making his bid for re-election even more impossible with the rat party deserting him like a sinking ship.”
Yes, and where exactly did those “rats” go?
Chris: “A small minority of American leftists fifty years ago turned to violence to meet their goals. However, the majority of the Civil Rights movement was peaceful. It’s very interesting that you omit their efforts in your analysis of the country’s leftward progression…”
My focus was not on the civil rights movement specifically but rather the ideological lurch leftward away from American values and ideals and toward the values and ideals of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler and others. None of these is compatible with our system of government and none of them compatible with the ideals of freedom and the rule of law, self-reliance, property rights, strong families and charity that form the strong foundations of our society.
As for the civil rights effort the American people were very much engaged in that effort. Resistance came from Southern Democrats, hard core KKK types (also Democrats), and their political leaders. Country club snobs, both Democrat and republican, were part of the old tradition that had to go. (Now, of course, there are black country club snobs with their own clubs so I guess that worked out predictably).
“It took the efforts of “leftists” such as Martin Luther King, Jr”
I wish you would do some reading beyond what they teach you in propaganda school. It is simply not true that “the the civil rights efforts in the sixties is a product of the left. Good grief, Charlton Heston walked with MLK…he’s anything but a lefty. 80% of Republicans in each house of Congress voted for the Civil Rights Act and approximately 75% of the total votes against it were cast by Democrats. A few prominent supporters of interest on the right: Rep. Don Rumsfeld (R-IL), Rep. Bob Dole (R-KS), Rep. Gerald Ford (R-MI).
“It took the efforts of “leftists” such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others before and after him, to make our country this way.”
King was originally a Republican and no Chris it didn’t take the effort of leftists to make our country this way. Americans came to this land as strangers in a new world. They had to struggle to find a way to live together with others from foreign shores. Life wasn’t always fair and it was often messy but in general the principles of freedom and personal rights are what won the day. The founding principles are responsible for the fact that to make it in America a person has to learn to live and let live. In many circumstances and in many neighborhoods, the necessity of working through problems in order to be an American is what created the live and let live attitude.
The socialists that took on the cause of civil rights were branded socialists because they were socialists…not because they fought for civil rights.
The fight today for equality among blacks is with those who prefer to be self-sufficient, are Christians conservatives or conservatives and are branded uncle tom or a sell out because they don’t tow the liberal progressive line. Doesn’t it strike you as insane that the left attempts to own a race (people of color)? The exception is orientals. To my knowledge they have never tried to “own” orientals politically.
”
“For years I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of the society, a little change here, a little change there. Now I feel quite differently. I think youve got to have a reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values.”–Martin Luther King, Jr.
He wasn’t speaking of socialist government that enslaves people in a life of perpetual dependency, Chris. MLK wanted opportunity for blacks. Real equality can only be realized with independence
Perpetual dependency does, however, define the goals of the leadership of your party today.
Chris: “Yes, and where exactly did those “rats” go?”
Most, following LBJ, remained in the Democrat Party and helped usher in the new plantation model…The Great Society…as faux penance.
Chris “where exactly did those “rats” go?”
You tell me.
Tina: “Most, following LBJ, remained in the Democrat Party and helped usher in the new plantation model…The Great Society…as faux penance.”
Not penance, no way. Not even faux. The Great Society and welfare state was designed to create a class of government dependents whose voting block would be solid Democrat.
Sadly, it worked.
It also helped to destroy the black family and erode the very basis of civil society, marriage, by encouraging out of wedlock procreation to get on the government dole.
Unintended consequences? I think not. This is the progressive Utopian dream. Part of that dream was and is to keep the sons and daughters of former slaves on the plantation. Dependence = freedom in the progressive equation. A centralized government with unlimited power over every aspect human affairs and social interaction is the goal.
As for the civil rights movement, it was the result of good people with good will and exceptional courage facing up to racist thugs and their multiple evils. The civil rights movement was, and is, not owned by “progressives” or so called “liberals” though even in that segment there are a people of good conscience.
