The Objective Standard: Dr. Martin Luther King on Government and The Individual

“Dr. Martin Luther King, politically was a De…”

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat

Politically Dr. Martin Luther King, politically was a Democratic Socialist and proud of it. At least when it came to economic policy and foreign policy. He was a democratic collectivist in the sense he believed that the job of government especially the central government, was to see that everyone was taken care of and no one had to go without. And believed in the democratic socialist model of the welfare state that is common in Scandinavia, where the job of the central government is to seen that a lot of the people’s needs are met by the government. Education, health insurance, health care, child care, very generous benefits for the working poor and non-working poor, etc. But he also had what’s called a classical liberal streak (that I call a real liberal streak) where all Americans are entitled to basic individual and equal rights. This quote in this photo is a perfect example of that. Where he’s saying that, “man is not made for the state, but the state is made for the man.

Individuals, don’t get their power from government, but vice-versa. All of our elected officials are exactly that. They have to run in order to serve us and be given the power and responsibility that we the people give them. The people aren’t required to serve the government and serve the politicians, other than obeying the law and cooperating with law enforcement. We don’t have all of these individuals rights under the Bill of Rights, because the current party in power at any given time says we do. Those individuals rights are constitutional and guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. And it’s the job to make our rights are protected. Not to pick and choose who has them and who doesn’t. Which is one reason why I’m such a big believer in civil liberties and freedom of choice and so opposed to political correctness. Dr. King here is speaking for We The People in an individualist way. Saying that we as Americans have basic individuals rights that don’t come from government.

Something that I disagree with Social Democrats and Democratic Socialists on, is the relationship between government and society and government and the people. The socialist-left, tend to combine those groupings into one group. When they say society has done this and provided the people with these things or this country does this for it’s people, they mean the government does these things for the people. When in fact government is the people that are supposed to work for the people and in many cases are elected. Society, is the people and in many cases the people are responsible for job creation, providing health care, education and so-forth and in many cases that is not done by government at all, not even through the financing. But that these services are provided by the private sector, the people who work for private organizations and business’s. When Dr. King was talking about We The People here, he was talking about the basic individuals of the people. Not government and saying that government gets all of their power from the people they’re supposed to serve.

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PBS: The Tavis Smiley Show- George Carlin: On Freedom of Choice

Source:Tavis Smiley Show– George Carlin, on the Tavis Smiley Show, in 2008.

Source:The New Democrat

“The important big things no Choice. Fewer banks, news media, oil companies etc. For consumers though more choices as to what to buy.”

From the Tavis Smiley Show

George Carlin is arguing that Americans don’t have freedom of choice as far as things that matter. Yet we as Americans make both personal and economic choices everyday. And so did George Carlin when he was alive and I wish he was alive today. But he made real consequential choices about his life everyday. Like what he would talk about in his monologues, or should he go on the Tavis Smiley Show to use as examples.

Americans make real consequential choices everyday about what we eat, what do we wear, when do we wake up, what to do in our free time, who we want to befriend and get involved with romantically. And as we are becoming more liberal and libertarian as a society, we are getting more power to decide what we should do with our money. Like should we gamble or not purchase and use marijuana or not. Gays are being able to decide should they get married or not.

Perhaps what George Carlin and excuse me for trying to get into his great head and great brain, but maybe he was saying what Americans really have now are fewer choices with what we can do with our own money. Since we now have such large multi-national corporations. That we have less competition now with so much financial power in the hands of a very few. And we have less choice economic choice from that perspective than we use to. And that would be a very fair point.

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History Channel: 1968 With Tom Brokaw

Source: McKeow Tube– A hippie with Tom Brokaw.

“In this video, Tom Brokaw presents the causes, details, and legacy of the pivotal year 1968.”

Source:McKeow Tube 

1968 was one of if not the most explosive years in American history, for good and bad. With everything that happened that year from political assassinations, with people being freed to be themselves and live the way they want to. With all the good movies and music that came from this era. With the sporting events, as well as a new political movement in America that emerged on the Left-Wing and what I call the New-Left in America.

The New-Left (orFar-Left) that came into the Democratic Party that was anti-establishment, anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-anything that was previously done in America that seemed as part of the establishment. The mid and late 1960s was changing to the point that for people who weren’t Baby Boomers and were older, we’re seeing a completely New America.

