Economics, Elections, and Martin Luther King

Just as big business took over the food supply, health care, and now parts even of  our little educational system, big business has infiltrated the voting process itself, through ESS and various political consortia such as ALEC.  How did we get here and what can we do about this intolerable situation?

Perhaps we may start with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his lesser-known speeches, especially the speech at Riverside Church in 1967.  This speech, highlighting the horrors and injustice of the Viet Nam War also points to the inequities in the profit system, though surely King does not say this explicitly.  In America now a battle rages, a battle for the heart and soul of every American.  Are we to be a country of aggrandizement, of perpetual wars, of rampant avarice?  Or are we to be a country of purpose and pride with fairness and justice for all?

King, here, asks the right questions at the time of the Viet Nam war.  And his imminent conclusions lead inexorably to the failure of the economic system of America then and now to deliver on its promises.  These are strange times in which we live, yet times of promise amidst change.  May w
e be inspired by Martin Luther King to a deeper self-examination than ever before.



What Does Martin Luther King Have to Say to Us Now?