Merchants of Despair: Afterburner with Bill Whittle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FGgoReyNE&feature=youtu.be
“My focus was not on the civil rights movement specifically but rather the ideological lurch leftward away from American values and ideals and toward the values and ideals of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler and others. None of these is compatible with our system of government and none of them compatible with the ideals of freedom and the rule of law, self-reliance, property rights, strong families and charity that form the strong foundations of our society.”
Tina, you are very adept at crafting huge, sweeping, hyperbolic generalizations which convey virtually zero information. Has anyone ever told you that?
For instance, this:
“He wasn’t speaking of socialist government that enslaves people in a life of perpetual dependency, Chris. MLK wanted opportunity for blacks. Real equality can only be realized with independence”
Notice that not once do you mention any of MLK’s actual policy positions, because doing so would undercut your argument. I agree that MLK wasn’t speaking of a “socialist government that enslaves people in a life of perpetual dependency.” But by your standards…yes, he certainly was!
Here are just a few things MLK advocated:
–Stronger unions
–Redistribution of wealth
–An “Economic Bill of Rights” that would guarantee a job to anyone willing to work
–Affirmative action
–A guaranteed minimum income for all
–Reparations
All of these proposals you have criticized using terms such as “socialist,” “big government,” “enslavement” and “dependency.” So don’t you tell me what MLK was speaking about and what he wasn’t; you clearly have no idea what he was talking about.
Were MLK alive today and advocating the same positions, you would be accusing him of promoting socialist enslavement and dependency. Hell, his economic proposals are to the left of Barack Obama! The only reason you can’t call MLK those things now is because…it’s politically incorrect. Oh, the irony!
“I wish you would do some reading beyond what they teach you in propaganda school. It is simply not true that “the the civil rights efforts in the sixties is a product of the left. Good grief, Charlton Heston walked with MLK…he’s anything but a lefty.”
You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me. The Civil Rights Movement largely supported the leftist principles of MLK I’ve mentioned above. Not to mention how intimately tied up it was with the labor movement, the second wave feminist movement, and the anti-war movement. (Seriously, have you read MLK’s statements about the Vietnam War, and American foreign policy in general? They are Chomskyesque.) And you’re going to sit there and tell me that the Civil Rights Movement and MLK couldn’t possible have been products of the left, because Charlton Heston? Yeah, forget everything the movement actually advocated…Look! Charlton Heston! Oh and MLK was a registered Republican at one time (based on questionable evidence). So he couldn’t have been a leftist, even though every single thing he supported was!
This is historical revisionism at its most embarrassingly stupid.
As I’ve said before, you don’t have to AGREE with all of MLK’s positions. I don’t agree with all of his positions; he was a lot further left than me on many issues! But don’t try to appropriate him for your own purposes. Don’t lie about him and use his name to further an agenda he would never support. Don’t insult everything he worked for in one breath, and then pretend he never worked for any of those things. Don’t reshape him into what you want him to be; the facts won’t change to fit your ideology. And finally, know who and what you’re talking about before insulting my college education and the many fine professors I’ve studied under.
“The socialists that took on the cause of civil rights were branded socialists because they were socialists…not because they fought for civil rights.”
So now you’re saying MLK was a socialist? No wonder you like historical revisionism so much; you can’t even remember your own words in the span of one comment.
Tale of Two doctors…
Two patients limp into two different medical clinics with the same complaint. Both have trouble walking and appear to require hip surgery.
The FIRST patient is examined within the hour, is x-rayed the same day and has a time booked for surgery the following week.
The SECOND sees his family doctor after waiting 3 weeks for an appointment, then waits 8 weeks to see a specialist, then gets an x-ray, which isn’t reviewed for another week, and finally has his surgery scheduled for 6 months from then, pending the review boards decision on his age and remaining value to society. Why the different treatment for the two patients?
The FIRST is a Golden Retriever taken to a vet.
The SECOND is a Senior Citizen on Obama care.
From the blog “Wage Law:”
http://www.californiawagelaw.com/wage_law/2009/01/why-martin-luther-king-jr-died-in-memphis.html
Why Martin Luther King, Jr. Died in Memphis
Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered by all Americans as a champion of racial equality. Less widely known is that he was equally concerned with workers’ rights and fair wages. Most well-informed Americans know that King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Not as many are aware that the reason he was in Memphis was to show support for underpaid city garbage workers.
