Block, SkipCaptcha, Automoderated users, edit, rollback
901
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 15:
Line 15: − + + − ''Qualification: An essential skill, quality, or attribute that makes somebody suitable for a job, activity, or task.''+ − − The opinion leaders sincerely want to know whether Governor Sarah Palin is "qualified" to run for president. Why else would they keep asking the question, right? So ... let's examine a few of Palin's populist credentials that stack up surprisingly well against the more conventional resumes of five recent presidents. − − 1. Ten years in municipal government. − − For all their heroics in state legislatures, governorships, and the hallowed halls of Harvard, Yale and the Naval Academy, none of the five presidents pictured above spent so much as one day in municipal government. And while it may not be sexy or glamorous -- municipal government affects our day-to-day lives in significant ways: the amount of sales tax we pay, our property tax burden, the quality of our children’s public schools -- our city parks, streets and amenities -- and the safety of our neighborhoods and drinking water. Municipal government determines whether our community welcomes free enterprise or creates unnecessary barriers to commerce. − − As a mayor and city manager for six years, Sarah Palin presided over an $11 million operating budget in Wasilla, Alaska. Serving as her city's youngest chief executive, Palin supervised city personnel, made hiring and firing decisions, and drafted detailed financial documents. In one such 200-page budget report, Palin described her governing approach as "parsimonious" (i.e frugal). Indeed, Parsimonious Palin held the line on city expenses, cut key tax rates, and prioritized the core infrastructure spending (sewer, roads, and city services) that would best facilitate business development. Because of the lower burdens levied on business, she was able to help spur growth in her city, making it one of the fastest growing cities not just in Alaska, but in America. − − Palin calls municipal governance a "great training ground" for national leaders - if they're willing to start out small, as she did on the city council for four years. "In local politics, your constituents are your neighbors," Palin told an audience in Hollister, Mo. in December 2009. "You see them in the grocery store. It's why local government is the most responsive level of government." At a speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Salina, Kansas in February of 2010, she also reminded her audience that prosperity comes from the ground up -- not from a bureaucrat's office thousands of miles away: “We can’t legislate economic growth from Washington," she said. "A favorable economic climate needs to be started at the local level." − − 2. Ten years volunteer work in the Parent-Teacher-Association. − − Scoff if you like, but just about every president from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama has proclaimed himself to be the “Education President.” Yet none of our erstwhile scholars logged any meaningful minutes in the largest volunteer child advocacy and grassroots educational policy organization in the world. (Bill Clinton did note in his ’92 nominating speech that Hillary attended PTA meetings as Arkansas’ first lady.) − − Official records show that Palin was an active member of the Iditarod PTA during her time as the mayor of Wasilla, and we know from her memoir, Going Rogue, that she served in the PTA during her years on the city council as well. − − Anyone laboring in the one-million-strong PTA quickly learns the value of volunteerism, parental support, and fundraisers. It's like community organizing -- but with baked goods. While demonstrating support for local schools, PTA volunteers also learn the limits of federal intervention: the federal Department of Education currently spends roughly $50 billion annually on education, nearly double the inflation-adjusted per pupil amount spent in 1980 while almost no one believes that our children are twice as well-educated. As the mother of five children, including a special-needs child, Palin knows parental involvement, choice, and competition in the the schools is the only way to guarantee kids’ educational success. And unlike any of the other dudes to occupy the White House recently, she has the street cred to talk about it -- if anyone wants to listen. − − 3. Two years pro-life advocacy. − − Barack Obama famously gave a speech to an anti-war rally in Chicago in 2002 that put him on a breakneck path toward the presidency. The anti-war stance he articulated that day as a state legislator differentiated him in a key way from primary opponents who, as actual members of the U.S. Senate at the time, had voted to authorize what later became an overwhelmingly unpopular war with Iraq. − − Palin gave a similar career-defining, path-altering speech to a pro-life group in Evansville, Ind., in April of 2009. Already a pro-life heroine since giving birth to her two-year-old son, Trig, Palin's emotional speech in Evansville that April day signaled her