The Courage to Dream: Why We Should Never Forget April 4th

J. Edgar Hoover called Dr. King a "notorious liar"; he also labeled him the most dangerous man in America. In his official C.I.A. file Dr. King's code name was Zorro. Every April 4th we observe the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but the reality is that he died a hated man. Dr. King and the other civil rights leaders of his day lived with constant death threats and alienation from many of their own people. The revisionist history associated with the civil rights leaders of the 60's is typical of the way we (as a nation) deal with uncomfortable subjects.

After Martin's death James Baldwin left the United States. He said he couldn't take it anymore; Medgar, Malcolm, and Martin were his friends. He felt that he was the last one left. Almost 50 years after his death we have political parties fighting over who is the rightful heir to the King legacy; when in reality, he had sharp criticisms for both parties. His stance on the Vietnam war was seen as treasonous. Now, in our hyper patriotic culture the pastors and spiritual leaders actively support the war efforts as they play golf with the president. We've fallen a long way. Dr. King use to say, "I'm a cross bearer before I'm a flag waver." He felt every flag was subordinate to the cross.

I salute Dr. King for his courage and humility. Dr. King, like Gandhi and Oscar Romero, was a prophetic voice who paid the ultimate price for standing up against the mendacity and evil of the system they lived under. I too have a dream; one day, I will awaken and our spiritual leaders will embrace their inner Moses and push back against Pharaoh. One day our preachers will be more like Jeremiah and less like Peter.

I'll close with my favorite passage from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.

The Economic Realities Politicians Rarely Talk About

How does a producer decide whether to employ additional units of a resource? This question is posed in the 6th edition of a textbook titled "Economics: Private and Public Choice". We (the collective labor force) have been reduced to "units of a resource".

Another midterm election cycle is upon us and candidates from both parties have "on schedule" started repackaging the same truncated arguments from the last dozen or so election cycles. While our economy has added jobs for 52 straight months most of those jobs are low paying and offer no benefits. As summer turns into fall our television screens and mail boxes will once again be filled with partisan political rhetoric offering solutions to our current economic situation. Tragically, most of the solutions offered won't address the root cause of these problems: the labor force (at all levels) has been relegated to being nothing more than an appendage. This problem is systemic and can't be solved from Washington D.C.

One political party is offering wholesale deregulation: get rid of the minimum wage and cumbersome regulations and watch the economy grow. I'm sure the unemployment rate would be close to zero if the minimum wage was $2.00 an hour. Just think of the money that could be saved on hard hats and safety glasses in the manufacturing sector of our economy.

The other party is calling for unrealistic wage hikes and regulations that most small businesses can't afford. Sure it would be nice if the minimum wage was $15 dollars an hour, but how many businesses would be able to stay open? Who would take the risk of starting a business if your labor force is going to make more money than you?

I believe that we are at the tail end of a fundamental shift in business ethics. The same middle class Americans who would have led the marches and protests are now sitting on their hands and keeping their mouths shut. Their fear is rational in context to their eroding status in our society. In the professional sector productivity is at an all-time high due to the 70 plus hour work weeks; while low skill jobs have seen their wages stagnated for the better part of a decade. We have lived for 30 plus years with a business ethic in place that reduces work in all of its forms. Seeing labor (people) as "units of a resource" who exist for the sole purpose of generating revenue is a problem that I'm almost certain we won't see addressed in the majority of the political ads coming our way.

My fear is that we (as a country) are too distracted by the spectacle of pop culture: Duck Dynasty, Real Housewives of (insert your favorite city) and technology, and too fragmented over social issues: abortion and same-sex marriage to correctly identify and work towards solving the economic issues we are facing. So remember this fall when candidates A and B are "debating" the issues, the odds are they are both competing for the same campaign dollars from people who view you as "additional units of a resource".

Open Carry Texas vs. Stop and Frisk New York: A Tale of Two City States

According to Texas state law open carry of a hand gun is illegal, but a concealed handgun license or a (CHL) is issued to all citizens who qualify. Shotguns and semiautomatic rifles are legal everywhere but federal buildings and schools.

The stop-and-frisk policy of New York City has criminalized  millions of (Innocent) blacks and Latinos. Under stop-and-frisk ANY citizen can be subjected to random searches and interrogation for any reason or no reason at all.