Memphis sanitation workers earned only about $1.70 per hour, on average. Almost half made so little that they qualified for welfare benefits despite having jobs. On February 12, 1968, approximately 1,300 garbage workers walked off their jobs and demanded recognition of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME as their collective bargaining unit. They sought, among other things, the right to overtime pay, and a wage increase.
On March 18, Martin Luther King spoke at a rally of 17,000 supporters, drawing national attention to the strike.
“It is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis … getting part-time income … We are tired of working our hands off and laboring every day and not even making a wage adequate with daily basic necessities of life.”
King called for a March to take place ten days later. After King returned to lead the march, President Lyndon Johnson and AFL-CIO President George Meany tried to intervene, but were rebuffed by Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb. King returned again to Memphis on Wednesday, April 3. He delivered his final speech before a gathering of 10,000 supporters at the Masonic Temple.
“Memphis Negroes are almost entirely a working people. Our needs are identical with labor’s needs — decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community. That is why Negroes support labor’s demands and fight laws which curb labor. That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth.”
“I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”
The following morning, James Earl Ray shot King on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Hotel. Twelve days after the assassination, union leaders and Memphis officials reached an agreement that brought better working conditions and wage increases of 15 cents per hour before the end of 1968.
In 1966, King had called upon Congress to increase the minimum wage.
“We know of no more crucial civil rights issue facing Congress today than the need to increase the federal minimum wage and extend its coverage. … A living wage should be the right of all working Americans.”
The federal minimum wage reached its historic high in 1968. Adjusted for inflation, it was equivalent to more than $9.00 today. As tomorrow’s inauguration of Barack Obama demonstrates, the fight for racial equality has taken great strides in the past 40 years. The fight for fair pay for working class Americans, less so. As you remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today, recall that we didn’t just lose a champion for racial equality when he died; we also lost a champion of the working man.
Yesterday I heard that Brad Pitt’s mother was getting death threats,telephone calls, and other forms of attack.
Why? She wrote a letter to the editor about her disagreement with Obama on abortion and gay marriage.
This is not the first time a conservative was slammed for speaking out. I do not recall conservatives harrasing a liberal to this degree.
Here we go again with another progressive liberal Hollywood jackass:
http://nation.foxnews.com/james-earl-jones/2012/07/10/james-earl-jones-tea-party-racist
James Earl Jones should meet and talk with Kenneth Gladney and compare notes. Don’t Tread On Me.
Harriet: I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m not surprised. Remember when that girl from San Diego state put out a video mocking Asians talking on cell phones in the campus library? She got death threats and was forced to leave the college, it got that bad. I don’t agree with what she said, but this is America, we don’t use death threats because we disagree with what somebody said. Liberals went after Zimmerman and had convicted 10 minutes after the story broke. They have a long track record of being intolerant of other people’s free speech, while screaming bloody murder about their own.
Peggy, you just made that up. There is no “review board” in the PPACA that makes a “decision on…age and remaining value to society.” It doesn’t exist. It’s a paranoid fantasy.
Harriet, you’ve really never heard of liberals getting death threats or harassment? You don’t think this happens to openly gay people, or doctors who perform abortions? No party has a monopoly on that despicable form of treatment.
“James Earl Jones should meet and talk with Kenneth Gladney and compare notes.”
Kenny, you’re right, I think Jones could teach Gladney a lot about acting. Jones’ portrayal of Darth Vader, a man who needed machines to breath, could give Gladney insight into how to successfully play a severely injured person. Gladney’s last performance wasn’t all that convincing, especially since he couldn’t seem to remember his lines and never released his medical records.
Harriet, Democrats are now even stalking republicans and posting videos of their homes on the internet.
And we all remember the 12 year old son of the BofA executive that hid in the bathroom when SEIU surrounded their home.
Here are two articles about the stalking.
=======
GOP unnerved by Democrats’ candid camera techniques:
Politicians recognize they give up a degree of privacy when they run for office.
But Democrats are testing the outer limits of that understanding with a practice that raises questions about when campaign tracking becomes something more like stalking.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78217.html#ixzz20Ftl1wyr
New tactic for Democratic candidates: stalking:
Republicans and Democrats are so divided, they can’t even agree that stalking candidates is creepy.
Politico reported Monday that campaign workers for some Democratic congressional candidates were taking videos of their GOP rivals’ homes and posting them online. A few examples are here, here and here. These include clips that are nothing more than silent panning shots of a Republican’s home, occasionally revealing the street address in case viewers would like to drive by and see for themselves.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-democrats-video-republicans-homes-20120709,0,3553608.story
thanks Peggy!
Martin Luther King Jr. was not only a courageous civil rights leader and minister, he was a socialist. Most socialists know that. Most educated people know that.
I find it curious that Chris questions and tries to deny this aspect of MLK, after all Chris is a socialist. Or at the very least an anti-capitalist, which is pretty much the same thing. Chris is perhaps best understood as a socialist in self denial, but a socialist none the less.
This begs another question, is the left so afraid of being the left that they now are in complete and utter denial of who they are?
Charleton Heston walked with MLK because Charleton Heston was a good person of good will who realized that the civil rights movement against racism was a noble and just cause. Not because he was a socialist. There were many other good people of good will who were not socialists yet joined the just cause of civil rights.
MLK was a champion of the impoverished who called for a “radical redistribution of economic power”. If that is not socialist, what is? MLK was, in fact, not merely a socialist but a communist.
MLK wanted to see the end of poverty in America. That is not a notion I am at odds with. It may be impossible, but that is no reason not to try and alleviate poverty as much as possible. I simply question MLK’s idea of how to go about it as I have always questioned socialists, communists, and their kissing cousins the fascists who have murdered more people and caused more misery than any other human constructs on Earth.
Peggy | July 10, 2012 9:27 AM | Reply
Merchants of Despair: Afterburner with Bill Whittle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FGgoReyNE&feature=youtu.be
Precisely.
Now here is a nice distortion for you! So typical of the serial liars of the left, “Gladney’s last performance wasn’t all that convincing, especially since he couldn’t seem to remember his lines and never released his medical records.”
No medical records were withheld by Gladney. Gladney was attacked by at least two SEUI thugs (one who calls himself a Reverend) and got the best of them. Good for him. I would have defended myself too. I would be happy to kick your ass in a similar situation, Chris.
Nevertheless, I wonder what James Earl Jones would do if a couple left wing assholes attacked him. No doubt he would call them Tea Party racists. Even if they were black.
Chris, not to the degree, when did a group of conservatives go to a liberals house and give death threats? When was a liberal shouted down told to shut up when trying to speak?
Of course conservatives have crossed the line but not like this.
Chris: “All of these proposals you have criticized using terms such as “socialist,” “big government,” “enslavement” and “dependency.” So don’t you tell me what MLK was speaking about and what he wasn’t; you clearly have no idea what he was talking about.”
Pull that wagging finger back in for a moment Chris. You need to put these policy positions in context. This was the 1960’s. The overall position of all Americans was that people had to work for a living. We didn’t have large swaths of people who were dependent on government welfare programs. The 1963 march on Washington DC was officially a march for jobs and freedom.
Your hostility to republican/conservative support for the civil rights movement is intriguing. Is it necessary for you to own the black man (as it seems to be with your party)? This is bordering on the disgusting! What the left does is get out in front of the parade and then claim they made it happen.
As I said before MLK was a minister. He embraced collective power as a means to gain freedom, education and opportunity for the black man. I think he would be sick at the conditions of schools today not to mention the state of many black men and the levels of abortion and single parenthood. The opportunities he fought for have been squandered by the promotion of dependency and our failing schools.
And while you are lecturing me please remember I lived through the period and please remember the numbers of Republicans that voted for legislation as opposed to the number of Democrats that voted against it. As I have indicated it was not a left movement…it was an American movement!
