-By Michael Zak
I had the honor of attending the rally at the Lincoln Memorial.
What a great day for America! Hundreds of thousands of Americans, of all races, came together at the Lincoln Memorial to Restore Honor to our nation. Yes, Glenn Back and Sarah Palin were the main speakers, but the real stars of the event were the people in the crowd. They came from across the country in peace and friendship. The vast multitude of patriots brought to mind a similar gathering on this day, on this spot, forty-seven years ago.
Best remembered about the famed March on Washington is Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. What was his dream? Was it of a dispirited America, as brought about by the Obama administration? Was it of a county being torn apart by racial and class conflict, as caused the Democratic Party? Was it a downtrodden populace, prodded to submit to Big Government by the socialist media? No!
August II 167This is Martin Luther King’s Dream:
“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
August II 172 I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
August II 113I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
August II 148This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
August II 132And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'”
Media socialists now a’cringing at the religious themes of the Restoring Honor rally ought to reflect on the fact that those words were spoken by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and son of another Christian minister, the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr.
August II 128 For me, the highlight of the rally was when hundeds of thousands of people sang Amazing Grace. This classic hymn was written by a former slave-trader after he found Christ and repented: “I was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.” One could see on the video screen Sarah Palin wiping away some tears at this beautiful sentiment: “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; ‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home.”
August II 160 After the rally, Rep. Michele Bachman (R-MN) and Rep. Louis Gomert (R-TX) addressed an event nearby. Though smaller, it was still larger than Al Sharpton’s counter-demonstration. More partisan in tone than the Beck/Palin rally, the speakers reminded the crowd of the importance of voting Republican in November.
Amen!
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Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the nation, showing office-holders and candidates and activists how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. His Grand Old Partisan blog celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. See www.RepublicanBasics.com for more information.