I dare you.

It may come from left field, but on this Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I dare you to actually listen to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Even if Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t have a holiday today, he’d still be timely. In case you missed one of the more recent Obama-Clinton spats, check out this video. Bill Moyers sums it up better than I ever could.

Unfortunately, there are voters today who don’t remember that far back, so there’s potential for an actual effect from this Democratic infighting on such a nonissue. Until we educate ourselves, there will be those who persuade us into a lie, because we simply don’t know any better.

As usual, the only way to fight ignorance, and keep us and our peers from being persuaded by lies and half-truths is to escape from our ignorance. This is the only way to tell liars from the passionate, sheepskin wolves from mutton.

Listen. You’ll hear of blank checks, of lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, of drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

Don’t just stop there, either. Why not listen to King’s indictment of Vietnam, or his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” or of his trip to the mountaintop?

For that matter, why not search Google for all those great American speeches? Why not hear what Reagan, the Republican party’s alleged model, actually said he stood for in his 1964 keynote to the Republican National Convention, and then consider how the modern Republican Party betrays Reagan’s earliest-held principles with big-government spending?

Half-truths are best countered by whole truths. Do yourself a favor and listen to the whole truth.