You could also use some perspective in terms of the minimum wage. Street sweepers earning $1.90 an hour is not a bad wage. That’s close to 4K a year. Here’s some perspective (1968):
Average Cost of new house $14,950.00
Average Income per year $7,850.00
Average Monthly Rent $130.00
Gas per Gallon 34 cents
Average Cost of a new car $2,822.00; VW Bug $1769
Hamburger was about $.69 a pound
Movie Ticket $1.50
The Federal Hourly Minimum Wage was $1.60 an hour
It was a different world. Gotta go back later.
Chris I have not denied MLK was a socialist. I have merely attempted to explain to you that within the context of the times his ideas had very different meaning than they would if expressed today and that, given his respect for education and family, if he saw what was happening today I don’t think he would be impressed. I have also attempted to move you beyond the notion that only the left favored treating blacks as equals and only the left supported the CR movement. It just isn’t the truth about the times…it is political mythology.
Your party has done a fabulous job of smearing people who hold conservative opinions, particularly with respect to other races. What is worse your party has used the educational system to further the myth and indoctrinate future generations to believe the same crap. Its a tentacle of class warfare politics and its utter crap, Chris.
I bring this to your attention because I hope that you will be interested in entertaining new ideas. We have tried the socialist answer and it has failed miserably. It’s a disgrace that almost fifty years later school systems and neighborhoods in black communities have gone completely to he**. It is a terrible waste of human potential. We have spent trillions of dollars and kids in Chicago and other big cities are killing each other and terrorizing neighborhoods! What should have happened? Black kids should have gotten a better education. Their parents should have had more opportunity to learn a skill, find work, or start a business. Neighborhoods should be thriving places of commerce with black owned businesses and low crime rates. We should have seen improvement and achievement!
Why is it that you don’t want to explore the idea that social programs have done more harm than good in the black community? Has it occurred to you that there may be better solutions to the problems and more productive ways to spend the money?
Correction to my last comment. I wrote $1.90 an hour for street sweepers; it should read $1.70. That was still 10 cents over minimum wage at the time and a lot of whites were earning the same wage.
Tina … this violence? You were going to offer something in the way of evidence … example … proof?
Just a question, Wasn’t MLK republican?
Harriet: Politifact said they checked with a King biographer and no he was not a republican, he embraced many of the republican ideals, but he was not a registered republican.
Source: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/feb/01/no-martin-luther-king-was-not-republican/
Libby and others asking about my reference to violence and the transition to nonviolent methods to further the ideology that is Marxist, fascist, socialist.
Evidence of violence first followed by evidence of transition to influence through institutions:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/1968-democratic-convention.html
http://historycentral.com/sixty/60/democrat.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weather_Underground
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Rage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jackson_%28Black_Panther%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis
Bill Ayers and Angela Davis both Marxist both involved in or with violent sixties radicals switched to nonviolent influence through Americas educational system. Bill Ayers work included training Americas teachers and Davis brought her Marxist vision to race and feminists studies. Neither of them represents a balanced perspective or is interested in critical thinking in education. they indoctrinate!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032401152.html
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/01/25/gingrich-frames-the-debate
The Democrat Party is now influenced and run by these radicals and their radical thinking.
Harriet, From Wikipedia.
MLK Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr
Public stance on political parties:
As the leader of the SCLC, King maintained a policy of not publicly endorsing a U.S. political party or candidate: “I feel someone must remain in the position of non-alignment, so that he can look objectively at both parties and be the conscience of bothnot the servant or master of either.”[29]
In a 1958 interview, he expressed his view that neither party was perfect, saying, “I don’t think the Republican party is a party full of the almighty God nor is the Democratic party. They both have weaknesses … And I’m not inextricably bound to either party.”[30]
King critiqued both parties’ performance on promoting racial equality:
Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of the Southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of reactionary right wing northern Republicans. And this coalition of southern Dixiecrats and right wing reactionary northern Republicans defeats every bill and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights.[31]
MLK Sr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Sr
Biography:
In October 1960, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested at a peaceful sit-in in Atlanta, Robert Kennedy telephoned the judge and helped secure King’s release. Although King, Sr. had previously opposed Kennedy because he was a Catholic,[citation needed] he expressed his appreciation for these calls and switched his support to Kennedy. At this time, King, Sr. had been a lifelong registered Republican, and had endorsed Republican Richard Nixon.
thanks Peggy. So it was MLK’s father that was republican.
