Consider the voice crying out in the wilderness, “…this kind of squabbling, how many children is this going to get health care? How many people are going to get an education from this? How many kids are going to be able to go to college because of this?”
The importance of Edwards’ campaign lies in his message and the realization that while we wait Americans are suffering and some of them are dying.
Whether he receives the nomination or not, it is essential that poverty and economic injustice in America become key issues once more within the democratic party. We are living in a time of economic disparity in the US not seen since the Gilded Age and are headed towards a recession. For many, the effects are already being felt but it is all too easy for those upper middle class and middle class Americans to live their entire lives without seeing the immense poverty that exists outside suburbia and gated communities.
Poverty in America must be seen, discussed, and recognized for the electorate to understand that when it comes to the issues related to it (access to health care, education, medicine, food, etc.) we cannot afford to wait.
An excerpt from a letter from MLK III to John Edwards:
You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don’t have lobbyists in Washington and they don’t get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.
I am disturbed by how little attention the topic of economic justice has received during this campaign. I want to challenge all candidates to follow your lead, and speak up loudly and forcefully on the issue of economic justice in America.
From our conversation yesterday, I know this is personal for you. I know you know what it means to come from nothing. I know you know what it means to get the opportunities you need to build a better life. And, I know you know that injustice is alive and well in America, because millions of people will never get the same opportunities you had.
I believe that now, more than ever, we need a leader who wakes up every morning with the knowledge of that injustice in the forefront of their minds, and who knows that when we commit ourselves to a cause as a nation, we can make major strides in our own lifetimes. My father was not driven by an illusory vision of a perfect society. He was driven by the certain knowledge that when people of good faith and strong principles commit to making things better, we can change hearts, we can change minds, and we can change lives.
So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father’s words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.
Sincerely,
Martin L. King, III
I dislike Edwards. A bunch. However, I think he deserves credit for making economic justice and health care more of a central issue in the Dem primaries than they otherwise might have been, so I’m grateful to him for that.
He has just as much a right to stick it out in the primaries as anyone else. I know some Obama supporters suspect he’s sucking up votes that would otherwise go for Obama, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that. I suspect Edwards’ supporters would split pretty evenly between Obama and Clinton if Edwards dropped out.
What could be interesting is if he picks up enough delegates to have some bargaining room at the Dem Convention if neither Obama nor Clinton emerge as a clear victor. For the record, I don’t think that’ll happen — I think Clinton will win it outright.
However, if I’m wrong about that and Edwards does get to play king/queen-maker, do you think he’ll throw his support to Obama or Clinton? From the way he aligned himself with Obama as the “change candidates” during that one debate, I think he’ll go with Obama. But who knows.