His dream of a more democratic America has become a "nightmare" owing to the persistence of racism, poverty, militarism and materialism. He believed America was (and still is) a "sick society" because of its economic injustice, cultural decay and political paralysis.
He identified four catastrophes that had to be exposed and eradicated.
1-Militarism: is an imperial catastrophe that has produced the military industrial complex and national security state that has warped the country's priorities and stature.
2-Materialism: is a spiritual catastrophe promoted by a corporate media multiplex and a culture industry that have hardened the hearts of hard-core consumers and coarsened the consciences of would-be citizens. Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissistic.
3-Racism: is a moral catastrophe, most graphically seen in the prison industrial complex and targeted police surveillance in black and brown ghettos rendered invisible in the public discourse. Arbitrary use of the law (in the name of the "war" on drugs) have produced a new Jim Crow of mass incarceration.
4-Poverty: is an economic catastrophe, inseparable from the power greedy oligarchs and avaricious plutocrats indifferent to the misery of poor children, elderly citizens and working people.
The recent budget deal during July 2010 is only the latest phase of a 30 year, top-down, one-sided war against the poor and working people in the name of a morally bankrupt policy of deregulating markets, lowering taxes and cutting spending for those already socially neglected and economically abandoned. The two main political parties, each beholden to big money, offer merely alternative versions of oligarchic rule.
The absence of a worthy narrative to reinvigorate poor and working people has enabled right-wing populists to sieze the moment with credible claims about government corruption and ridiculous claims about tax cuts stimulating growth. This right-wing threat is a catastrophic response to King's four catastrophes; its agenda would lead to hellish conditions for most Americans.
The response to this crisis can be put in one word: revolution.
A revolution in our priorities, a re-evaluation of our values, a re-invigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.
In concrete terms, this means support for progressive politicians; extensive community and media organizing; civil disobedience; and life and death confrontations with the powers that be.
Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.
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