[TheRealThing]

The draft was not in effect when I was 18, and I did not join the military. I have a son in the Armed Services.

Mohammed Ali was a conscientious objecter. He paid the price. He is a hero to millions of African Americans. I personally think of him as being heroic because he stood on principle and sacrificed what, at the time, could have been multiple years in prison and his entire career, though it did not turn out that way.

I am suggesting that those Republicans that view Ali (since he chose that name, it is disrespectful to call him Cassius Clay) as a "loud mouthed coward" represent to African Americans a reason to vote Democratic.

Bob, you believe Ali to be a "loud mouthed coward." I don't call you a racist. But I know your opinion represents an aspect of right wing Republicanism that is offensive. Thus, "goodies" is a simplistic and self-serving way of explaining the voting of an entire group of people.

TRT, you appear to believe the conscientious objecter provision is null and void if a man be "able bodied."

So, we come to the "state of the Republican Party." To which I say the "Big Tent" is shrinking as it gets yanked further and further right by folks who think along the lines of you fellers.

Sombrero, you appear to be the typical liberal who doggedly persists to argue with people, three in this case, who were alive and kicking adults when the Ali controversy was front page news. We in this land afford people who refuse to fulfill their duty, a certain latitude in the social sense, as long as that refusal is not too open and objectionable an insult. Clay in his day of rebellion and shame was as vocal and defiant as he could have been in the view of the people who watched it all go down.

The term conscientious objector is an undeserved concession, a nicety if you will, which has at times been extended to people who like illegitimate parasites, expect to live free on the blood and service of others. That ingratiating term, was put out on the national level where civility was then the norm. And was BTW, much better treatment than today's Dems routinely dish out to Republicans. But, I digress. Though the dealings with Mr Clay were somewhat gracious in speech, the private opinions and conversation of those of this land were quite different. He was called a draft dodger, and a coward, and much more at the breakfast tables and in the breakrooms of this land.

Malcolm X was a very controversial figure not only in the NOI, but in his life of crime leading up to his religious calling. If you took the time to at all digest the contents of the article cited, that becomes glaringly apparent. IMO, Ali's defiance of his duty was very highly influenced by his ill-advised association with the NOI. An association that he later recanted according to his daughter.

So, there are a few inconsistencies here of which you are guilty. - One party did not in fact, ever refer to Ali as a loud mouthed coward. - And he did later recant events in his earlier and more controversial times. - Thirdly, as I have mentioned in times past, the left is forever storming up some mole hill to plant their flag in the very shadow of Mount Rushmore. You are a viable political entity, nobody denies that. But you're certainly not in the majority yet, and you're certainly not ever going to be in position morally or ethically to apply your revisionist rationale in order to redefine the right. Therefore, all the rules and regulations and activist edicts in the world will not change a single conservative heart.