“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Today is a national holiday in recognizance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s efforts to promote civil liberties. I have always enjoyed reading or listening to King’s speeches, but my favorite speech was not the moving “I Have a Dream” speech but instead a talk against the Vietnam War. At the time, he took a lot of criticism for branching off to talking about foreign policy instead of focusing on the civil rights of individuals persecuted by the government and society for the color of their skin. An excerpt and video from that speech:
“A time comes when silence is betrayal… The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world… And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak…”
Some, no doubt, will not much like what I have to say about the incumbent’s stance on Guantanamo Bay later this week. However, perhaps in part due to King’s influence, I have not found it difficult to speak out against either the Iraq War or the Afghanistan War, and to point out the true madness of US military spending since we spend more than the rest of the world COMBINED and more than 12X more than the next highest spender. As King said, the time came for me where my continued silence would be betrayal. I will not remain silent for the consequence if I do is ruin for my country.
With that said, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I will be a co-host on the new show “The Freedom News Hour” every Thursday from 6-7 PM EST with Walt Thiessen and Melinda Pillsbury-Foster. Our first show is this week. Each show will begin with about 15 minutes or so of a “round robin” on the most recent headlines, with each of us focusing on three leading news issues, with commentary. Then we will either interview a guest or focus on an issue with call-ins for about a half hour. The last 10 minutes or so will focus on projects that the three of us are involved in on a regular basis outside of the show. This is our initial program plan for each show, and may evolve over time.
The show airs live on www.ProgressiveRadioNetwork.com. I expect many of my supporters may have some consternation with the label “progressive” and I would like to take a moment to address those concerns. First, it is interesting that this network defines progressive as an adjective – not a noun.
Progressive – adj. 1. Moving forward. 2. Advocating or working for political or social reform 3. A proponent of reform as in health care, finance, politics, environment and quality of life.
This sounds pretty agreeable, and the key is which solutions or reforms will work, and work best. As I wrote in “An Hypocrisy of Terms: Liberal and Conservative,” Americans tend to be divided by hypocritical terms like “conservative” and “liberal.” These terms are adjectives misused as nouns. Many apply these words as nouns to themselves, instead of using them properly as adjectives:
Conservative is derived from the Latin “conservare” – to keep, to guard, to observe, to maintain the status quo. Perhaps where I am the most “conservative” is towards the resurrection of the rule of law and the Constitution. Most modern-day “conservative” politicians spit upon the Constitution by their words and deeds.
Liberal is an adjective that means to favor change from the status quo. I suppose my platform is quite “liberal” in this respect as I believe the Republocrat status quo is ruining our country and instead offer solutions.
I am very careful to not identify myself as either term, nor do I identify myself as “libertarian” which has yet another host of interpretations. This has been a good thing for my campaign, as if you identify yourself in a conversation as a “liberal” to a “conservative” – or vice versa – the most likely result is a shouting match. The amazing result if these silly labels are not used is often a respectful conversation with learning on both sides.
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Since I started writing in 2008, I’ve always simply said that I am for liberty, and against tyranny. I ended my first recorded public speech with the following words:
“America was conceived in liberty, and I will not let our Republic fall to the cowards who defile her without a bitter fight. These cowards will do whatever they can to remain in power, to control us by debasing our money and throwing away our liberties as if they were garbage. Our Republic was not established by cowards, and cowards have no chance of preserving it!
Their favorite strategy is “Divide-and-Conquer.” They will prey upon our differences in Race, Skin Color, Gender, and religious creeds in attempts to turn us upon ourselves. They will try to set our Citizens Senior against our country’s young people. They will try to set the Rich, the Poor, and the Middle Class at each other’s throats for this is the ONLY way they can stay in power.
We must act together, we must recognize that we are all Americans, we are all on the SAME SIDE. As our founders signed the Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin said, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”
Everyone, before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr. realized the truth that the Republocrat Establishment must use tools to divide us, like the color of his skin, since this is the only way to maintain their power over us all. My message today is to stress that not only should our skin color not divide us, but neither should labels like progressive, liberal or conservative.
Jake Towne
January 18, 2010
Postscript – I was saddened today to learn that a Mises University classmate of mine from last summer passed away due to pneumonia. John David “JD” Fernandez was an avid learner and planned to pursue a doctorate in economics, which I have no doubt he would have achieved despite a physical handicap. I made a modest donation today on his behalf to the “John David Fernandez Memorial Fund” at Mises.org which will go to a graduate at MU ‘10 who shows the most avid and earnest interest in learning and spreading the Austrian economics principles of freedom and peace. I think JD would have appreciated the message above. Perhaps he would have appreciated the below quote:
“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now… I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken… The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours.” – MLK
“Tu Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audentior Ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.” – from Virgil’s Aeneid. Well, this quote I know for sure JD would have appreciated.
