On August 28th, 1963, during the March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King made his historic "I have a dream" speech, projecting into American consciousness his vision of an American society transcending the racism of the past. However, his experiences over the next five years led him to the understanding that the dream could not be realized until the axis of evil in this country had been overcome. He viewed this hydra-headed evil as composed of militarism, materialism (economic exploitation), and racism.

Being a man of action, Dr. King's analysis led him to speak out against the Vietnam War and America's habit of taking "necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the (upper) classes." Both war spending and giveaways to the rich were choices made in how tax dollars are sent- and the choices not taken was the economic empowerment of African-Americans and other disenfranchised groups.

It also led to his eventual call for a second March on Washington that he termed the Poor People's March. However, this was to be a very different kind of "March". The Poor People's March was not to be a one-day-out of town by sunset--exercise. His plan was to establish a base camp, Freedom Village, from which people of all races could join him to lobby and nonviolently confront the federal government regarding its policies that were depriving the people of this country of the resources necessary to fulfill his dream. However, his assassination in Memphis prevented him from achieving his dream.

Today we are suffering under the conditions that Dr. King envisioned if the axis of evil was not overcome. Last year the Congress spent half of the disposable income of the government--$350 billion-on Defense while the social category with the largest expenditure was education with its budget a $50 billion, which was not sufficient to fund the mandated provisions of the "Leave No Child Behind Act." In addition Congress has given President Bush an additional $167 billion dollars for his incursion into Iraq while preparing to pass a budget this year that could deprive 160,000 American families of their section 8 certificates.