...In my dream, the FedGov stops makin' up holidays and works on makin' itself smaller and less invasive and if The People want to commemorate someone famous, they do so by doin' something productive, not by stayin' home -- and not by going into work and spending the entire day seething in resentment at The Unfairness Of It All.
I was going to make some snarky remarks but beseems me that would be inappropriate.
Me, I am plannin' on spending this day judging everyone I meet based on the content of their character; I won't even take their politics into account. It won't be pretty.
Bein' as Lefty as the late Dr. King is easy, especially just now. For that matter, his personal faults and failings were not unusual. But have you got the guts, as he did, to stand up for what you believe in the face of imminent danger? Will you put in the effort, take the time, walk the walk? Or will you, Left, Right or Libertarian, just mouth slogans worn smooth of meaning and return to your well-worn rut?
On the morrow, another Presidential inauguration occurs, regular as clockwork. The incoming administration promises -- threatens -- deep and sweeping changes. I think some of those changes, perhaps many of them, are not to the good. And I will oppose them, not because of the race, the socioeconomic class or the Party of the men who propose them but because of the content -- the character! -- of those changes.
Ooh Rah.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that we shouldn't make up more federal holidays, and I'm particularly averse to this one which is purely political pandering and not recognition of major achievement in the development and growth of this nation, I note that while schools are out today, the federal holidays for schools haven't grown.
ReplyDeleteExample: When I was a boy we had two major holidays in February--Lincoln's birthday and Washington's birthday. No question about the impact of those two gents on the USA. We consolidated them into one nebulous "President's Day" when the stores have sales of left of Christmas junk. Now the schools have class on that day.
Example II: We had a commemoration of the sacrifices of those who fought in the War to End All Wars which ended on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at eleven AM. Later we rolled that into a non-descript Veteran's Day. Now the schools have class on that day and the students don't now the meaning of the day either as Veteran's Day nor Armistice Day. They can't tell you which war it was established for. I know. I've asked my college students several years in a row!
He was called a liberal back in the day, but looking from today's idea of the word, he's anything but. All he wanted was his people to have a crack at the game, the pursuit of happiness and the ability to develop and exploit their own skills for their advancement. Nary a word about government help, outside of tearing down barriers. Sounds kinda like Reaganspeak of 20 years later.
ReplyDeleteWe'll never know what direction he would have gone in had he lived. But based on where he stood in life, I can only uselessly wonder at what he'd think when accomplished people like Rice, Powell, and Thomas are ignored or degraded, not a source of pride, and black people can only think that all is possible, and can only be inspired, when a hand picked Chicago politician of extreme liberal stance gets elected.
But Dr. ML King Jr. was a Repbulican. Only RFK said he was a Communist, to protect Democrat hegemony in the old racist South.
ReplyDeleteI have a dream...that the Gov't will become a service organisation for the people who pay for it. I know, I know...fat chance.
ReplyDelete"Will you put in the effort, take the time, walk the walk? Or will you, Left, Right or Libertarian, just mouth slogans worn smooth of meaning and return to your well-worn rut?" Well said!
ReplyDeleteEd Rasimus,
ReplyDeleteI always refer to it as "Armistice Day".