How do you, or do you, observe MLK Day? And do the Clintons?

Interesting point.

 

Well, back to the nut: I doubt anyone here has a problem with MLK being a national holiday.
And there's a reason why it shifted to a debate on the Civil War..
One thing that hasnt been addressed here is that, to a LARGE extent, the decision to go to war over it was a PREEMPTIVE one!

The Dred Scott decision made it imperative that if slavery was to be outlawed it had to be then.

As the wiki on Dred Scott points out:

 

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What's that reason?

 

DTW:
To actually encourage people to read and think?

For example:

Yes, some did!

No, he didnt. Int he first place,, he wasnt wealthy, in the second he had no need for slaves, in the third the sight of slaves shackled made him ill. People with an agenda can WRITE anything and that started LONG before the 'net. Doesnt make it true cause it's in print.

AFTER the fact, perhaps. But maybe taking DECADES LONGER as I point out.
But grabbed onto by Paulians and other anti-war ilk, everywhere.

Well, dont.. you dont have to be right. You just have to rebut anything like you see above with facts... linked to.

MLK sought to address a promise, broken.

Abolitionists had made steady inroads up to the Dred Scott decision which set the direction in reverse. The US could not allow western states to accomodate slavery... or it would remain legal for decades if not longer.
Dred Scott directly was the impetus for the Civil War.

After the Civil War, reconstruction was corrupted by those who took advantage of it and finally the general public was tired of the whole thing and washed its hands of the moral certitude of abolition.

Not to mention most people even among abolition circles didnt REALLY think the black was 'quite as equal' as they were.
Read Booker T Washington and W.E.B Dubois who addressed that issue quite differently.

There were two major events in the 20th Century that enabled King.. the first being the start of the integration of the military ... helped a lot by the Tuskegee Airmen. ..and Brown vs Board of Education in the 50's.

These set the stage for the 64 Civil Rights act, which MLK kept in the sight of public discourse. there's a lot of other historical events in that time frame but I consider those key.