Are you old enough to remember when Keynesian economics dominated both parties, unions were powerful

[Douglas Carpenter]

and domestic economic liberalism was a major force even in the Republican Party? I'm talking of course of the days before Ronald Reagan - a time when even most - in fact almost all - self-described conservatives believed government had a duty to try and help the genuinely needy. Are you old enough to remember those days?



?1354811978

18 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes, I do remember those days quite well.
	13 (72%)
	No, that was before my time.
	3 (17%)
	I don\'t know about the politics. But, all this talks of the olden days is making me hungry. I could go for some old fashioned diner style pork chops cooked in maple syrup and served with some cinnamon marinated apple sauce on the side – with some strawberry upside down cake ala mode for dessert. Come to think of it, a plain old fashioned soda fountain cherry coke would be really nice right now.
	2 (11%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[MillennialDem]

1. Born in 1980 so hell no.

[KG]

2. then Conservative Democrats voted for fucking reagan, it's been a world of shit since then...

[TBF]

3. I remember painting strike signs w/my dad -

I was born in the 60s. Rural area with small farm and factories. More and more I am feeling like a relic of history ....

[Bossy Monkey]

4. "We are all Keynesians now."-- Richard Nixon n/t

[Octafish]

17. Then came Watergate and - bam - no Nixon.

Apart from a little Jimmy Carter, it's been solid trickle down ever since.

[LAGC]

5. For as far left as we've progressed on social issues...

...we've really slid to the right on economic issues. Unions have been decimated, minimum wage is only a shadow of what it once was, jobs are being exported at an increasing rate to countries that pay their workers shit wages all in the name of "free trade", and here we are with all these conservative talking heads claiming we are on the verge of Communism taking over in this country, because of the Affordable Care Act of all things!

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. oh on social issues - it is breathtaking how far we have come. Even in the early 70's major city

newspapers still separated their "Help Wanted" classified adds -from "Help Wanted Women" and "Help Wanted Men." It was considered liberal and enlightened to view homosexuality as a treatable illness instead of psychopathic and criminal. But as much as we have advanced on social issues - we have gone backward on economic issues. Barry Goldwater back in 1964 was considered a right wing kook by most Americans. By the time he died in the 90's he was way too liberal for the Republican Party and the conservative movement.

[grattsl]

6. That third option is just unfair before breakfast.

[hobbit709]

7. And now the Democratic Party is to the right of this position

And the Republican Party has moved clean off the scale to the right.

[LiberalEsto]

8. I was 4 in 1956

so I didn't understand Keynesian economics that well.

[Douglas Carpenter]

10. i was only 2 then - so my debating skills were limited- but in 64 I remember rantin for Scranton

Would you believe, he just died a few months ago on July 28, 2013? - Yet for a very brief moment in history he was a serious contender for President of the United States and the leader of the liberal wing of the Republican Party -something that has not existed for some time now.

[LeftishBrit]

9. British equivalent, yes

I grew up during the last stages of the 'Postwar Consensus' which had begun in 1945, and ended with Thatcher's election in 1979.


Although Conservatives were always more pro-business and pro-upper classes than Labour, and Labour more pro-union and pro-working class than the Conservatives, there was a broad consensus on the importance of a mixed economy, full employment as a major goal, and the crucial role of the public services and the social safety net.

We have never really recovered from Thatcherism, and from the rightward shift that it caused in our politics, so that Labour PM Blair was in many ways to the right of earlier Conservative Prime Ministers Macmillan and Heath.

[Douglas Carpenter]

12. yes, Margaret Thatcher was Ronald Reagan and Tony Blair was Bill Clinton

there is a way in which British politics does parallel American politics. I guess Tony Benn was George McGovern - but of course the comparison is far from complete - given that Britain had a genuine socialist tradition - which America lacked and even most staunch conservatives would ultimately support a socialist healthcare system - when a fee for service based single payer government backed insurance system is considered far left in America - something well to the right of what even conservative British assume

[mmonk]

11. Absolutely.

[HereSince1628]

13. My memories of those times are mostly limited to the locale of my youth

I remember the 50's as a time of serial recessions that ultimately caused my father to give up carpentry and become a public school custodian.

I remember in 1965 my father was diagnosed with TB in his lung, and being out of work for about 4 months, his hospitalization, which included removal of part of his lung was in a state run TB sanitorium about 30 miles away.

The union contract he worked under for 5-6 years had let him, as a janitor, accumulate sick days with full-pay, and he had nearly 100 of them available at the time he needed them. After 4 months of being out of work, he actually had his job waiting for him, he wasn't forced into bankruptcy and the mortgage was never foreclosed.

I can't imagine that scenario of events ending as well in 2013. Granted it's likely that rather than surgery and confinement in a sanatorium a person with TB would be given pharmaceuticals and sent home with check-ups from public health nurses to be sure medications were being taken.

Then about 8 years later he fell off of a ladder while working on something in the ceiling of a school gymnasium. He broke his right femur in multiple places resulting in surgery and a weeks long hospitalization while in traction...once again, he had sick-days available, once again his job was waiting for him after it all, and once again because of adequate employer paid medical insurance he and my mother weren't financially devastated by hospital bills.

The union contracts he worked under would have to have been negotiated and agreed upon by R' on the School Board since the district's politics were dominated by republicans.

I can't say it's just a matter of unions, it was also partly due to a friendlier economy. The mortgage payment on the house was ~$27 per month, and even on a janitor's pay, it represented less than a week's work.

Life wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, for a working class family, and the greater respect for workers by all parties made a big difference in life.

[jwirr]

14. Oh yes, you mean the days when it was understood that corporate power needed controls. Wgat

has happened is that the corporations/rich have taken over the rethug party and the middle class and the power have lost their power in the process. Not good for our nation or our people.

[watoos]

15. Yes, I remember it well. I even voted for George McGoveran

I was a local union official for 28 years. Now, only 12% of the work force is unionized. The fascists are winning.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. My birth year....so not quite!

[Romulox]

18. Nope. This party is running on nostalgia for a time many of never saw. nt

[Douglas Carpenter]

20. knr

[bigwillq]

21. No. Too young.

[JaneyVee]

22. Born in 1981

[adirondacker]

23. "Born at the wrong time in the wrong place" nt

[scarletwoman]

24. I was born in 1949. I can't claim to have been politically aware before 11/22/63,

but I remember a U.S. when the New Deal was still operative.