transformation from a regional phenomenon and vice presidential candidate into a national conservative powerhouse (although some would argue that moment occurred when she delivered her flawless convention speech on Sept. 3, 2008). Since that day in Evansville, and after reluctantly resigning the governorship several months later, Palin has delivered more than 100 inspiring speeches across the country, many of them to pro-life groups. This dedicated advocacy the past two years compliments her decades-long support for the life issue. − − Why is pro-life advocacy a qualification to be president? Because a majority of Americans are, in fact, pro-life. So many of us are actually mortified by the reality that Obamacare will provide federal funds for abortion -- despite assurances that it would not. Traditional swing states such as Maine, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio have just elected pro-life governors in 2010. And while we have elected pro-life presidents before, Palin reflects our values in a manner not seen before in a major female politician. Should she run, Palin's common sense, pro-life position would stand in contrast to GOP primary opponents who have shown a willingness to flip-flop on the life issue depending on their audience. Moreover, her compassionate and humane position on abortion would stand in stark opposition to the extremist record of our current president who voted four times to deny care to babies born in botched abortions -- the only member of the Illinois legislature to do so. − − Indeed, to this perennially divisive “wedge” issue, Palin brings unique character, conviction and wisdom. As the youngest and first female governor of a male-dominant state, she possesses the potential to inspire women of all political backgrounds to consider childbirth as an empowering act. Perhaps unlike any politician before her, Palin bears witness every day that an unexpected child -- even in the midst of a fulfilling and challenging career -- can bring unimaginable joy. − − 4. One year as an oil and gas commissioner. − − None of our recent presidents had any experience as full-time regulators prior to becoming president. Why is this significant? Because the federal government is currently regulating the energy industry (and many other industries) to death. From offshore drilling bans, to locking up ANWR, to the failure to approve nuclear power permits and clean-coal projects, our federal government has essentially tied up the energy industry in this country at the behest of the radical environmental lobby and to the detriment of our energy independence. − − Sarah Palin knows firsthand the gentle balance between holding huge multinational companies accountable and strangling resource development. As a state oil and gas commissioner she blew the whistle on unethical relationships between the Alaskan Republican party and the Big Oil lobby, resigning in protest from her $122,400-a-year-job when her boss and predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, did not investigate the corruption. − − As the wife of an oil field worker, Palin also knows the economic and practical value of allowing Americans to ethically develop our God-given resources in an environmentally-responsible manner. As governor, she helped unlock drilling in new areas of her state, and negotiated a long-stalled pipeline project that would supply trillions of cubic feet of clean natural gas to the Lower 48. As an experienced regulator, Palin would be in a better position than any recent president (including oil-man George W. Bush) to reign in over-regulation while preserving the watchdog role of our federal regulators. She would not be inclined to take an all-or-nothing approach to government oversight. Nor would she follow the enigmatic path of our current President, who accepts shocking amounts of campaign cash from oil companies while vilifying all of them indiscriminately and enacting arbitrary, job-killing drilling bans. − − When it comes to the oil and gas industry, Palin likely would hew to the approach taken by Ronald Reagan in dealing with the Soviets: “Trust, but verify.” This, along with Palin's forward-looking call for 50% renewable energy in her state, constitutes the kind of unique pragmatic leadership she could bring to a perennially dysfunctional energy discussion. − − 5. Two and a half years governing the largest state in America. − − Alaska may be a small state population-wise, although the Last Frontier does boast 70,000 more people than Vermont and 40,000 more residents than North Dakota. But Alaska's massive size and geo-strategic position requires the administrative skill one might need governing a small country. Indeed, the state of Alaska boasts roughly twenty percent of the land mass of the entire USA. It features the longest maritime border in the nation, is home to diverse native populations in remote villages, and shares land and water borders with Canada and Russia. Alaska holds 20% of the nation’s crude oil reserves, and hosts the 49th Missile Defense Battalion in Fort Greely, one of only two permanently active guard units in