If MLK were still alive today, would he represent a party and if so, which and why?

Question

I have my own feelings on this issue, but I wanted to know how you felt. Best answer still gets the star. Please be on your best behavior.

I see some knee-jerk reactions out there, but I also see some thought out answers.

Sharpton and Jackson are where they are today because of their involvement with MLK, but I do not feel they espoused his beliefs.
Had MLK not been killed, and assuming he had been alive to experience all that happened since that time until today, do you feel he would represent a party and if so, which and why?

Answer 1

I don't believe if MLK were alive today that he represent any party. Reason being MLK had a dream...His dream has now been over shadowed by nightmares. Instead of progression, we have digressed and regressed. We are still entering the back door walking through the front. We may share the same water fountain yet we drink from different spickets. We may live together within a community setting, but we are seperate and seperated. We claim to strive for one common goal, yet we lack unity. Our schools no longer have to be segragated because segragation lives within our hearts. We may claim alliance to a certain political party, yet we won't vote in minor elections because we deem those unimportant. We seek a President to represent a people, who won't represent themselves.....Yes! The dream sounded good until Dr. King was assinated and then we reverted back to the field/house seperation that we were far more accustomed too and only because it felt so much more familiar.

Answer 2

MLK would definitely represent the Democratic Party because that is where most social issues are prevalent. That is also the reason most Black Americans support the Democratic Party. They are the party of the little man and the middle man. They talk about the way things are while the Republicans talk about the way things should be. Looking at the world through rosey colored lenses has never solved a problem and that is where we are now. If MLK was around, he would point out he rediculous it is for us to be attempting to spread Democracy all over the world while it is spilling here at home. He would tell us that we need to get our "house" in order before we can tell others how to get their "house" in order. And he would definitely speak out against this administration on a daily basis.

Answer 3

I'd say Democrat, but I only say that because he would be so against the republican policies. MLK transcended political affiliation, and the politics of today are so different than his time. He would be marching everyday against the war in Iraq and against Administration policies.

All the great ones die way too young. Imagine if we could here his voice today. A lot of people think of him as a Civil Rights leader, but I see him so much more as a leader of humanity rights. He was truly a great man.

Answer 4

MLK was pretty conservative as far as politics goes. His message was one of personal responsibility for ones own life. Not one of government dependence.
If MLK was alive, personally I think he would be beating the crap out of people like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton

Answer 5

I think he'd agree with the Republicans about racial issues, because they treat people equally, and he'd oppose the reverse racism of the Democrats. But he'd probably be a Democrat because of other issues. I think he was very liberal in terms of fiscal issues and international policy. Although he might support the Republicans on abortion and gay rights and things like that. I'm not sure.

Also, he'd be a member of the Democrats, but he wouldn't be one of their leaders. His leadership was in the area of race, and there are no modern large racial problems, so his leadership wouldn't be necessary.

Answer 6

He has the potental to run for president. I don't know what party, but regardless, it'll be the best thing since sliced bread. He might probably be against abortion. He might also not let the war in Iraq even take place.

Answer 7

Anyone who thinks for one second that a man of peace, who marched for the poor, would support an elitist, warmongering party that constantly cuts funding for poverty programs and throws dollars at the rich and corporations, is too stupid to live. They might forget how to breathe.

Answer 8

Oh he would almost certainly be a Democrat. He worked hand in hand with them in the 50's and 60's though he never outright endorsed them to my knowledge. He MIGHT simply be a left-leaning independant, but he would be excluded from modern power circles if he were. I know a lot of people will say he was really conservative.. but he wouldn't risk alienating his base, 95% of which are bought and paid for, and vote Democratic.

Answer 9

MLK wanted equality and I believe he would have either gone Independent or Moderate Republican. He was smart enough to see that the never ending welfare chain is only creating more modern day slaves.

Answer 10

He'd be a LIBERAL Democrat. He was in fact part of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party when he was alive.

He was against the Vietnam War, for civil rights, and for ending poverty in America. The guy was a total liberal. You guys need to read some history. He was despised by the right when he was alive. People on the right called him a communist and the civil rights movement the "communist movement."

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"The war has strengthened domestic reaction. It has given the extreme right, the anti-labor, anti-*****, and anti-humanistic forces a weapon of spurious patriotism to galvanize its supporters into reaching for power, right up to the White House. It hopes to use national frustration to take control and restore the America of social insecurity and power for the privileged. When a Hollywood performer, lacking distinction even as an actor can become a leading war hawk candidate for the Presidency, only the irrationalities induced by a war psychosis can explain such a melancholy turn of events."
- Martin Luther King Jr, Domestic Impact of War, Nov 1967
http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king03.html

"The Republican Party geared its appeal and program to racism, reaction, and extremism. All people of goodwill viewed with alarm and concern the frenzied wedding at the Cow Palace of the KKK with the radical right. The "best man" at this ceremony was a senator whose voting record, philosophy, and program were anathema to all the hard-won achievements of the past decade.

"It was both unfortunate and disastrous that the Republican Party nominated Barry Goldwater as its candidate for President of the United States. In foreign policy Mr. Goldwater advocated a narrow nationalism, a crippling isolationism, and a trigger-happy attitude that could plunge the whole world into the dark abyss of annihilation. On social and economic issues, Mr. Goldwater represented an unrealistic conservatism that was totally out of touch with the realities of the twentieth century. The issue of poverty compelled the attention of all citizens of our country. Senator Goldwater had neither the concern nor the comprehension necessary to grapple with this problem of poverty in the fashion that the historical moment dictated. On the urgent issue of civil rights, Senator Goldwater represented a philosophy that was morally indefensible and socially suicidal."
- MLK Jr, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/autobiography/chp_23.htm
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OTHER GOOD QUOTES

"Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder.
Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth.
Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate."

"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit."

"I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation... I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow... I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed.:

"World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built."

Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that….