The logic behind the searches is based on the notion that stopping petty crime before it escalates is a proactive approach to crime fighting.

Further justification is  based on the number of African-Americans and Latinos currently inside the criminal justice system. A closer look at the data reveals that racial profiling isn't validated by the racial makeup of the penitentiary, but a constitutive reason for it. 62% of America's prison population are soft drug offenders. Almost 90% of stops result in no legal action and only 2.5% result in finding guns.

The preconceived notions about minorities in New York City is justification enough for the legal violation of their 4th amendment rights. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to make the policy as fair as possible but has done nothing but talk about it.

I don't care what side of the gun debate anyone who reads this is on. I care about the blatant hypocrisy of this situation. We live in a country in which some have their 2nd amendment rights protected more than the 4th amendment rights of others. I challenge us to be honest and say what we mean. If we mean the rights of the majority to carry weapons in public trumps the rights of minorities to be victims of illegal searches and seizures then just say it.

Groups like the Brady Center and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence are missing out on a golden opportunity. If they wanted to push through legislation banning open carry laws, they would hire a couple thousand blacks and Latinos between the ages of 18 and 30 and have them march on the steps of every capital in every state until the laws were changed.

Many of my 2nd Amendment warriors don't know or care that their political hero (Ronald Reagan) supported and signed into law several limitations to their 2nd amendment rights. As Governor of California he signed the Mulford Act into law after the Black Panthers marched on the capital to protest bans on carrying loaded firearms in public.

This kind of hypocrisy is all around us; it's woven into the fabric of our country. We had a Bill of Rights that didn't apply to Africans (22% of the population) and women the mothers, daughters, wives and sisters of our founding fathers. We've gotten to the point that the dualism of our doctrines go by unnoticed. The next time Carl Dix, Bob Avakain, Cornel West or any of the others who have led rallies to bring awareness to stop-and-frisk are marching in New York City look for the Gadsden flags bearing the don't tread on me moniker. You won't see them.

A Sad Truth About The Minimum Wage.

It would be easy to raise the minimum wage and pull millions from poverty. There is, however, an unintended consequence that comes with doing this: a small percentage of the people who need the most help would be hurt as some jobs would be eliminated. There's enough Prima facie evidence for us to admit that low wages and depressed living standards are a structural part of our capitalists economy. Many industries are dependent on the supply of low-wage, unskilled and immobile labor. It's not a coincidence that the rise of capital markets occurred in coordination with the demise of labor markets.

As Americans, we tend to ignore the plight of the developing world. When we think of capitalist countries we rarely consider Mexico or Nigeria. The developing capitalist countries and the Asian countries who practice a mix of capitalism and communism have benefited from the offshoring of our manufacturing base. The relaxed labor laws combined with overall poverty levels have made those countries very attractive places to do business. As we continue the 30 plus year run of Neoliberal and Neoconservative economic policies I wonder: what's left for America? The move from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy wasn't a smooth one, but teaching farmers to work in factories has proven to be easier than teaching factory workers to work in information technology.

With so many multinationals feeding off of the poverty in the developing world, it's conceivable to think one day everything produced by companies with a few hundred million dollars in market capitalization will be made offshore.

Karl Marx was right in the Philosophic Manuscript of 1844. We have elevated the market to idol status. At the highest levels of a manufacturing and production based economy the function of money is to produce more human labor, who produce more goods, which leads to more capital. This isn't the case for investment banks and equity firms. The function of money is to produce more money. The interests of workers have been replaced by the interests of investors.

Just today I was watching international news. Parts of Spain are experiencing severe civil unrest and disobedience. I wonder: how long before this hits our shores? The idea that we can continue on this path without a negative reaction is as big a daydream as believing the market forces at play can be contained under the constraints of our current system. This monster is out of the cage and without any viable alternatives or remedies to fix this system, we could be living in the last days of the capitalist economy.

The sad actuarial truth is that a hike in the minimum wage would lift millions out of the category of the working poor, but it would also hurt smaller businesses with fewer resources. If the decision were made under utilitarian principles alone, the choice to help many over the few is a no-brainer. The tragedy of our current economic reality is that millions are working their fingers to the bone with no chance of getting out of poverty. The minimum wage can't keep up with inflation, but every little bit helps.