the country. The Alaska National Guard also partially supplies the staff of the U.S./Canadian NORAD center that orders active duty fighters to intercept aerial threats. − − As her state's chief executive, Palin not only oversaw 15,000 state employees and a $12 billion budget, she was immersed in the threats facing our nation as her state is the first line of defense against rogue ballistic and nuclear weapons that might be fired from North Korea or the former Soviet Union. As governor, she received national security briefings and traveled to Kuwait in support of the Alaska National Guard in 2007. When President Obama and his administration proposed $1.4 billion in cuts in missile defense in March of 2009, Gov. Palin spoke out against the plan, offering a straightforward glimpse into her national security mindset: − − :"I am deeply concerned with North Korea's development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead. I can't emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska's strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation." − − Had Palin served out her natural term, and ran for re-election, the chorus of "is she qualified" would have been mollified by her overwhelming accomplishments and an acceptably completed term in office. Alaska is, after all, tied with two other states for the second most powerful governorship in America -- with much more vested executive authority than the administratively weak governorship of Texas, for instance. Unlike so many governors, Palin actually wielded a line-item veto pen. Her budget was six times larger in gross terms than Bill Clinton's in Arkansas, and as in her mayoral days, she held the line on spending, vetoing more than $500 million in pork while rejecting much of Obama's stimulus. − − Unfortunately, she stepped down 16 months shy of a full term. When you look at that as a percentage, however, Palin actually served two-thirds of her term ... the precise percentage Barack Obama served of his term in the senate. Yet while many of us have trouble recalling what Obama did in the U.S. Senate while he was simultaneously running for president, Governor Palin balanced three budgets, passed sweeping ethics reforms, ushered in an innovative method of calculating oil profit taxes, and broke through decades of gridlock to move ahead on a $40 billion private natural gas pipeline, all while forward funding education and saving prudently for her state's' rainy day fund. − − What would she have done in the last 16 months had she remained in office? We can be assured that she wouldn't have been productive. The strange actions of her political opponents guaranteed that she and her staff would spend 80% of their time responding to phony charges cooked up after she returned from the heated campaign trail in '08. And while perhaps some politicians would have been content to hold power just to vote "present," Palin -- to her own detriment, perhaps -- isn't wired that way. Grounded in a public service ethos since her days on the Wasilla City Council, it simply didn't make moral sense to waste state resources -- and even more precious time -- just so she could continue to retain power and position. − − '''10 Qualifications Sarah Palin Has Over Five Recent Presidents (Part Two)''' − − ''Qualification: an essential skill, quality, or attribute that makes somebody suitable for a job, activity, or task.'' − − Given that voters select presidents not just for job experience, but overall life story, these softer qualifications cannot be dismissed. Who can forget Bill Clinton's compelling characterization of himself as the "Man from Hope," or George W. Bush's promise to bring a "Fresh Start" to D.C. after myriad Clinton scandals. And as a nation braved two Middle East conflicts and a Fannie Mae-fueled liquidity crisis, Obama captured voter imagination with stirring speeches and the buoyant prospects of electing our first African-American president. − − Does Palin’s narrative suit the times? Let's examine five characteristics of her biography that may resonate extremely well in 2012, and even distinguish her from recent presidents. − − 6. Working class. − − At a time when so many Americans simply want to get back to work, Sarah and Todd Palin's working-class background might prove a welcome contrast to the Ivy-League-attorney-power couples and bluebloods who have graced the White House in recent years. Uniquely attuned to the concerns of the hardworking little guy, the Palins don't just pay lip service to working families: they are a working family. Indeed, Todd Palin, the former "First Dude" of Alaska, is proudly blue collar – a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and United Steelworkers unions. Perhaps unlike any first spouse before him, Todd's life work requires him to get his hands dirty, really dirty, both as a commercial fisherman in summers on Bristol Bay and also as a former oil-field production operator on Alaska's remote North Slope. − − Palin describes her husband in ''Going Rogue'': − − :Todd Palin roared into my life in a 1972 Ford Mustang. Handsome and independent, he was