The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial
located on the National Mall on the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. - Shutterstock
photo
"Our
lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
–
Martin Luther King
President
Reagan once said: “There is something for everyone under the White House
Christmas Tree.” On this day of remembering the onerous efforts of Dr. Martin
Luther King and his desire to protect the natural and God-given rights of every
American, it is only befitting to glance back into our history, to understand
why his ambition was so challenging to consummate – and why it was so
necessary.
"We
must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope."
– Dr.
King
Over
200 years ago, when our founders set out to create a more perfect union of free
men, they knew they could not reinvent the wheel but they could improve upon
it. Gathering in the summer heat of Philadelphia Hall in 1787 to trade barbs
and ideologies about what this union must or must not consist of, they prepared
for a long contentious tirade. What came first, the egg or the chicken, or did
it really matter that much?
“An
investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
– Ben
Franklin
To
accomplish this legislative genesis, they gathered the best and brightest of
patriots with legal integrity to attend this revolutionary convocation. It was
this motley crew with variegated mores and traditions that gathered to piece
together the foundation necessary to forge this near-perfect nation. It was a
country to amend past transgressions of colonial self-governing under its
infamous English kingships.
“We are
all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
– Ben
Franklin
Ben
Franklin, our elder founder, met each guest before they entered the hall and
welcomed them for their participation in this assemblage of thinkers, scholars,
political scientists and theorists. As Thomas Paine, the father of our
Revolution and a powerful patriot, arrived at the door laden with a stack of
books in arm, Franklin, his lifelong friend, informed him he would not be
allowed a seat at the table. He placidly told him:
“Whatever
is begun in anger ends in shame.”
– Ben
Franklin
With
his usual calm demeanor, Franklin ushered a visibly upset Paine outside,
consoling him: “Tom, they will not allow you to enter the Convention because of
your views on slavery, universal suffrage and representative government.” A
stunned Paine, clutching a stack of Common Sense books with words scribed on
its pages from patriots about government, vociferated: “How will the voices of
the patriots be heard?” Franklin assured Paine he’d deliver the books to the
round table and evaluate every word written by each patriot. A defeated Paine
retreated to catch the next ship to France.
“It
takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose
it.”
– Ben
Franklin
Every
insightful issue that concerned Paine about our Constitution was to become a
contentious admonition in the coming years. We can only wonder how different
our county would be today if others beside Franklin had believed in him.
“Decisions
made in haste lay to waste.”
– Ben
Franklin
The day
Paine arrived from across the pond in 1774, he witnessed the buying and selling
of slaves in the marketplace. He was awestruck that men and women were chained
and denied their natural and God-given rights of liberty and shackled like
animals in cages. He assumed a position working for the Pennsylvania Magazine,
and began a campaign to end slavery. This did not abide well with many in the
colonies who either owned slaves or profited from buying and selling them.
“A long
habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being
right.”
–
Thomas Paine
As an
enlightened thinker, Paine was concerned the colonies had no representation in
the English Parliament, yet subjects to laws passed with no voice in
legislating. He wrote many pamphlets and essays condemning this autocracy. One
pamphlet enervated the start of the war for independence, "Common
Sense." He decreed that every man and woman in the colonies had the
natural and God-given right to vote on every law that they were governed by.
This went over like a lead balloon until the English needed more money and
forced the colonies to quarter British troops. It took Common Sense to wake up
the slumbering pilgrims.
“Give
me liberty, or give me death.”
–
Patrick Henry
After
the Revolution, America needed a definitive constitution. Rumors abounded as to
what type of government would satisfy the independent colonies but unite and
protect them. It wasn’t possible to form a direct democracy so our founders
concluded we’d be served by a representative republic. But not one like the
English’s parliament, which had abused so many colonial rights.
“Government,
even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an
intolerable one.”
–
Thomas Paine
Reflecting
back to that moment in time when Paine was denied access to the Convention, his
clairvoyance was uncanny. It took decades for us to grant the right to vote to
all women in our nation. Our form of representative democracy without the
ability to issue a no-confidence vote for an incompetent legislative body has
come back to haunt us since our founding when the very first Congress met in
1789.
“Better
fare hard with good men than feast it with bad.”
–
Thomas Paine
Paine
told us, “The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind.”
Although most founders admitted slavery violated American liberty, enough
remained committed to property rights, and intersectional harmony to prevent
them from making a morally right move to abolish it in the Constitution. We can
only imagine how different things would have been if Paine was at the
Convention? It would have prevented a bloody Civil War that killed and maimed
thousands – a war that deeply divided states north and south of the Mason-Dixon
Line as it fostered the era of segregation and rationed rights for many.
“Time
makes more converts than reason.”
– Tom
Paine
We are
blessed to have heroes such as Thomas Paine and Dr. Martin Luther King, who
stood up to guarantee equal access to liberty in our hallowed nation. As we
honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King for securing equal rights and
opportunities for all men and women in America, it is befitting to share this
tribute with one as passionate about protecting our natural and God-given
rights, Tommy Paine. Paine started the civil rights movement in 1774 and Dr.
King proudly ended it in 1964 with the signing of the Civil Rights Act. It took
two patriots 200 years to deliver equal rights to all of us.
"A
genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."
– Dr.
Martin Luther King
Tom
Paine and Dr. King were gifted collaborators. Both were talented wordsmiths and
passionate speakers. Each expressed avid distain for the abridgment of human
rights. Both worked under the banner of universal suffrage as ways for free men
and women to instigate meaningful changes in government. And both met their
demise at the hands of those too ignorant to appreciate the work they did for
them. Paine died broken and disgraced because he criticized censoring free
thought. Dr. King was murdered by an ingrate who was blind to reality that Dr.
King had fought to protect his very own rights also.
"A
man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
– Dr.
Martin Luther King
If
Paine and King were with us today, it's easy for us to speculate the words of
wisdom they would bestow upon us:
“These
are the times that try men's souls.”
–
Thomas Paine
Therefore, “We
must learn to live together like brothers or we will perish together like
fools.”
– Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
William Haupt III is a
retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California
for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition
13.
Photo: William Haupt III (Fourth From Left)