The term New America I believe gets thrown around a lot and has become another corny catch phrase in American pop culture especially. But we did become a New America not in 1968, but go back to 1964 and perhaps even 1963 when the civil rights movement became mainstream in America.

1968 is that year where America became that true melting pot and where we became that country that just didn’t claim to believe all of those great liberal democratic values of opportunity, diversity, tolerance, individual freedom, freedom of choice, speech, tolerance etc, but we no longer just claimed those values, but actually owned them. We were no longer just a great melting pot ethnically, racially and everything else, but a country where all sorts of Americans became free to be themselves and live their own lives.

Culturally, the 1950s America that the Christian-Right have tried to move America back to ever since, it didn’t end in 1960 or even 1968. That culturally collectivist decade ended in 1963 or 64. But 1968 was a year where the right-wing came back and took on all of these millions of Baby Boomers who represented millions of Americans of all sorts of ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds and got behind Richard Nixon for president. And where these New Americans stood their ground. And that is where you see this cultural battle, Cultural War even that is still going on America today. Between Americans who want their 1950s back. Versus Americans who want to continue to progress and create an America that works for all of us.

1968 is a year where you see two America’s emerge. They were always there, but thanks to Hollywood and TV, they became obvious to most Americans. An America who saw things in black and white and if you saw things differently they would view you as Un-American. Versus an America that didn’t see things so simplistically. Who didn’t believe women’s place was necessarily in the home. That women should be able to make this decision for themselves whether to work at home and run the house, or work out of the home for money.

1968 is a year where our religious, ethnic and racial diversity, became celebrated. Where equal rights and diversity were celebrated in the New America. In 1968 you saw young adults essentially taking on their parents and grandparents in this new Cultural War.

America, went through a lot of hell in the 1960s with all of the assassinations and the Vietnam War. The violence that came about against the civil rights marchers (to use as examples) but with all of that violence and chaos came a lot of positive things as well. A Cultural Revolution where millions of Americans and not just Baby Boomers, but my Generation X and Americans after that, were given true American individual freedom to be themselves.

So in that sense at least and from my perspective, the 1960s and 1968 even, the most explosive year of that incredible decade, was a great time. It was a time where millions of Americans were given true individual freedom to be themselves. And with what comes with individual freedoms, comes personal responsibility as well. So Conservatives should support this as well.

You can also see this post at FreeState MD, on WordPress.

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Jon Bon Jovi: ‘It’s My Life (2003)’

Source:Bon Jovi– It’s their life.

“Bon Jovi – It’s My Life (Official Music Video) Music video by Bon Jovi performing It’s My Life. (C) 2003 The Island Def Jam Music Group”

From Bon Jovi

I’m not a big Jon Bon Jovi fan, but one song of his that I’m a big fan of is It’s My Life, because that song perfectly describes how I look at life. It’s My Life, that tells me that I have to live it and I better be in charged of it. And not let others live my life for me, meaning being in charged of it. Because I’m the one that’s going to have to deal with the consequences of it good or bad. So I better be the one making the decisions in it, calling the plays.

There few ways to be alive – The first one and unfortunately the most common one (at least from my perspective) is living your life the way people around you want you to live your life. Living your life to make other people happy. This happens a lot when men who are looking to pass their business down to their kids. To run their business, whether their kids are interested in the business or not or even want to run the business.

Another way to live your life is risk free take, no chances, don’t do anything that can hurt you. You live your life that way, you may a live a long time (if you don’t bore yourself into a coma or death) but you’re probably not going to be very happy. To me that’s being alive, but not living, which are two different things.

The third way and the way I prefer to live my life and this starting during the Hippie Revolution, is to live your life by living it, living your life the way that makes you happy. Figuring out what you want to do with your life and then being as productive at that as possible. Whether that makes people around you happy or not. If they really love you and you’re not hurting yourself and they understand that, they’ll be happy that you’re happy. Even if what you’re doing with your life is not how they would live their own lives. That’s called living your life, not just being alive technically, but being alive emotionally as well.

This is what life is about to me, because at the end of the day you’re the one, that has to deal with the consequences of your own decisions. So make the best of them with the best facts and information available and make them your own with no regrets.

You can also see this post at FreeState MD, on Blogger.

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