The Portrayal of MLK: Why So Dreamy?

A contrary thought: Is it possible that the left – the media, the progressives, the political class in general – has overstated the importance and impact of MLK and his speech of 50 years ago?

For starters, how can they suggest that it was of profound, near biblical, importance and in the next breath tell us that we have so many miles yet to travel? One or the other, please. (Not to suggest that cognitive dissonance is something new for them.)

Their deification of MLK – I’m certain that BHO is next on their list – speaks to an ugly tendency on their part to demean and diminish America in general. After all, the speech took place, without interruption or any attempt to deny him the right to speak his mind, in the “capital of the free world” and not in Moscow, East Berlin, Tokyo, Tehran, Havana, Baghdad, Saigon, Paris, London or Beijing. The speech explicitly stated that the basis of his dream, the basis of his complaint was the incomplete and imperfect implementation of the plan set forth in the US Constitution and its inspiration, the Declaration of Independence. And, by the way, he was murdered by a man, acting alone, not acting under orders from any state power, the KKK, the GOP or the NRA.

MLK’s speech was inspiring, yes. Important? Sure. But it did not fundamentally challenge or change the nature, the morality or the impetus of the American experiment. His speech did not identify a new right or privilege or suggest a need to eradicate a transcendental flaw in our founding principles. The speech reiterated the fact that the privileges of freedom and individual sovereignty are universal and inalienable, they are of the essence of manhood. It emphasized the necessity of the idea that, in a free society – in America! – a majority’s coercion of a minority to live in an unfree state is immoral and unjust as morality and justice had been defined by, though not yet realized in, the AMERICAN ideal.

The leftists are portraying the speech as more of a turning point, a pivot point in American history. That signals an ignorance and consequent disregard of our history. Or, more ominously, it portends of an agenda to misuse the historic importance of that day some 50 years ago for unjust purposes, it suggests an intent to misconstrue MLK’s message to justify the idea that a fundamental transformation is in order.

They are not that ignorant, and I’m blowing the whistle.