When There Were Kings

Today is Martin Luther King Day. I won't spend time lauding his tremendous influence on the history of the country, or the eloquence of his words. Others have written about that a thousand times over.

All I want to say is that MLK demonstrated a power that liberals have essentially forgotten - that we can use politics not just to change votes, but to change minds. King confronted a country which was simply indifferent to the injustices of segregation. Through the skillful use of symbol, action, and word, he converted a large portion of the country to the cause of civil rights. The magnitude of this accomplishment is all the greater because King was not himself a member of the ruling class, but one of the oppressed.

In the debate over Samuel Alito, or the Iraq War, or the scandals, or what have you, Democrats have continued to make the same mistakes we have been making for decades. Where a King (or a Kennedy) would appeal to our best instincts to persuade us to their point of view - where they worked to shift the terms of discussion - we have been content to fight it out at the margins, accepting the terms where they are. It is no accident that while fighting the enemy on his own ground, we have met nothing but defeats.

So let's take this day to remember that more is possible than we have been content to accept. By accepting the constraints of the day, we have guaranteed that we will make things no better.