Reply #22: I'm not really talking about Russert here [View All]

[Hippo_Tron]

You're correct that the debate was to the left on economic issues but economic issues only. Women and minorities were second class citizens during the New Deal era and homosexuals are still second class citizens because of the influence that "Reagan Democrats" have over our government.

The New Deal coalition required the support of extremely narrow-minded bigots (many of them from the south but certainly not all of them). Roosevelt was dead right that the political reality of the 1930's wouldn't allow him to advance civil rights legislation. The committees in congress were controlled by many of those narrow-minded bigots who would've killed the New Deal if Roosevelt had introduced a civil rights bill and then the country likely would've fallen to a fascist coup like much of Europe was doing at the time.

But it's not the 1930's anymore and we're not facing the imminent prospect of falling to a fascist coup. Put another way, the New Deal coalition has outlived its usefulness and a new one is going to have to move to the left both on economic and social issues.