I read it that MLK Jr. was a republican and later declined to state. So, there is no way for us to tell for sure. I have heard his niece Alveda King say he was a republican and/or believe more of the conservative philosophy.
His dad, MLK Sr. was also a republican, but after Robert Kennedy helped get MLK Jr. out of jail was going to vote for him. Since Robert Kennedy was killed he wasnt able to cast his vote and even supported Nixon.
Based on this information from Wikipedia it sure looks like both Sr. and Jr. were republicans back in the 50s-60s. Alveda King is now, and many other family members may be also and were back then.
Tina: “Chris I have not denied MLK was a socialist. I have merely attempted to explain to you that within the context of the times his ideas had very different meaning than they would if expressed today and that, given his respect for education and family, if he saw what was happening today I don’t think he would be impressed. I have also attempted to move you beyond the notion that only the left favored treating blacks as equals and only the left supported the CR movement. It just isn’t the truth about the times…it is political mythology.”
We seem to have misunderstood each other, Tina. I thought you were saying that MLK was not a leftist at all, and you thought I was saying that “only” the left supported Civil Rights. I apologize for the confusion on my part.
I don’t believe that “only” people on the left supported the Civil Rights movement. However, it was, by and large, a leftist movement. There was participation by conservatives, but it was still part of the larger progressive movement, tied as it was to labor, feminism, and anti-war advocacy.
I understand what you are saying about the context of MLK’s positions and what he would think today, but that doesn’t change the fact that they were and are leftist positions.
“What is worse your party has used the educational system to further the myth and indoctrinate future generations to believe the same crap.”
Earlier you said that my statement that the Civil Rights movement was leftist was a result of this “propaganda school.” That undercuts your argument, Tina, because my statement was completely accurate. It was a left-wing movement. If you think knowing that fact is a result of “indoctrination,” then I’m not sure you’re qualified to judge. This is another example of how “crying wolf” weakens your credibility.
“I bring this to your attention because I hope that you will be interested in entertaining new ideas. We have tried the socialist answer and it has failed miserably.”
We actually haven’t tried much of what King advocated. I agree he would be saddened about the conditions of the black community today, but neither of us can say what he would have thought the solution was.
I am glad to see you address the minimum wage in 1968. You’re right, compared to now, it wasn’t that bad. Did you know that, when adjusted for inflation, that year saw the highest minimum wage in American history?
http://www.mlive.com/jobs/index.ssf/2010/11/minimum_wage_worth_less_now_than_in_1968.html
Estimates vary as to what the exact equivalent is, but there seems to be bipartisan agreement that the minimum wage in 1968 was effectively higher than it is today. And MLK thought it should be even higher. Maybe he was right.
I am willing to consider that social programs have played a role in keeping people dependent and unemployed. However, I think it must be one of many causes. Maybe the problem isn’t just that social programs have been incentivized. Maybe the main problem is that there aren’t enough incentives to work. Just throwing that out there.
Zed: “MLK was a champion of the impoverished who called for a “radical redistribution of economic power”. If that is not socialist, what is? MLK was, in fact, not merely a socialist but a communist.”
I disagree, Zed. The definition of socialism, according to Dictionary.com, involves government control of the means of production. I don’t recall MLK Jr. going that far, though I could be wrong. He did call for “a radical redistribution of economic power,” which is a socialist idea, but I’m not sure it’s enough to make one a socialist.
As for being a Communist, I’ll let King answer that one, as he is far more eloquent than I. In this essay he writes about the faults he sees in Communism and Marx’s philosophy, as well as the faults of capitalism. He was inspired by the “basic questions” Marx raised in his works, and sought answers for himself.
