Today, we celebrate the life of a truly great man, who, armed only with his bravery and powerful words,
brought Jim Crow to its knees.
It's also important to remember that the political heirs of those who created and enforced Jim Crow for a century,
Southern conservatives, are now running the Republican Party. And that's why it's easy to understand why the
fiercest opposition to making MLK Day a national holiday was in the GOP.
~ The last Republican candidate for president opposed it.
~ "Mr. Conservative" (Barry Goldwater) voted against the holiday.
~ Ron Paul voted against the bill that created the holiday -- twice.
~ 77 of the 90 nay votes in final bill in the House were cast by Republicans.
~ 18 of the 22 nay votes in the final bill in the Senate were cast by Republicans.
~ Conservative hero, Ronald Reagan, only reluctantly signed the bill into law because it arrived on his desk with
veto-proof majorities.
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