Soldiers do not act like Wall Street barons who put profit and personal wealth above all other concerns.

The President returns throughout the speech to notions of cooperation to combat the Republican ideal of harsh individualism in which each citizen is on his/her own against the maelstrom of the global economy.

During that robust post-war economy, the top income tax rate on the wealthy was between 80-91%, and working-class Americans formed unions at unprecedented levels. Forming workplace unions allowed poor and working-class workers to bargain for higher wages, health care coverage, retirement pensions and other benefits.

Peep the taxes on the wealthy back then and it’s easy to see how the US built the middle-class.

The military only accomplishes its goals by working together.

The President is drawing a contrast between the Republican Party’s ideal of a society of each against all with his more cooperative vision. There is no such thing as an “army of one.” Great things can only be accomplished in cooperation with others.

President, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Campaigns would not rely on contributions from the wealthy and corporations but would have limited budgets provided by the government–so that the game is not rigged in favor of a wealthy elite. The current system is little more than legalized bribery.

MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan famously went HAM over the “bought Congress”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gIcqb9hHQ3E#t=127s

King was born in Georgia, a state known for its red dirt. The “table of brotherhood” became a lasting line from the speech, inspiring a Chevrolet program nearly four decades later.

King is referring primarily to Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, whose many followers decried the “white devil” and sought a black nationalist solution to centuries of white oppression.

In just a few months, Malcolm X would deliver his famous “Ballot or the Bullet” speech, in which he called for “action on all fronts by whatever means necessary.”

Just a month after this speech, the white terrorist violence that raged in Alabama reared its head again with the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, killing four black girls.