part Yupik Eskimo. … He didn't come from a wealthy family but from a very hardworking family. […] As a blue-collar union hand, a production operator wearing a hard hat and steel-toed boots, Todd wasn't calling the shots for the [BP] corporate bosses in London. In fact, I told Alaskans, "Todd's not in management. He actually works." − − Given our need to restore manufacturing jobs in this country, Todd Palin’s experience in an important industry and in North America’s largest industrial union (700,000-plus members) could prove valuable in an advisory capacity. As first gentleman of Alaska, Todd Palin counseled Governor Palin on workforce development issues for the natural gas pipeline she championed. Sarah Palin herself was given honorary membership in the IBEW union as she pursued private-sector energy projects. The overhyped emails released in February of this year, showed Todd Palin providing input to his wife on what you might expect: marine regulation, wildfires, native Alaskan issues, oil shale leasing, and Bureau of Land Management deals. While reporters suggested Todd played an alarmingly large policy role, strangely, no emails ever surfaced showing that he advised the governor on how to ban bake sales at public schools. Apparently, Todd Palin stuck to issues he knew, where he could be of value, and didn't try to impose half-baked views on others. − − At the end of the day, unlike some of her would-be GOP rivals and recent presidents, Sarah Palin can authentically relate to the fears and concerns of “working families” and will no doubt continue to reach out to her union “brothers and sisters” – as she has done on Facebook. She knows union bosses in bed with liberal politicians do not necessarily represent the views of more conservative rank-and-file members. In this regard, Palin might be better positioned than two recent Republican presidents (both named Bush) to woo the elusive Reagan Democrats that powered President Reagan to two landslide victories. − − 7. Tea Party folk hero. − − Galvanized by opposition to mounting federal debt and a shared belief that our leaders aren't listening, the Tea Party has emerged as the most powerful grassroots political movement in America since the 1960s anti-war movement. In actuality, it's much larger than the anti-war movement because of its broad popular appeal. In her book ''America by Heart'', Palin said of the Tea Party: − − :"This is the central political struggle facing America today, being played out right here … [Tea Party opponents] want something more from government … [Tea Partiers] are the ones paying the bills." − − Tea Party groups began sprouting up seemingly overnight in 2009 after CNBC’s Rick Santelli griped on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile about another federal bailout for defaulting mortgage holders. Santelli, like others before him, lamented our government’s flippant disregard for moral hazard, the principle that poor choices should result in negative consequences, not rewards. Santelli and other free marketers believed that bailing out irresponsible behavior erodes the incentive to work hard and to make wise choices. Not to mention the fact that it creates artificial markets, like the one that drove the mortgage option market and crashed the nation's financial system in 2008. Santelli encouraged Chicago traders to dump mortgage derivatives into Lake Michigan in protest. Subsequent outrage over further bailouts and the stimulus package led Tea Party groups to host April 15th tax protests, and make their voices heard at spirited townhall meetings in the summer of 2009. An estimated one million Tea Partiers marched on Washington on September 12, 2009, in advance of the Obamacare votes in Congress. − − The Tea Party showed up to vote in the 2010 midterms, helping the GOP flip a modern record of more than 70 seats in the house and senate as well as pick up 11 governorships. High-profile wins included Marco Rubio, and Palin-endorsed Rand Paul, Nikki Haley, Pat Toomey, Sean Duffy, Renee Ellmers, and Allen West. − − Governor Sarah Palin arguably stands at the heart of the Tea Party movement, along with sympathetic Congressional leaders such as Ron Paul, Jim DeMint, Mike Pence, and Michelle Bachmann. Palin was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Tea Party Nation convention in February 2010, as 200-plus members of the worldwide media hung on her every word (and hand note). Palin would go on to rally with the Tea Party Express in Boston, Searchlight, Nev., and Phoenix, and was the only politician invited to speak at Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally that attracted some 500,000 Tea Party-minded folks to the nation’s capital this past August. − − Conservative blogger and Oklahoma Tea Partier C.B. Kurtz described Sarah Palin’s influence on the movement, starting almost from the moment she appeared on the national stage. − − :"In the months that followed the announcement of Gov. Palin's addition to the McCain ticket, millions of people quite similar to Gov. Palin in attitude, background and yes, politics, began to get fed up about