A More Meaningful King Day 
~ by James Banzer

   The presidential election campaign season is raging, and as usual there are the fringe candidates. Traditionally, those candidates who are not Democrats or Republicans don't have a prayer of accomplishing much, other than sometimes taking away enough votes from one candidate or another to swing the election.

   Ralph Nader was accused of that in 2000. Many Al Gore supporters were certain that their man would have become president in the absence of Nader. Likewise four years earlier, many fans of the first George Bush were convinced that their man would have been re-elected in the absence of Ross Perot. 

   The most interesting thing that so-called third party candidates usually bring to the table is ideas. If those ideas prove popular enough, someone from one of the major parties will occasionally light a fire to them, causing the proposals to sometimes be absorbed in the wider scope of public discourse. 

   This year, Nader is in the race again, but not as a genuine third party man. As an independent, he is unlikely to acquire a degree of support that would be enough to swing the election one way or the other.

   Deep in his agenda though, is an idea that is worth some consideration. Nader believes there should be a new national holiday meant to give people the day off for voting. 

   The holiday idea is not a bad one. Who knows how many more votes would be cast, were it not for the fact that in some areas with inconvenient voting hours, there are people who cannot get the free time to go to the polls on election day? 

   It need not be a new national holiday though. Perhaps it would be a better idea to absorb election day into one of the existing national holidays.

   What better holiday would there be for this kind of inclusion than Martin Luther King Day? As a civil rights icon, he led the voting rights march on Selma, Alabama. Eventually, largely because of Dr. King's zeal, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law.

   Blacks who are cognizant of their heritage, as well as members of other races who recognize his greatness, remember the late Doctor King on the annual holiday that is named in his honor. Many others unfortunately look at it as just another day off work. If Martin Luther King Day became the time to vote when it were an election year, the real importance of King's legacy would resonate.

   If the Martin Luther King holiday were to be shifted from the third Monday in January to the first Tuesday in November, it would then mark one of the centerpieces of his struggle. It would become a day to highlight the crux of his values. It would be more important to remember what he stood for than to mark the time when he was born.

   Thanks are due to Nader for bringing a bright idea to light. The law of the land made old relics of the past, like literacy tests, no longer a part of American society. Dr. King's legacy is at the heart of this law, and it would be wise to further highlight that legacy with some real meaningful action, like creation of a Doctor King Voting Day.

   Doctor King was not exclusionary. Moving the day would make it a time for all people of all races and political persuasions to remember his legacy, and act accordingly.

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