In the family in which I was reared in those ancient pre-civil rights movement days one of the very worst sins you could commit was racism. Ethnic slurs were forbidden. Everyone should be treated with consideration and respect. Period. But one of the other of the greatest offenses was breaking the law. And deliberately breaking the law for political purposes was a problem not just because of the law-breaking but because it weakened the very fabric of the law.
As you can imagine feelings in my family were very mixed about Martin Luther King Jr. My dad—the wisest man I’ve ever known—had this take on the civil rights movement: when the only law you know is the United States Constitution it’s very, very limiting.
I don’t have very much productive to contribute to the commemoration today. But there are people who do:
Baldilocks
Day by Day
Brad DeLong
Dean Esmay
Roger L. Simon
South Knox Bubba
Laughing Wolf
The Moderate Voice. Do not miss this!
Winds of Change
Tim Worstall