the direction of this country. Following her stem-winding, cork-popping, status-gouging speech at the Republican National Convention, suddenly millions of Americans realized that we don't have to sit back and take it quietly. Tea Parties started brewing, quietly at first, and then, all the sudden, they were everywhere. Gov. Palin was that first bubble of black gold (like the oil discovered by Jed Clampett), and all of us behind her have come rushing out in a tidal wave ... " − − 8. Former journalist. − − Governor Palin communicates regularly with her 2.5 million Facebook friends , giving her a potential audience roughly the size of the paid circulations of the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times combined. She also tweets to 325,000 Twitter followers, imparting wisdom in 140-bit snippets. Anyone who has ever actually read a Palin Facebook essay or op-ed, sees her ability to write concise, timely and even witty copy on a variety of topics from economics to national security. She has penned two best-selling books in the two years since running for vice president. Going Rogue chronicled her upbringing and two decades in public life, while her new book, America By Heart, lays out her political vision grounded in her love of family, faith and country. Palin’s prodigious writing should surprise no one given that she actually studied to become a journalist, earning her degree and a minor in political science from the University of Idaho. − − She describes her favorite journalism experiences in her memoir, ''Going Rogue'': − − :During semesters in college and summers back in Alaska, I interned at a couple of TV sports desks. I covered high school and college sports, putting together packages and writing sports copy [and anchoring]. I loved the intensity of the newsroom, the deadlines, the adrenaline. Unmarried and with no kids, I spent hours and hours at the station… I also began paying more and more attention to the [political] chatter from the news desk, especially at an Anchorage NBC affiliate. In Alaska, we don't have big-league professional sports teams or many celebrities (except famous dog mushers), so for many up here politics is just another sport. So even as I covered sports, my interest in public policy and how it affected people continued to grow. − − As a former journalist, Palin remains fiercely outspoken about the importance of press freedom, calling it a keystone of our democracy. She also believes in holding the media accountable, challenging unprincipled reporters to “Stop making things up.” Her critiques of the "lamestream media" proved sagacious this summer when the JournoList scandal revealed hundreds of liberal journalists conspiring to prop up Obama’s candidacy in 2008 and to smear Governor Palin from the day she was nominated for vice president. This unethical behavior among some reporters has taken a toll. Gallup recently found that a record 57% of Americans don’t trust the media. Another Pew study showed a whopping 82% of Americans think the press is biased. In calling attention to this bias, Palin has done more than perhaps any other political leader to demand media accountability. Through her speaking and writing, she also has shown the ability to “go around the media,” directly to the people, similar to another famous ex-Governor. President Ronald Reagan, also a former sports reporter, was called the “Great Communicator.” Palin may as well be tagged as the “Great Social Mediator”. − − 9. Commercial fisherwoman. − − President Obama’s administration has brought together a team with less real-world business experience than any administration in 100 years. Indeed, Obama himself is a career social activist who eschewed private sector work his entire life. His key advisers are also glaringly inexperienced when it comes to owning or managing an enterprise, except the enterprise called government and government largess. If she were to win the nomination and compete for the presidency, Sarah Palin no doubt would attack Obama’s business-unfriendly policies, and his hostility to the entrepreneurial spirit that built this country. And she will speak from personal experience – as a small business owner. Palin has been fishing the waters of Bristol Bay in summers with her husband since their courtship days. As co-owner of his commercial enterprise, she is well-familiar with the ups and downs of business cycles, and well aware of the risk-taking mindset required for success. She also knows the impact of government policy on business decisions. − − Todd and Sarah Palin hail from extended families that have owned gas stations, hotels, and stores, in addition to fishing operations. As mayor, Palin spurred business growth by reducing tax and regulatory burdens. She recognized that businesses thrive on predictable government policy, a point she makes in speeches lamenting the current uncertainty of the tax code and the scepter of Obamacare hanging over entrepreneurs' heads. She also sees natural kinship between a family fishing enterprise and a family farm. Both rely on hard work, God's grace, and a devotion to natural resource