MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., HERO OF THE SUBURBS

by Brett Stevens

Why would anyone ever say, especially in a pained voice, “Can’t we all just get along?”

All of us getting along means acceptance of whatever. It means that there is no evolution, no searching for a better answer. In practice, it means that we all retreat to our homes and ignore each other as well as ignoring what happens to our society. If it gets worse, that is not our fault.

People who ask why we cannot all get along are seeking this kind of bourgeois individualism. They want the freedom to ignore the consequences of their actions and their inaction, so that if they contribute to mass destruction of society, they can look back and say “But I was fair to everyone, and I guaranteed that we all had rights.” Yes, rights to ignore that our fate is bound together and that what determines this is not the freedom of individuals, but the health of societies.

DEMOCRACY OF THE ACT

Local democracy in a post-democratic age.

by Colin Liddell

The peoples of Europe have been involved in a massive shell and pea game. I’m not quite sure when exactly the switch was made, but it was definitely made sometime, because when the shells stopped moving and we took our pick, there was no pea to be seen. The democracy we thought we were getting had dematerialized into rules, regulations, dictates from Brussels, "human rights" legislation, mind-control from the media, and supranational bodies telling us what to do all the time about everything!

“Where is our democracy?” we feebly ask, confused that, having jumped through the hoops and done the little dance with the ballot papers and boxes, we are still not getting it. Instead we get what they decide to give us. We get what we don’t want – exactly what we don't want. Then, when we complain, we are shown our signatures on the order form. "Yup, that's us," we meekly concur, scratching our heads. "I guess we did vote for that after all, but...but..." No buts. Welcome to post-democracy.

IT'S ON WHITES AND MEN ONLY

The Left and Collective Responsibility

by Bay Area Guy

One of the more sophisticated arguments leftists employ in order to morally browbeat “privileged” groups into embracing their agenda is the notion that “silence is consent.” Famous black civil rights activist Martin Luther King on several occasions made statements to the effect that those who remain neutral during times of conflict and oppression have chosen the side of the oppressor. In one of his classic works “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” King does not mince words when denouncing white moderates who were insufficiently devoted to the cause of black freedom:

“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”