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol4/1-Sept-1958_MyPilgrimageToNonviolence.pdf
“In short, I read Marx as I read all of the influential historical thinkers — from a dialectical point of view, combining a partial “yes” and a partial “no.” In so far as Marx posited a metaphysical materialism, an ethical relativism, and a strangulating totalitarianism, I responded with an unambiguous “no”; but in so far as he pointed to weaknesses of traditional capitalism, contributed to the growth of a definite self-consciousness in the masses, and challenged the social conscience of the Christian churches, I responded with a definite “yes.””
Kenny:
“Now here is a nice distortion for you! So typical of the serial liars of the left, “Gladney’s last performance wasn’t all that convincing, especially since he couldn’t seem to remember his lines and never released his medical records.”
No medical records were withheld by Gladney.
Kenny, my statement that you claim is a “distortion” is a fact. Gladney did not present his medical records during his trial.
“DAgrosa also asked the jury to consider that the only participant in the fight with documented injuries was McCowan, who had been treated for a dislocated shoulder and broken shoulder bone.”
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/07/12/acquittal-in-town-hall-assault-case/
Again, Gladney did not present his medical records to the court, but one of the men who he accused of beating him did release his own.
“Gladney was attacked by at least two SEUI thugs (one who calls himself a Reverend) and got the best of them.”
You don’t know this. It is something you want to believe because it confirms your bias against liberals and union members. I understand that you have an emotional need to believe this, but reality is not going to bend to your biases.
The truth is we don’t know who started the fight. The video doesn’t show. Clearly, none of these men acted appropriately, and the reverend did not act in a manner befitting his profession. It’s also worth noting that Gladney kept changing his story, even after the trial:
“Gladney had testified that he underwent recent neck surgery not related to the August 2009 fight. Later, outside the court, Gladney told a reporter he belived his neck problems were the result of blunt trauma he suffered in the fight.”
He had no case, and that is why he lost. You can cling to his version of events all you want, but that won’t change facts. Get over it.
1968 !?!
Sigh.
I appreciate the clarification Chris.
“However, it was, by and large, a leftist movement.”
Dr King was at the forefront of civil rights work in the 1950’s long before radical leftist students attached themselves to the cause making it “their movement”.
It is offensive from my perspective that progressives claim civil rights as their victory. It offends me that the Democrat Party postures as owners of the black community and the black vote. It offends me that conservative blacks are treated with contempt for holding different political views. It offends me that the left gets away with treating blacks like Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, and other conservative prominent blacks in a demeaning way at a time when being black and reaching high office or stature is generally celebrated with great fanfare.
It offends me that the left seems to think that if it wasn’t for their taking to the streets nothing positive would ever happen. The ego it takes to believe such a thing is incredible but then my impression of most liberal progressives is that, along with a good heart and good intentions, they need desperately to feel important. They need to feel like they “make a difference”. But much of what they do is about feeling better about themselves or feeling superior to others. While they busy themselves making dramatic gestures, others are doing the actual work…daring to cross the color line and play major league ball…singing in nightclubs even when you have to enter through the rear door…daring to sit in the front of the bus…taking the position as a coach that a newly mixed high school football team will learn to work together as a team and then making it happen…and going from town to town as Dr. King did to speak about the problems, inform the people, and raise awareness. These are the people and the efforts that really mattered and had lasting and profound effect. The men who first served in the military endured incredible hardship to help break down those barriers…this was the actual meaningful work that changed attitudes and it is people like these who deserve the credit for the changes that made the American people back civil rights.
Our Constitution and our founders also deserve credit. They had the where-with-all and the dedication to create a documents that would force the issue. “All men are created equal” is language you just can’t get around in this free country where we are “endowed by the creator” with rights that cannot be taken away.
“If you think knowing that fact is a result of “indoctrination,” then I’m not sure you’re qualified to judge.”
And you would know this because you have broadened your perspective and understand the events and the times from other than your own left loving perspective? As I wrote above…the ego involved in this self congratulatory thinking boggles my mind. But you are free to think whatever you wish.
“We actually haven’t tried much of what King advocated”
What has been left out that isn’t just more of the same?
“Estimates vary as to what the exact equivalent is, but there seems to be bipartisan agreement that the minimum wage in 1968 was effectively higher than it is today. And MLK thought it should be even higher. Maybe he was right.”