stewardship. Palin understands that no one cares more about the land or water than those who earn their livelihood from them. More than most others, Palin understands the need to protect the environment, because prosperity depends on it. − − She described the devastation to the fishing industry from the Exxon-Valdez spill in ''Going Rogue'': − − :The effects rippled through the state like aftershocks. ... Alaska fish products make up an $8 billion industry and produce more than 62 percent of all the United States' wild seafood. ... Fishermen watched helplessly as fish processors posted the price they'd pay for our wild salmon caught that season; it plummeted by 65 percent, from $2.35 to 80 cents a pound. The fish will fetch ten times that much once it hit markets in the Lower 48 and overseas, but processors insisted they could pay the fishermen only minimal prices for a product perceived as "tainted." With the polluted Sound unfishable and incomes dried up, banks repossessed scores of commercial fishing vessels, leaving hundreds of people jobless, unable to pay their mortgages and other bills. Entire commericial salmon and herring fisheries closed after the disaster. − − No doubt should Sarah Palin run for president, one of her first stops might just be the Gulf Coast. In the wake of the horrific BP spill this year (four times worse than Valdez) and botched government response, Palin, more than any recent president can empathize with the struggling fishery enterprises there. Moreover, as a former oil and gas regulator, she knows the delicate balance between opening up energy development and requiring that firms operate responsibly. − − 10. Mother of a combat vet. − − If being a “wise Latina” counts as one credential toward serving on the Supreme Court, then surely being a “soldier’s mother” bolsters the bonafides of a potential commander-in-chief-- especially when combined with all of Governor Palin’s other accomplishments in elected office. After all, this is a self-made woman who fought corruption and the good old boys all the way to the top of her rugged state while raising five children, including now one with special needs (Trig) and another, Track, who completed a tour of duty in Iraq before the end of combat operations there. In interviews, the patriotic Palin counts raising a soldier son as her proudest accomplishment. Indeed, the fact that one of her children enlisted to serve in a time of war distinguishes her from five recent presidents and potential 2012 rivals. − − In ''America By Heart'', Palin reflects on Track's service: − − :I look at these kids and I think, They could be off partying on spring break or working their way up a high-powered career ladder. What motivates them to put all that aside for a military enlistment? ...During the year they spent in the Diyala Province, [Track's] Stryker Brigade lost many soldiers. ... Our military men and women fight -- and die -- to defend our freedom. They do their duty. But we have a duty as well. Our duty is to cherish the great gift they have given us; to honor their service and their memory by preserving what Lincoln so memorably called "government of the people, by the people and for the people." − − War will be on the ballot in 2012 as the United States attempts to extricate itself from the lingering quagmire in Afghanistan, where more American soldiers died this year than in any other year of the conflict. Sarah Palin has articulated the need for a clear mission and strategy for victory. She not only has the experience of serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard, and visiting troops in Kuwait, she knows the anguish of waiting for news on a loved one overseas, giving her a unique viewpoint from which to evaluate military decisions. Unlike our current president beholden to his liberal base, she would be less likely to play politics with war. She's seen it up close and personal: Track enlisted on September 11th 2007, and embarked on his service to Iraq on September 11th, 2008, just as she was running for vice president, only the second woman to do so. For one year, while simultaneously taking round-after-round of political hits, Sarah Palin endured the worry only a soldier's mother knows. She suffered a media lynching, ironically, while her son bravely defended freedom of the press and the other freedoms we so often take for granted in America. − − As she tells it, her son's service to our country is something no one can take away from her. This would be true whether she runs for president, or settles down to a quiet life in Wasilla with her family, two scenarios that for her probably hold equal value.
mlk quote
{{Userboxbottom}}
{{Userboxbottom}}
'''10 Qualifications Sarah Palin Has Over Five Recent Presidents (Part One)'''
<div class="notice"><center><big>
"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 and 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 am 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 Calvery'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."
:—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963</big></center></div>