Reverend Martin Luther King - Communist.

If you're anything like I am, you probably blinked when you read that. MLK, a dirty Commie? What are you, on crack?

Of course, when you dig a little deeper into the matter, you find out that maybe, just maybe, he was. He had friends who were Communists. He had supporters who were Communist. He took a few stands and said a few things that Communists might have taken or said, or really did. And so, given the state of our media - where presumption of guilt by association is enough to have you convicted - that's more than enough to paint him red and pin a Shining Mao button on his shirt.

There's been a lot of talk lately about King's having been a Communist. Mostly, this talk comes from conservative pundits with nothing better to say when MLK day comes around. They'll rush to the high ground when their counter-detractors call them racists, right on cue, and say "how dare you call me that - some of my best friends are Black!" But they never really say why they just have to point in King's direction and whisper "Commie," do they?

Now, maybe some of these folks really are racists, but that's not nearly as disturbing as their willingness to whip the C-word out as a badge of shame. They seem to be implying that while America might be a democracy led by its people, some people are somehow less worthy to be heard and included in the process than others. I always thought differences of opinion were healthy and to be both expected and cherished, but I guess some pundits are quite disturbed by the notion that people disagree with them. Maybe they'd like some cheese to go with that whine?

But really - why are so many conservative loudmouths so fixated about this side of King's past?

I chalk it up to sour grapes: in spite of all their bluff and bluster over freedom and equality, the Civil Rights movement didn't start at the door of social and political conservatives. They were content to twiddle their thumbs and look the other way while Jim Crow ruled the South, or else appoint a committee to appoint a committee to discuss whether to investigate the problem. It took an ordinary man - some uppity Negro - to stop talking or ignoring and start acting; I think some folks have never quite forgiven King for showing them up for frauds.

Or maybe it's just inevitable. The Australians have what they call "Tall Poppy" Syndrome: no matter who you are, or what you do, or why you've become famous, you will only get so far along before - like a poppy plant that's gotten too tall - someone will come along and cut you down. We might not call it "Tall Poppy" in America, but I think we've got the same fickle phenomenon at work. Even King, wonderful King, has to pay the price for having Dreamed out loud, and for him it's folks who just have to poke holes in his memory.

So maybe Martin Luther King was a Communist. So was Thomas Jefferson, apparently. So were countless other Americans, famous infamous or anonymous, who happened to hold views that ran parallel to Marxism, or at least counter to the notion that free market economics are the end-all, be-all of America's best interests. But that didn't stop them from contributing something positive to our country, nor should it be used to deny the validity thereof.

When a person's life comes to an end, we have to ask what we've lost, and what was left behind to continue on. When such judgments are made, we don't tend to dwell on the negative or unseemly - unless the deceased was a real loser - but prefer to uphold the positive and the good. Maybe Rev. Martin Luther King did some things we wouldn't have approved of, or didn't agree with, or weren't entirely sure of. He wasn't perfect: no one ever is.

But when you consider the good that he did, such matters seem almost inconsequential. We are bolstered and uplifted by the legacy the man left behind - a legacy that is hardly affected by the niggling accusations some continue to proclaim. Such matters are largely tangential to the greater good he worked for, and the fact that all Americans are better off today because of Rev. Martin Luther King.

So no. We don't remember King the Communist. We don't think of King the adulterer, or King the doctoral plagiarist, or any other slight - real or imagined - that the man's detractors have trundled out over the years.

We remember King the unifier. King the quiet voice of conscience. King the symbol of peaceful protest. King the champion of all Americans, regardless of race, color or creed. King the champion of America, herself.

We are all diminished by the fact that King is not with us here today. But we are greatly magnified by his legacy of peace, tolerance and understanding. A legacy that saw the end of hated racial laws and the start of the long road to reconciliation. All Americans are better off today because of Rev. Martin Luther King. The same, however, cannot be said for his detractors, and that may play a part in their constant grousing over his character, too.

In a world where style overwhelms substance, and any twit with a webpage or radio show can proclaim loudly - if feebly - into the void, people of good conscience who actually make a difference are a rare treasure. The Rev. Martin Luther King was one such treasure, and most detractions against his person are so tangential to the good that he did that they are hardly worth mentioning. The Dream has become a reality that no two-bit bozo with an antinomian agenda can smear.

I suppose that won't stop some from trying, of course, but in the end they will fail. The people of the nation will spend their MLK days thinking of his words instead of their objections to his friends. You might think they'd wise up and get the hint at some point?

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." - Rev. Martin Luther King