17 Jan Martin Luther King was a Conservative (Repost from 2009)
The post below first appeared in July 2009 on the ‘Brushfires of Freedom‘ blog (since discontinued) and is part of the collection of pro-American essays published in the book available for purchase on this website.
Margaret Thatcher instinctively knew that ‘the facts of life are conservative’. So did Martin Luther King, Jr. So have all great American leaders, including most especially the Founding Fathers. We need more of them, now. And when we find them, our prediction is that they will be grounded–as was Dr. King–in an understanding of the Bible.
The names in the news in the 2009 post included Obama and Palin (and even Biden); in 2022, the names in the news may have changed, but the conflict and contrast between left and right–even before the name “Trump” arrived on the political scene–remains the same. It’s good to be on the side of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The quote from which the blog name was derived was from Revolutionary War patriot Samuel Adams:
“It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
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Martin Luther King was a Conservative
Minorities of all kinds are just waiting to become conservatives…they just need a leader who gets it like MLK did…
A little buzz no doubt followed the weekend release of this video clip [since taken down], in which the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. states that he was a Republican. We find this claim very believable, and although the video was apparently made in connection with a pro-life message of some modern-day black Republicans, we’re more interested in the broader message we believe this fact can and does send to minorities around the country. Martin Luther King was a Brushfires guy.
For all the self-important Washingtonian pontification about the future of the Republican Party, the future of America depends on restoration of the primacy of the American ideals of the founding. Freedom, the rule of law informed by the Judeo-Christian view of what is moral and just and right, personal responsibility instead of government nannyism, and government action that is reasonable and responsible and limited in light of common sense and truth—these are the building blocks that will lift America’s spirits and bring it back from the destruction Obama is trying to foist on it.
Martin Luther King was right in step with America’s founding ideals; he was a serious and thorough student of the Bible, a deep spiritual thinker and a devout Christian. These characteristics define him as a conservative—a Brushfires conservative. They would expel him from today’s Democrat Party.
If you doubt MLK’s status as a conservative, take some time to read his ‘letter from a Birmingham jail’. He quotes approvingly the words of Jesus, Paul, St. Augustine, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. He interweaves America’s identity and destiny with its Judeo-Christian heritage. Consider these excerpts:
- …just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. (Ever heard a Democrat speak of the ‘gospel of freedom’? Ever?)
- A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. (What eternal law was the stimulus bill rooted in?)
- An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. (Sound like today’s Congress moving to nationalize healthcare while retaining a special insurance plan for members of Congress?)
- A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. (Sound like Congressional Democrats treatment of Republicans on all major legislative matters?)
- [Civil disobedience] was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. … In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience. (Sounds like MLK would know better what the tea parties were all about than the Pravda media).
- Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. (Substitute “Iranian citizens” for “American Negro”. Sound like anything Obama would ever say?)
- We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. … our destiny is tied up with America’s destiny. … We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. (Imagine Joe Biden speaking of ‘the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God’. Makes you wince).
- One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo (sic) Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. (Barack Obama doesn’t think America is a “Christian nation”, much less does he believe in ‘the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage’. )
We’re fed up completely with the media’s obsession to keep the pot stirring over internal battles to define the heart and soul of the Republican Party. We are fed up with so-called Republicans who think Reagan was an ‘era’ figure, but whose politics are now over. We’re beyond fed up (what’s the next step after ‘fed up’—throwing up?) with the trashing of Sarah Palin by so-called Republicans or so-called conservative thinkers. We don’t know what a Republican is today. But we do know what American ideals are; we do know what it means to be a Brushfires conservative. Reagan, Palin, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Jesus and Paul were aligned in their worldview and philosophy. Theirs is a worldview and philosophy that will not go out of favor and that will not be defeated, no matter what the temporary setbacks. That’s because it is anchored in truth.
Soros, Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Emanuel, Axelrod—the whole mess— are fighting against God, and they cannot and will not win. Truth will keep lighting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men until the chaff of socialism, liberalism and godless intellectualism is burned up.
We have no doubt Martin Luther King, Jr., had the courage of his convictions. His life example changed things. The same will be true of the black leader who stands up to Obama and says these things. The entire mood and fortunes of the country can be turned around. We just need more Brushfires guys.