You know, words have power. Words can inspire. Words can hurt. Words can can do plenty.
But you know what's even more powerful than words? ACTION. And when paired with the right words, action can bring about great change. When words are matched with action, real change happens.
Go ahead and follow me after the flip as we look at the value of words and actions...
I began thinking about this today when I saw an interesting blog post. Earl Ofari Hutchison was talking about the Civil Rights movement, and what it took to advance the cause of equality for all. And while many spoke of the need for this great change, it took the action of great leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Lyndon B. Johnson to make change happen on civil rights.
If Johnson hadn't forcefully intervened and jawboned, prodded, arm twisted, and embarrassed the slew of wavering and hostile Congressmen to the bill into supporting the bill, or at least tempering their opposition to it, King's dream would have remained just that, an empty dream. King recognized that. In a Playboy interview in 1965, he said this about Johnson: "He has demonstrated his wisdom and commitment in coming to grips with the problem (racial discrimination). My impression is that he will remain a strong president for civil rights." History amply proved that, and Johnson despite his Vietnam War tumble from historical grace, still is regarded as the president that did more for civil rights than any other president.
[...] King gets much deserved praise and is much honored for igniting the national fervor for civil rights and galvanizing thousands to put their bodies on the line in the civil rights battles. Yet, there's an ugly side and often forgotten note to that. The street marches and demonstrations also stirred the first tremors of white backlash. The George Wallace surge in the North, the open hostility of many Northern whites to housing and school integration, and the Republican reawakening in the South was a direct outcropping of the civil rights push. This stiffened the spines of Southern Democrats and conservative Northern Republicans who dug their heels in and flatly opposed the bill, piled amendment after crippling amendment onto the bill initially, and employed every legal and parliamentary dodge and stall tactic they could dredge up to delay a vote on it, if not to kill it outright.
King could do nothing about this. JFK who introduced the bill couldn't do anything about it either. He was at his wits end after months and months of Congressional ducking and dodging on the bill about how to get it moving. By the time Johnson took office, following JFK's murder, the bill was still born in Congress. There was every chance that it could be shelved. However, Johnson would have none of that. He was a Southerner and he knew the mood and temper of the South. From his decades in the Senate he knew where the political skeletons were buried and how to rattle them. He did what King and Kennedy didn't have a prayer of doing, he got the sympathetic ear of enough Southerners to take some of the steam out of their vehement opposition to the bill. The rest of course is history. The Civil Rights Bill [...] broke the back of legal segregation in America and became the watchword for progressive, visionary social legislation for decades to come.
King and all the top civil rights leaders knew that history had been made with the passage of the bill, and that the man that played the towering role in making that history was LBJ. At the signing ceremony for the bill, King and the other civil rights leaders beamed when Johnson handed them the pens after the signing. They effusively praised him for his tireless effort.
You see, it really took more than just words to make civil rights happen. It took the nonviolent protest of leaders like King to get Washington's attention, and it took the leadership of action of President Johnson to get legislation passed and make history. Without all this action, we probably wouldn't have put an end to legalized racial discrimination.
OK, so you don't want to believe me? And you don't want to believe Earl? Here's Sean Wilentz from The New Republic. When we really come to understand the meaning of words and action, we come to understand the truth behind the recent faux controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the ridiculous allegations of racism being made after a few remarks by Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were taken our of context.
But anyways, here's Sean Wilentz:
Although great social changes require social movements that create hope and force crises, elected officials, presidents above all, are also required in order to turn those hopes into laws. It was, plainly, a rejoinder to the accusations by Obama that Clinton has sneered at "hope." Clinton was also rebutting Obama's simplistic assertions about "hope" and the American Revolution, the abolition of slavery, and the end of Jim Crow.
The historical record is crystal clear about this, and no responsible historian seriously contests it. Without Frederick Douglass and the abolitionists, black and white (not to mention restive slaves), there would have been no agitation to end slavery, even after the Civil War began. But without Douglass's ally in the White House, the sympathetic, deeply anti-slavery but highly pragmatic Abraham Lincoln, there could not have been an Emancipation Proclamation or a Thirteenth Amendment. Likewise, without King and his movement, there would have been no civil rights revolution. But without the Texas liberal and wheeler-dealer Lyndon Johnson, and his predecessor John F. Kennedy, there would have been no Civil Rights Act of 1964 or Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Hope, in other words, is necessary to bring about change--but it is never enough. Change also requires effective leadership inside government. It's not a matter of either/or (that is, either King or Johnson), but a matter of both/and.
And you know what? This is EXACTLY the point that Hillary's been trying to make all along! Words are nice, but can only become great when matched with action. We need hope, but we also need action to make change happen.
Here, take a listen on what Hillary has to say about what we can do with our words and our actions:
When we all work hard and take action together, we can do great things and we can make change happen. Now don't worry, Hillary is ready to work with us as our next President. She has already been working hard to make change happen, and we know we can count on her to work hard with us to get the job done.
This is why progressive economist Paul Krugman expressed support for Hillary's economic stimulus plan. Hillary doesn't just talk about the economic hardships facing this nation. She has a specific plan of action to provide real relief for real people.
Hillary’s Economic Stimulus Plan would:
- Establish a $30 Billion Emergency Housing Crisis Fund to assist states and cities mitigate the effects of mounting foreclosures
- Take bold action to stem tide of foreclosure, including a 90-day moratorium on subprime foreclosures and an automatic rate freeze on subprime mortgages of at least five years
- Provide $25 billion in emergency energy assistance for families facing skyrocketing heating bills
- Accelerating $5 billion in energy efficiency and alternative energy investments to jumpstart green collar job growth:
- Invest $10 billion in extending and broadening unemployment insurance for those who are struggling to find work:
You see, Hillary doesn't just talk about change. She listens to us, and she's ready to work with us to make change happen. And with an economy to fix, an occupation to end, a health care crisis to solve, and a climate and energy crisis to overcome, we need words and action to make all this change happen.
This is why Alice Huffman, President of the California state branch of the NAACP, has decided that Hillary's the agent of change we now need to match her words with action:
"Over the years, Hillary Clinton has earned my respect as a staunch advocate for the rights of people invisible to our nation's government, including women, minorities, children, and seniors. [...] Hillary shares my commitment to children, and has been a lifelong advocate for improving childhood education and health care. As President, I feel strongly that Hillary will create an atmosphere in this country that accepts and promotes the rights of all Americans."
Yep, this commitment to positive action and putting people first is precisely what this nation needs right now. We don't need any more parsing of words. We don't need any more dirty politicking. We don't need any more wild spin. We need for words to be matched with real action in order to achieve real change.
So do you agree with me that actions speak louder than words? Do you agree that real change only comes with real action? Great, then join me in taking action to work with Hillary for real change! Believe me, you won't regret it! :-)