The problem with our democratic society today is that selfishness and greed have become an overwhelming problem that limits our success of having a democratic government. A democracy can only be successful when all people have equal amounts of rights and say in all topics of the government and this is becoming impossible because of the lack of respect for human rights. Martin Luther King and Cornel West have similar ideas on this topic of equality throughout America and how it affects civics and government. Cornel West wrote a text called "The Moral Obligation of Living in a Democratic society", and in this text he discusses how ordinary people are dehumanized by being lumped together and stereotyped. He believes that every person deserves to be looked at as an individual, and that taking people and grouping them together is causing injustice in America. He is quoted saying that the ruling class, " subordinated and exploited everyday people"(West) for the sake of maintaining their influence and power. His use of the word subordinate is a key to this sentence because he is saying that the upper class citizens look at the middle class and lower class as lesser importance of themselves. Dr. Martin Luther King also preached about the white people subordinating the African American people. Martin Luther King and Cornel West both look at our society and see the injustices that are taking place all around American, and realize that greed and selfishness are not allowing our democratic government to thrive, but instead is causing dehumanization to occur to the lower class people and African Americans specifically. 

During an economic decline, it seems that the people of the upper class lives are not affected by the change in the economy and still live comfortably, while the lower class struggles to have security in their lives. Both Martin Luther King and Cornel West think this is morally wrong for the upper class to be so selfish to have the abundant amount of wealth they have, and to not help those who do not even have a roof over their head. Cornel West is quoted saying, "There must be prescribed forms of public accountability for institutions that have a disproportionate amount of wealth, power, and influence. This is not a matter of demonizing corporations, but an issue of democratic survival,"(West 458). Cornel west is stating that people must take care of people and if we do not do that, then this "democracy" is pointless. MLK also felt very strongly about this subject saying, "The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity"(King Jr.). Unlike Cornel West, Martin Luther focuses directly on the lower class people who are under the poverty line and consider both the middle class and upper class as greedy pigs. He agrees with West that the wealthier people can distribute their money throughout the people who are poor and that this is the civil thing to do. Not only is it morally correct, but it would also create more equality throughout the country. These comments are ideas that the upper class fear to happen because they believe that hard work is the key to success.

Unlike Cornel, MLK did not put 100% of the blame of all the economic issues of the people in poverty on the upper class. He instead believed that it was the duty of the government to help these people out. He wanted all the under privileged poor people to be lifted to the middle-class no matter what it took, and in article about MLK they stated, "King's goal wasn't merely to alleviate poverty. Rather, it was to raise each American into the middle class"(Weissmann). This mindset that MLK brought to the center of attention is actually the reason that we have welfare today. His push against the government made them look bad for not helping those who are struggling with poverty, which then essentially forced the government to create welfare. But when you look at the statistics that Cornel West writes about in "The Moral Obligations of Society", it is hard not to want to put all the blame of poverty on the top 10% of the wealthiest people. Cornel wrote, "One percent of the population owns 48 percent of the total net financial wealth. The top 10 percent owns 86 percent of the wealth, while the top 20 percent owns 94 percent of the wealth"(West 457). This means that the rest of the 80 percent of the people in America have 6 percent of the total money to split between each other. That is absolutely absurd and is the exact reason why MLK and West attack the upper class for being egocentric. The upper class has no regard for those who are starving everyday and living out on the streets, barely getting by while they have more money then they can even spend. MLK also is quoted saying, "the poor are less often dismissed from our conscience today by being branded as inferior and incompetent"(King Jr.). This branding is a combination of the government and upper class placing this stereotype on the lower class to belittle them and maintain their power as stated earlier. It is a shame to see these kinds of ethics shaping America today.

The connection between the economical difficulties of the poor and African Americans is discussed quite a bit by Cornel West. He talks mostly about the problems of our democratic society, but he also discussed the disadvantages of being black in America and the injustices. He mentioned Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida Buelle Wells-Barnett, A. Philip Randolph, Marcus Garvey, Ella Baker, James Baldwin, and even used W.E.B. Du Bois teachings to say, "He recognized the absurd in American society and realized that being Black in America is to be a problem"(West 457). West and Du Bois believe that being born an African American is basically starting your life with a disadvantage. This is a clear example of inequality in the eyes of these two men and inequality will not allow our government to be the government we want it to be. Stereotypes against black people have been a huge issue since this country was formed and it is still a relevant problem today. They have positive stereotypes of them being more athletic then white people and having more rhythm, but they have way more negative stereotypes like they are ghetto and uneducated. This is so prejudice of Caucasian, racist people to say these sorts of things about them. Some African Americans will not even get consideration for a job because of their skin color and these sorts of things are what motivated MLK and Cornel West to take a stand for their race. Cornel West discussed stereotypes and the images of the welfare queen stood out when he said, "Looking at the history of black women in America, on the plantation taking care of white children in white households, how is it possible that they could become the symbol of laziness? All of the foregoing are signs of a humanity that has been problematized"(West 457). It is ironic that black women are almost symbolized by being lazy in today's society, but their ancestors were the ones that took care of the lazy white women's children. I believe that it is all perspective and attitude. There is lazy black women and there is lazy white women, but the lazy black women are the only ones that get recognized because of their skin color which is again all perspective. It seems to be just another injustice towards African Americans.

Martin Luther King is known as the leader of the civil rights movement, and most people only know him because of his opinions on inequality and injustice in America. This is understandable because his points on the inequalities of African Americans have given us the slight changes that we have made over the last 50 years. The difference between Martin Luther King and Cornell West is that Martin Luther King was seeing change and he believed that the country was slowly heading in the right direction. Cornel West felt as if society was heading in the wrong direction and said, " we are living in one of the most terrifying moments in the history of this nation"(West 458). MLK stated multiple times that the country was changing and he even quoted Alfred North Whitehead in his World House speech by saying, '"when civilization is shifting its basic outlook; a major turning point in history where the pre-suppositions on which society is structured are being analyzed, sharply challenged, and profoundly changed'"(Whitehead 285). Martin Luther believed he was entitled to be that person to challenge and change the tragedy of unfairness that the African Americans were being faced with, and his ultimate goal was to create a brotherhood between all races. The positivity of Martin Luther King is what separated him from Cornel West, and it is what he will be remembered for. He said in the World House speech, " the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice"(King 286). This sort of attitude is what gave the black people hope and made them realize that the goal of becoming equal is realistic and can be obtained slowly.

Both King Jr. and West point out important problems of injustice and greed within the United States of America, and without them these are topics that just might fly over everyone's head. It seems to be ironic that a country with "justice for all" in its pledge of allegiance is still far from it hundreds of years after it was founded. Problems like this are only going to be fixed with loud voices and opinions like these to men and we have a lot to thank them for. Although their opinions can come of racist sometimes and generalized white people into one group, their intentions are good and they brought a reality check to America that was much needed. 

