The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech in August 1963. This 17-minute movingly religious address was given in front of the Lincoln Memorial to the hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the National Mall in Washington DC. He stated his hope that someday his children would not be judged by the color of their skin but on the “content of their character.” His short life and exemplary deeds left a mixed and incomplete legacy for the 21st Century.

This speech was a zenith in the history of great American public addresses. It incorporated all the liberal views of our secular humanist founders along with our nation’s parallel Judeo-Christian heritage and beliefs. It never ceases to make many people all emotional when they hear it, including this writer. So many things have changed over the past 50 years and yet so many things have not.

In 1968, Both Dr. King and Sen. Robert Kennedy were assassinated in probably the most tragic period in 20th Century American history. By the end of their short lives, they both had aligned themselves with the “Poor People’s Campaign” wherein the focus of Liberals was to focus on social justice for all people (whether they were Black, White or Hispanic) suffering from persistent poverty and economic depravation. That dream was not meant to be. Instead we turned quickly to President Nixon and conservatives finally consolidated their national power and worldview by the 1980’s and 1990’s. Poor people of all races would never be much of a concern for those who controlled the U.S. and it still it is not a priority for the U.S. in 2010.

Yet our nation’s poor, uneducated, and jobless has continued to grow at an alarming rate. Even middle-class America has lived through a decade with no income growth, no employment growth in the overall economy, and further economic damage done by the recent and continuing Great Recession. Over 30% of American families now subsist at below twice the meager Federal Poverty Level established back during the 1960’s. Childhood poverty among whites is growing quickly and it still far higher among black and Latino children at levels not seen since for decades. Over 30 million Americans are unemployed or under-employed. Income and wealth disparity is now at levels exceeding the 1920’s and continues to grow to the detriment of the long-term well-being of our entire nation. We cannot long tolerate this growing “ball and chain” to remain a competitive economic, political, social and military superpower for long into the 21st Century.

Too many American conservatives and Republicans have grown increasingly angry at the poor, blaming government spending and those people themselves as the exclusive causes of such systemic poverty. They conveniently forget they played a major role over the past 30 years by demonizing government, appointing incompetents or rigid ideologues to government positions in charge of protecting consumers, deregulating and not supervising businesses and financial institutions, cutting worthwhile anti-poverty programs and overall public works projects, encouraging rampant illegal immigration through a policy of benign neglect, and encouraging outsourcing of good-paying manufacturing and service jobs overseas.

The Right has also congregated around a nasty, self-righteous, bigoted, angry born-again fundamentalist evangelical Christianity (BAFEC) that espouses empty morality that forgives every public sin by business and individuals against fellow humans but is foolishly preoccupied by the private “sins” of abortion, sexual orientation, and sex in general. These BAFECs falsely wrapped themselves in the American Flag and determined that God was a card-carrying Republican. This was and is the height of arrogant ignorance and sanctimonious hypocrisy.

This BAFEC religion is effectively a complete perversion of our common Jewish and Christian moral traditions that promote both the need for ethical personal behavior coupled with a strong component of social and economic justice. I cannot respect any person or group that espouses such a worldview in which you have created a “god” in your own warped self-image. Until you “convert” to some other religion you are not entitled to any place of trust or power in my country and I will continually oppose every moronic utterance you make in the public sphere.

Our country has descended into a self-made hell of narcissism, greed, short-sightedness, arrogant ignorance, and an utter lack of a common civility or responsibility for our shared future. It’s every person for himself in getting as many material things as quickly as possible and the interests of other people and our society be damned. We are ruled by the sociopaths who generally control many of our largest and most powerful business, political and social institutions. Finally, our own laziness, ignorance, shallowness and self-centered population has merely tolerated this worsening situation by not participating in civil society or by voting in the worst possible leaders and representatives.

Simply because conservatives and Republicans constantly repeat the same lies, falsehoods, stupidity and vitriol, does not make those views correct. I have been sickened to my stomach for the past 30 years hearing that government is the problem, can’t work, and that we must only cut taxes and let free enterprise run unimpeded for prosperity and righteousness to bless our country. Any person, including some right-wing-nut TMV commentators that continue to engage in such mindless blather contrary to the facts and reality are lucky not to be standing next to me or I would happily knock out all your front teeth.

Conservative and Republicans falsely and arrogantly deny that anything they have done over the past 30 years was wrong. Instead, they now are pushing to blame everything they did onto Liberals, Progressives, Democrats and the current Administration. They are empowered by too many of the U.S. electorate who are shockingly ignorant of history and economics, childishly impatient and self-centered, are ideological and religious tools, and woefully ignorant about too many things in life.

In today’s world, we should be happy that we are still not judged by the content of our character. Too many of us are shallow, narcissistic, greedy, arrogant, ignorant, bigoted, biased, lazy, partisan, rigid holders of discredited ideologies, and sanctimonious hypocrites. Many who rise to power in business, finance, government and religion are actually sociopaths – the most dangerous people on earth because they utterly lack consciences, empathy or consideration for others. They use others for personal gain and many of the rest of us willingly let them do that.

If we were really judged by our inner characters, most of us would come up very short on the basis of even fundamental ethical humanistic principles, and woefully short in the eyes of God. I would objectively note that those who fall shortest in ethical and moral behavior are found principally among Conservatives and Republicans. Some Democrats and Liberals have sold their souls to the wealthy oligarchy that runs this country. Some on the Left can be ridiculed for some loony and extreme proposals and policies but most are generally blameless for the deep political, economic and social messes we find ourselves in 2010 since they have been effectively out of power and influence since 1968. Those who object to this correct assessment have been drinking too much FOX and conservative media “Koolaid.”

I do not support all Democratic proposals for solutions to our many national problems, but we have to start somewhere when the Republican Right is completely devoid of any meritorious ideas. I further understand that an honest, open-minded, balanced, and creative approach will be needed over the next decade to correct the many problems caused solely by Conservative and Republican ideology. The endless vitriol being screamed from the Right about socialism and anti-capitalism is pure false scare-mongering when very little has changed substantively since the last national elections and most is the direct residual effects of their own prior bad policies.

As long as a minority in our Federal system and in many State Legislatures can effectively dictate all fiscal and public policy, then Republicans are still solely to blame for everything even if Democrats have slight majorities. All super-majority requirements to raise taxes are intrinsically unconstitutional and contrary to democratic notions of “one-man one-vote.” They essentially render all elections inconsequential and perpetuate minority and oligarchy control over the majority.

We don’t require parallel and consistent super-majorities to lower taxes or create new spending programs. We only expect to elect office-holders by 50% plus one vote, otherwise we might never elect anyone to public office if they had to get more than 60 to 67 percent of the total vote cast. Anyone who continues to demand such a perverted public fiscal requirement is a nasty, anti-democratic, partisan control-freak that can’t accept losing. I have no respect for such arguments and those individuals who make them.

It is not the role of moderates or independents to blame everyone equally or to argue that all ideas are of equal merit. It is the role of moderates to dispassionately allocate blame and responsibility where it properly belongs, and to promote the best solutions to problems, whether they contain “conservative” or “liberal” origins or something completely novel.

It is intellectually dishonest and ethically wrong to tolerate or perpetuate a broken political and economic system simply because it worked a long time ago but it now only protects the selfish interests of the most partisan and the wealthiest among us. A good moderate or independent ignores ideological labels completely and judges ideas and policies on their objective merits. For still too many in our polarized society, “us” versus “them.” is paramount. For an intelligent and conscientious moderate, the most important pronoun is “we.”

Marc Pascal, happily ranting in Phoenix, AZ