In a recent post, the Czar made reference to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let us expand and expound a little upon this. Dr. King, and yes he had many faults,* is decidedly a geniune American hero. In fact, the Czar rates one of his phrases as a thread in the American psyche—along with “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

In the so-called post-racial world of Barack Obama, what might Dr. King say today? In the photo opportunities of Rev. Jesse Jackson, or the sound bites of Rev. Al Sharpton, and in the verbal jeremiads of Jeremiah Wright, would Dr. King say we are closing in on his dream?

The Czar thinks not, and he would angrily denounce the racist fodder being vomited out under the guise of Social Justice. Dr. King defined what social justice was to be, and it wasn’t reparations and free big screen televisions or sinecure jobs:

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check—a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

Did you catch that? Dr. King wanted to cash a check—but not a financial one; but an ethical check that simply said “America will not stop you from achieving whatever you want.” That, simply, was all he envisioned in his dream. Looking back, it is impossibly hard for kids today, of any color, to realize that all those marches and protests, all those fire hoses and biting police dogs, all those batons to the head and firebombs in church basements, were simply about getting a seat at the same counter or a drink from the same water fountain.

To be judged by the content of one’s character! Dr. King would have deplored affirmative action, which judges a person by the color of his skin. He would have been offended by identity politics for the same reason: a wise judge is preferable to a wise Latina.

And what would he think of government entitlements, and this culture of sucking the teat of the so-called rich?** What would he say of the too-frequent accusations of racism? He foresaw the dangers here when he said, in the same speech, “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline,” and “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” Those words too are gravely important.

But it is too easy to hear his speech today and see where scheming opportunists and agenda-driven politico-carpet baggers found ways to twist his words, turning them into rules for forming what Jonah Goldberg described as an American cargo cult: comments like “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity,“ or “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied,” seem incriminating without knowing the sentences which come before and immediately after each.

The problem is that Dr. King has been reduced by progressive education to “I have a dream.” The entire speech is essential, not just the partial quotes that fuel a corrupt ideology. And his opinion on where the races stand is in sharp contrast with the divisive nature of the Obama presidency:

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

The speech never asks for anything more than simple fairness. It never was a case of modern social justice, which demands more than what others have; it merely asks for the chance to try to earn something.

It may be time for all Americans to re-read his speech in light of our current Presidency. In light of the NAACP. In light of DoJ policy not to prosecute Black Panthers because of the color of their skin.

If you wish to take apart the lies of the Social Justice meme, Dr. King already supplies the logic. The bright day of justice is still coming.

*Bearing in mind that most of the accusations (about plagiarism, hookers, adultery, communism, and criminal activities) were debunked decades ago. Actually, the two more disturbing elements about the man was his ill-timed and ultimately deep-left hatred of the military and what appears to be a thoroughly distasteful homophobia. Although he appears to have voted for the Democrats that attempted to do him in, he would have made an admirable Republican.

**Popularly, modern social justice beggars remind us that in a 1965 Playboy article, Dr. King demanded financial reparations. This is not quite true. He proposed that $50 billion be paid out over time to invest in business and educational development for all races, not just blacks, and even outlined how the money would be paid back by decreased need for social services.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.