Dr. King’s conservatism
January 17, 2006 | By The Heritage Foundation
Yesterday, America celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader claimed by liberals as an icon for their movement. As Heritage’s Carolyn Garris points out, however, “King’s message was fundamentally conservative.”
Dr. King was a firm believer in civic responsibility, in a strong morality and in the principles of the American Founding. He believed in the importance of local institutions like churches, which proved instrumental in such civil rights milestones as the Montgomery, AL, bus boycott. These are values today celebrated by conservatives—and values too often rejected today by liberals, who favor more government control, moral relativism and abandoning the Founders.
“He did not reject the principles of our nation because contradictions existed,” Garris explains. “Instead, he hoped that racial groups would put aside their differences and acknowledge the principles that unite all Americans. As America drifts from the ideas and ideals of the Founders, conservatives stand with King as believers that the principles of the American Founding are as relevant today as in 1776.”
Premature judgment
Former Vice President Al Gore used a Martin Luther King Day speech as an opportunity to rail against President Bush and particularly his authorization of National Security Agency wiretaps of suspected terrorists’ international calls. He said that “what we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently.”
The problem is, since this is a top secret government program, outside pundits like Vice President Gore (or, for that matter, policy experts at The Heritage Foundation) are in no position to pass informed judgment on the NSA wiretapping program, as James Carafano, Todd Gaziano and Alane Kochems explained last month. Only Congress, with its classified review procedures, is positioned to oversee the program and know its most secret details. Full oversight by Congress, so long as the administration continues to be forthcoming, will provide the necessary checks and balances envisioned in the Constitution and ensure that Americans' civil liberties are not endangered.
Maryland’s ‘health care’ folly
Last week, the Maryland state legislature bowed to labor union special interests and overrode the veto of Governor Robert Ehrlich (R) to pass a bill requiring large employers to direct a certain percentage of their revenues to health care. Of course, as The Washington Post noted in its editorial attacking the bill, the only firm the law impacts is retail juggernaut Wal-Mart.
But its narrow focus is hardly the bill’s only flaw. Heritage research fellow Edmund Haislmaier writes in a paper for the Maryland Public Policy Institute that the bill is ineffective. Not only will employees bear the cost of the “reform,” but the bill merely fines companies for non-compliance and requires only that companies increase spending, not that they spend it effectively.
Heritage’s Andrew Grossman, meanwhile, made some predictions about the bill’s economic fallout: Wal-Mart will downsize its Maryland operations, cut payrolls, freeze wages and raise prices; and other large businesses will think twice before expanding in Maryland.
Delaying the inevitable
Even though ten members on the 18-member Senate Judiciary Committee have indicated their support for Judge Samuel Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court—a majority is needed to send his nomination to the full Senate—liberals have forced the committee to wait a week before voting. The committee will vote next Tuesday, and the Senate will begin debate the following day.
Meanwhile, the media have jumped on the Alito bandwagon. The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angeles Daily News, the Washington, DC Examiner and the Harrisonburg, VA Daily News-Record have all said the Senate should confirm Judge Alito.
Heritage neckties in the news
It’s not just Heritage’s books that make the news. Even our neckties are getting press these days. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, America’s onetime civilian administrator of Iraq, sports a fashionable Heritage tie on the cover of his new book.
You, too, can look as dashing as Ambassador Bremer with your own Heritage Foundation necktie. Combat boots to complete the Bremer getup are sold separately—and not by Heritage!
Silver anniversary
This Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan.
President Reagan championed “a great new beginning” for America—one grounded upon our Founding Principles, unlimited by burdensome government, and sustained by the belief that, no matter how arduous and complex the challenge, America’s best days always lie ahead. These beliefs changed the world—and continue to inspire the conservative movement and all Americans. Indeed, even though liberals railed against his policies, even they now regard him as among America’s greatest presidents.
To celebrate this historic occasion, The Heritage Foundation will host several speakers on Friday at noon Eastern to reflect on the revolution in American politics that President Reagan kicked off. You can watch the event live online at Heritage.org.
In other news
- America will implement a new strategy to secure its borders by improving the visa process, updating travel documents and screening entrants better, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said today.
- Iran threatened to cut off oil exports if the United States and its increasingly broad and resolute international coalition take further steps to halt the country’s nuclear weapons program. Russia and China recently joined the United States in opposing a nuclear Iran.
- The Supreme Court today upheld Oregon’s assisted-suicide law, saying the federal government improperly applied drug regulations to halt the practice. Justices Roberts, Scalia and Thomas dissented