To what end? W raise the minimum wage. All workers that receive pay above minimum wage then are raised. In order to deliver the same products and services to consumers prices go up and nobody is that much better off. In the mean time entry level positions disappear and students and teens, or HS graduates that don’t want to attend college find it more difficult to find their first job. While employees should be treated fairly in the work force if a business can only afford a certain level of pay and if there are people willing to do that work at that rate, I don’t see why employer and employee shouldn’t be able to make that agreement. One size does not fit all. All circumstances are not the same. Leftist thinking attempts to make cookie cutter people out of all of us. It offends me greatly that our government is treating us as children to be managed at every level.
Re your quote from MLK on communism: His comments were intellectual and have little to do with the realities of communism in practice. The Soviets were still trying to fool the world into thinking their system was superior when MLK was killed. This intellectual position is a lot like saying you’re for peace. BFD…who isn’t! Now put human beings in the mix and watch what happens.
If we take the points that MLK was willing to respond to in the affirmative, “weaknesses of traditional capitalism, contributed to the growth of a definite self-consciousness in the masses, and challenged the social conscience of the Christian churches, I think the soviet alternative failed miserably. Capitalism, though not perfect has now been embraced by China, the Soviets, even Cuba..although they all still want it both ways. The concern and cure for self-consciousness in the USSR resulted in a very select few doing inferior work and the masses devolved into alcoholism and lethargy…they lacked creativity and urge because reward was removed from society. Challenging the social conscience of the church…that’s a hot one…Marx sought to destroy the church! Called it the “opiate for the masses”.Destroy the souls of the people and it’s easier to turn them into compliant robotic worker bees. I have to hope that had he lived, MLK would have been smart enough to reject these failed ideas completely, and particularly when he saw the result that social programs have had to destroy the urge and creativity of the black dependent community.
But you are right, Chris, there is no way to know for certain what Dr. King would think today. Obviously there are a lot of people who continue to think that more of the same will create a better, different result…go figure.
Tina … MLK didn’t bomb anybody. He was, himself, assassinated.
We’re still waiting for you to evidence in what manner us Obama-ites have gone violent.
Yes … waiting.
Libby you know how to read…try again:
“Fifty years ago leftists took a fork in the road and turned to violence and radical protest to further socialist ideas.”
Specifically … Tina? What?
If Sacco and Vanzetti is the best you can come up with, Tina, you have nothing.
If that comment is the best you can come up with you have nothing.
Bill Ayers, for example, is a lefty. In the sixties he thought violent protest was the way to go. He changed his ways and spent years working from within to undermine our educational system with his Marxist ideas.
Barack Obama, modern day lefty, has used his office to “fundamentally transform” America without firing a shot.
Here let me help you:
Fifty years ago leftists took a fork in the road and turned to violence and radical protest to further socialist ideas. Today they work from within our society and government to fundamentally transform our country to their un-American vision.
Talk is talk, Tina. Come on. Bill Ayers was an academic, and never bombed anybody. Nor did any of his adherants, as it happens.
You got nothin’!
I got Oklahoma City, I got Ruby Ridge. I got Waco. And I got a fat fist full of physicians. Oh … and the mall shooters. And you know what else, I’m throwin’ the last 30 years worth of “family annhilators” into the pot for good measure … a lot of fascistic psychos who all vote Republican, every one.
You got a mind filled with crap, Libby.
You don’t have any evidence that the people you named bombed buildings as young adults and then became lawyers, educators, and politicians working from within our system to move the country away from democracy or in the direction of totalitarian government. And you have zero evidence of how any of them vote. You are grasping at straws.
Ruby Ridge and Waco were both botched FBI raids induced by a zealot FBI director…I mean really, Libby, a tank! Shooting a woman on a porch holding a baby! And both of these incidents when the actual person of interest could have been quietly picked up and questioned as he walked around town. There is literally no excuse for either of these deadly incidents.
Mall shooters? Physicians? These are hard core activists attempting to “transform” America the Republican way? You are delusional!