Martin Luther King Jr. On Freedom

Martin Luther King Jr. did not believe in unrestrained capitalism. He did, however, speak out against Communism and its evils. He observed that under a Communist system, the state is the end, and humans are merely a means to that end. In his book Stride Toward Freedom, he wrote:

Man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as a means to the end of the state, but always as an end within himself.

It is worth keeping in mind what King said, rather than what people would like to believe he said. In a time when Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats such as Sen. Ted Kennedy are brow-beating Judge Samuel Alito for supposedly being involved with an allegedly racist organization that he doesn't even recall joining, it's worth recalling King's words on nonviolent resistance:

First, it must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. . . . . it is active nonviolent resistance to evil. A second basic fact that characterizes nonviolence is that it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. . . . The end is redemption and reconciliation.

These are words worth keeping in mind as we look forward to Monday's commemoration of a great man in the history of civil rights and America.