General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: An open letter to folks like myself who cannot in good conscience vote for Obama [View all]Pab Sungenis
(9,612 posts)In 1972 both Presidential candidates were far to the left of what we would consider "liberal" today. Even Nixon! He bragged about cutting defense spending to historic lows, created the EPA, signed the Clean Air Act, imposed price controls, initiated detente with the Soviet Union, recognized "Red China," and on and on.
Today any Democrat who proposed defense cuts to the degree that Nixon did, suggested price controls for even vital commodities like gasoline, or made overtures to North Korea or Cuba (the only remaining communist states) would be considered a bomb throwing radical and hounded out of our party like happened to Dennis Kucinich.
The goalposts have moved because we've allowed them to move. As the Republicans drifted rightward after 1988 we should have held our ground. If we had, then the center would still be where it is and the Republicans would be classified by the terms we used to call people who held their opinions: Birchers, fascists, reactionaries. Instead, we've allowed them to market their ideas as just being on the right edge of mainstream.
This is why the "third way" nonsense has to stop, and we need to reclaim our party in 2014 and 2016.