Confronted with mass media in the 21st century, a modern-day Gandhi would face something of a quandary. On the one hand, he would understand the need to make injustice visible and the power of mass media to do that on a large scale. On the other hand, he would be aware of the inherent injustice of commercial mass media providers and their avaricious aims. He would be forced to find a middle way.

How are commercial mass media unjust? Take newspapers and magazines, for example. “They’re not selling papers and magazines to readers; they’re selling readers to advertisers.” (Wired) In other words, if it’s free (or cheap) you are not the customer. You are the product.

Gandhi deplored this kind of commercial journalism. “In my humble opinion,” he wrote, “it is wrong to use a newspaper as a means of earning a living. … When, further a newspaper is treated as a means of making profits, the result is likely to be serious malpractices.” (Gandhi Research Foundation)

Gandhi and King were, above all, spiritual leaders. A modern-day Gandhi and King would be working to lead a faith-based social reform movement, just as the historical Gandhi and King did.

For Gandhi, the hierarchy of duty was clear. “My patriotism is subservient to my religion,” he said. “I am a politician trying my hardest to be a saint.” (Gandhi: his life and message for the world) King was equally clear about his top priority. “I have no ambitions in life,” King said, “but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry . . . [and] remain a preacher.” (Bearing The Cross)

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If Presidents Day (February 18 this year) is a holiday for you, is it a day of sleeping in, sales, and shopping? How would a modern-day Martin Luther King or Gandhi celebrate Presidents Day? He or she would most likely be disappointed that the holiday has devolved to yet another manifestation of consumerism.

A modern-day Gandhi and King might argue for a Citizens Day, recognizing the importance of citizens. After all, they might say, presidents get enough recognition already, and in fact recent presidents may be exceeding the constitutional limits of the office, a phenomenon known as the Imperial Presidency.

In the absence of such a holiday, they might argue for Presidents & Citizens Day, a holiday honoring the office of the president and the role of the citizen. After all, “even the Chinese philosopher [Confucius] was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire.” (Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, 1849) Indeed, the citizen is president of his mind, body, and spirit.

Last week, in response to sustained opposition to birth control provisions in the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration proposed new rules that would allow religious and nonprofit organizations that morally object to contraceptives to not offer that benefit for their employees. What would a modern-day Martin Luther King have to say about birth control and abortion?

Thanks to Margaret Sanger, we know what the historical King thought about birth control. Seeking to legitimize and popularize birth control, Planned Parenthood awarded the first Margaret Sanger award in 1966 to 4 men, President Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King among them. Both Johnson and King accepted the award and had speeches delivered on their behalf at the award ceremony.

King on birth control
Here are some of the most pertinent parts of King’s speech: