Donna Brazile: For King, the Right to Vote was Sacred

Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee, a nationally syndicated columnist and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She was manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000 and wrote "Cooking with Grease."

Every third Monday in January we gather as Americans to commemorate the values and beliefs -- as well as the ultimate sacrifice -- of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

His tireless advocacy for civil rights, equal protection under the law, labor rights, and for the ultimate realization of our essential creed that we are "one nation, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is taught in every school in America, and is now enshrined in a memorial on the National Mall.

Dr. King believed so strongly not only in these values, but also in the moral imperative to heed the "fierce urgency of now." He knew that in the face of injustice no moral man or woman can stay silent -- and he paid for it with his life....

For Dr. King, the right to vote was sacrosanct and foundational. It is the very essence of our social contract. Free elections create legitimacy. They imply the consent of the governed. He knew that unfair elections laws did not just hurt minorities or the working poor, they rendered hollow the very essence of American government.

It's a message that's as true today as it was then. The 47-year old Voting Rights Act has stood the test of time, but there are new obstacles to the ballot springing up in today's America....