Relevant history from 1968?

[wnylib]

Lyndon Johnson had been a Senator before be became VP in 1960. He had a reputation for getting things done by wheeling and dealing negotiations in the Senate. That skill served him well as President after the JFK assassination. Johnson got legislation passed on behalf of civil rights for Black Americans, for all poor Americans, and for seniors.

But Johnson had opposition due to Vietnam. I was not voting age yet, but I also opposed the war. But I thought that there was a possibility that Johnson could be persuaded to at least pull back our involvement there. However, Johnson had some very hawkish military brass to deal with, some of the same ones who had tried to push JFK into invading Cuba during the Missile Crisis.

I was 17 years old when I watched President Johnson announce on national TV that he would not seek or accept the nomination for 1968. I remember thinking that he had the body language and demeanor of someone who had been told to announce that decision. Publicly the media said that Johnson declined to run because he was so disturbed by the war himself, which made no sense to me. Why not run again and try to end the war if he was so disturbed by it? Some media pundits said that there was a lack of support in the party for him to run. That made sense to me because there was talk of Dems ready to challenge him as the incumbent.

McCarthy and RFK were the two leading candidates and RFK was murdered when he was in the lead. Humphrey ran instead. He, too, was in favor of winding down our involvement in Vietnam, but the negatives about Johnson from within the party stuck with Humphrey.

With all that party division and chaos, we ended up with Nixon as president.

Party divisions are hurting us now. The opponent today is much worse than Nixon was. The stakes are much higher. But we persist in party disunity AGAIN, as in 1968.

And for weird coincidence, the Dem convention is in the same city this year as it was in 1968. I am not suggesting that there would be the same violence that occurred then. I am only noticing the coincidence of disunity and the same convention location. Is it an omen to get our act together and not switch in midstream?

[LeftInTX]

1. And it started with protests (Although those doesn't seem related to this)

[yagotme]

2. "History repeats itself."

Guess it's not just a slogan, anymore, lol.

[wnylib]

5. What's with the "lol"?

You find the possibility of a fascist government amusing?

I sure as hell don't.

[yagotme]

8. Did I mention a fascist government?

I was commenting on the idea that "history repeating itself" was no longer just a slogan, but seems to be actually happening. My "lol" was meant for MY statement, not yours. You might need to unwind a little, you seem to be taking things to the extreme, when they're not meant to be. Sometimes a little "lol" is good for the soul, and digestion.

[wnylib]

9. Don't patronize me or try to gaslight me about

your post. The OP topic is the danger of a repeat of history and you made a joke of history repeating itself. Not funny.

[yagotme]

10. Show me in my post where I mentioned ANYTHING about a fascist government.

I'll wait...

[wnylib]

11. Ignore is a wonderful feature.

Good bye. I don't argue with gaslighting.

[yagotme]

12. Whatever you feel the need to do...

I have 0 on my list, btw.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes, there are lessons to be learned from 1968.

An incumbent President withdrew from the race. The Democratic Convention was a clusterfuck. Humphrey wasn't popular enough to win. So, we got Nixon, and wasn't that just wonderful?

I was in the USAF at the time. I returned from my time in Turkey and was in the DC area when Nixon took office the next year. It was not a good time. It sucked, as a matter of fact.

Could that happen again. It absolutely could. If Biden withdraws and the convention becomes a clusterfuck again, we could very easily lose to Trump. And that would be the end of any chance we would have in the future to rid ourselves of a fascist-,leaning government.

Support Biden/Harris. That is our best choice to keep the White House. