S***! How many of your here never thought "Joe McCarthy & Viet Nam would

[KoKo]

Rear their ugly heads again? American Imperialism? We thought we killed it... happened here? We thought we worked hard...but they were working harder in the background, under the rugs...like MoPaul's graphic the "cockroaches" infesting OUR White House by hiding in the corners and in back of the sinks in the dank and dark, until they emerged as: The "Mighty PNAC...The Mighty Chimp..who stole the Election?"

What happened? Where did we go wrong? How could we have gone further after "Watergate" to EXTERMINATE THE VERMIN?" We tried, we thought we were successful. What happened? :shrug:

Any thoughts from the "trashed DU Boomers?" Please no accusations of: "You took drugs and gave it up, stuff." Lots of "that" Generation didn't run around as flower children, "doing it in Haight-Ashbury" and "grinding in the mud" at Woodstock. Those were the visible ones. The ones the "media hyped."

There were so many others, who didn't get the coverage. We must include the "fallen angel, Lieberman" for the "civil rights marchers" in this scenario...but :wtf: Lieberman made his Senatorial/Liberal credentials out of his marches in the South.. And credit goes to him.

I'm talking about where we failed. How did this happen to us again.

And, not all of us were "Greedy SOB's who gave up the cause to raise families and got co-opted by Wall St." What happened? We thought we made the world safer:

Just some stuff the Boomers did: got rid of the Draft and got "Affirmative Action, Women's Rights to Choose and be allowed to participate in Sports (with abililty or at least the right to try the same as Men); Evironmental Legislation; Recycling; Cleaning up our Rivers; Air Pollution Standards; Auto-Emission Standards; Smaller Cars for Fuel Efficiency; Zoning Legislation to Regulate Development on our Watersheds in Crucial States; Energy Efficiency Standards for Applicances; Freon Ban because of Ozone Emmissions for Refrigeration units and ban of use in hair sprays and other aerosol containers; Labels for Meat and other Food Products for USDA Category (beef) and to give vitamin and fat/calorie/additives; College Loans for the Middle Class (Johnson); COBRA (Clinton) and...so much more, that I probably have forgotten because I'm used to it all now, but I know the Chimp has already gotten rid of or is working to get rid of.

I haven't even gotten into how our Democrats backed off the "Corporatists" who are now in our pockets and indeed, in our "underwear" looking to take it all...the last pennies in our pockets.
Focused on "social issues." They also saved us from financial ruin long before now!

Just a reminder of what our Boomers were involved with.
AND...what's worse...the CHIMP IS A BOOMER? A BOOMER UNDOING WHAT HIS FELLOW BOOMERS ACHIEVED?

And, lots of folks on DU think the Boomers were lying around shooting acid and smokin' and having free sex....

Rewrite History...:-(

[aquart]

1. Uh, it's cyclical.

And you can't really kill cockroaches. They bide their time, come back as soon as you leave some food out, or don't close it properly.

We left money lying all over in the last twenty years. We weakened our banking and tax laws. Ended the market protections put in place after the Crash of '29. The money cockroaches are back, crawling over everything, dirtying everything.

We've been crappy, sloppy, lazy housekeepers. Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't waiting to take over. Just look in the dark and secret places.

[xxqqqzme]

2. Don't forget all

the spawns from ronnie roach - the de-regulation craze - and of course - what I personally think is the BIGGEST line of BS ever sold, (but purchased by the millions as gospel) by ronnie roach - 'If this government was a corporation, it would be bankrupt! We need to run this country like a corporation!'

[CrownPrinceBandar]

3. What was that quote about...

"They who do not learn from history..." I think you know the rest.

DOOMED!!!!

[drthais]

5. In My Opinion

We lacked the foresight
to imagine that all of those religious nuts
would be slowly building their 'team'

you have no idea
(here in the SOuth at least)
how many people will vote for anyone
who is against abortion
and thats all there is TO IT!
they think no further than that
they think they don't need to

end of argument

it's crazy

[proud patriot]

4. I was born in 1969 to 2 Hippies

I grew up on the music and the dreams of that era.

in 1987 I attended a UC Berkley Extension Seminar
called the 60s . At this seminar I met Abbie Hoffman
Dr. Spock , Country Joe and many many others .

I always felt kinda of jipped , like I should of been
born to that era , to march and protest . I love history
and my love for history blossomed in my studying of the
the mid 60s to early 70s .

Now I know God knows best and he/she ment me for this
crucial time .

[skooooo]

6. Nixon was responsible for the EPA.....

...not the Boomers!

[SharonAnn]

14. Don'e forget the Democratic congress. Nixon had to sign it.

The people demanded it!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. Look at France, late 1700's early 1800's...

They had to go through all these convulsions of revolution, beheading monarchs and assorted others (and then beheading some of the beheaders), military strongmen seizing imperial powers, restoration of a corrupt monarchy, revolution ousting the restored monarchy...

Sometimes (usually) we don't get it all right on the first go. We usually don't. Sad but true. But it does seem like a waste though.

[finecraft]

8. I think Reagan started the spiral down

Reagan started the "the government is taking "YOUR MONEY" and giving it to welfare queens crap. He was the one that drummed into us every day that Government is evil. He was the one that harped over and over....People can do things better for themselves, by themselves, than government can do for them. Remember Lincoln's "A house divided cannot stand"? Well, IMHO, Reagan started taking the bricks out of our "house" by starting the privatization of government. Reagan killed government "by the people, for the people".

[starroute]

9. Something went wrong between 1974 and 1980

I haven't ever managed to get a clear sense of just what it was. All I know is that in 1974 it seemed as though the past was behind us and the future could only be better, but by 1980 everything had gone sour. I can see a lot of the pieces of that transition, but I don't know how they fit together:

- Ford's pardoning of Nixon, which allowed so much to be swept back under the rug.

- The failure to heal the national wounds of Vietnam.

- Nixon's fall creating an opportunity for the extreme right-wing (and former Dixiecrats) to take over the Republican Party.

- Whatever happened after the old global economic system fell apart in 1974 that resulted in the present IMF and related institutions.

- The loss of American economic dominance and start of the decline in the fortunes of the American middle class.

- George H.W. Bush as head of the CIA. BCCI starts operating (1976) and acquiring banks in the US.

- Creeping geopolitical conservatism under Jimmy Carter, much of it in reaction to the energy crisis of 1973. (Zbigniew Brzezinski has a lot to do with this -- the whole Afghanistan mess can be traced back to him.)

- The generally nostalgic mood circa 1976. Ralph Lauren's Prairie Look in clothing, if anyone remembers that. CB radios and The Dukes of Hazard.

- The demoralization of the 60's generation. The takeover of the airwaves by disco. Punk as the new alternative -- angry, disenfranchized, and violent rather than positive and idealistic.



I'm not altogether sure that things could have gone differently after 1974 -- there was already so much bad feeling in the country. But there was also a lot going on that was positive and that could have been the basis for a better society than what we have now. What happened is obvious -- the real mysteries involove why it happened and who benefitted by it.

[Beam Me Up]

11. Something went wrong when we let the Aristocracy get away with MURDER.

America was in deep shit before JFK's assassination. But that "in your face in broad daylight here is the patsy that did it don't look at those spooks behind the curtain or picket fence lets see if we can get away with this you never know when covert tactics like this might come in handy in the future" National Security State WOOL they pulled over the American people's eyes ELIMINATED any possibility of any REAL accountability in this nation. There are people in this country, prominent people, people of power, wealth and influence, who literally GET AWAY WITH MURDER.

They are viscious, privileged people, "aristocracy" in the worst sense of the word, and NOTHING is going to change significantly in our society until they and their resources have been brought under the people's control.

Edit: typo

[moof]

12. A very good overview but you need to add EPA,

there have been several informed sources along the way that have
said that one of the byproducts of the EPA along with the clean air & water laws was that these laws inadvertantly helped spur the wholesale purchase of the Government by big business. In a nutshell the enviormental laws caught industry flatfooted & when industry went to washington they soon found out they did not need to ask for help & consideration from washington when for a few dollars more they could own the lawmakers. The rest as they say is history and not to make anyone feel worse than they already do but there does not seem to be much chance to regain control for many years if ever.

[starroute]

13. That's interesting -- do you have any links?

Or failing that, a print source?

I'd be very interested in finding out exactly when it happened, and which corporations began it.

[moof]

16. Clean Air Act-1970, EPA-1970, Clean water Act-1972

As far as links PBS frontline & Bill Moyer's NOW websites would the best bet to start looking for specific links. There was no one show or source that mentioned individual industrys or their CEOs. The comments came about in much the same way as this thread started, someone asking where & how it all went so wrong. The "expert" without giving exact details would say that one of the eyeopeners for the corporate world was the ease with which they could buy the influence of lawmakers when they were caught sleeping at the switch by the raft of enviormental laws that were passed after they saw how much money it would cost them
if the intent of the laws were carried out. Sorry for not looking up links to help you out but there is really nothing about knowing what happened that is going to help you or anyone else. The long & short of it is that America has never been all that great at living up to the high standards it says it is based upon and it was during the Nixon years that the much of the intentional & unintentional groundwork was put in place to allow unethical people to force their will on America & make sure that no one that cared to live would do anything to stop them.

What information would you like to know & what good do you think it might do for you? Not to brush you off but this administration has admitted to several illegal acts and yet no one in congress has done anything. All that was needed to stop the deserter from taking office was for one U.S. Senator to stand up in Dec. 2000 and Gore would be in the White house now. So short of letting the spoiled brat nuke a large part of the mideast waht do you think will make any difference to stop
the insanity & get the power back to the people. Sorry for errors but this is too disturbing to proofread especially when no one will likely read it anyway.

[bloom]

10. It is probably a matter of the right -wing having so much

to react against. What with Watergate/Nixon, quitting the Vietnam War, the rise of the liberals and all the things you mentioned.


It's like Germany after WWI - they've mobilized and gone ballistic.



Well - now we have something to mobilize against. It would be nice to be able to relax and enjoy life - but some won't have it. It's too bad.

[Kanary]

15. "What's That Sound -- 60's Revisited" C-Span 2

on right now.....

Maybe there'll be some answers.. :)

Kanary

[KoKo]

17. Yes, the pix from the Washington Mall look like the 70's. It's going to

be a long Summer. The "People are Fighting Back."

[KoKo]

18. Kick for those of us who are "frothing at the mouth" over this!

:kick: