Martin Luther King Day

I have said loud and long in this space that discrimination on the basis of race is wrong. Dr. King, whatever flaws he may have had, did a great thing for this country. He taught us most eloquently and forcefully the principle that a that person should be judged not by the color of skin, but by the content of character.

Exploiting a wonderful legacy, there are race hustlers in the country that give lip service to Dr. King's principle, but agitate for privilege based upon skin color rather than meritorious character. Shame on them. You know who they are.

Thanks to Dr. King, in my judgment, sledgehammer legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its imitators are no longer as vitally necessary as they once were. I believe that society has changed enough that as fine as are the principles in that legislation, we are now at the point that the laws are now doing more harm than good to those who are supposed to be protected. Laws have an inertia of their own. Once enacted, they are hare to get rid of or replace with something better.

I think it is time to re-examine these laws in the light of today's reality. Credit Dr. King and others who fought with him for, if not the change itself (which may have been inevitable) but for the speed at which change in society's attitudes have occurred.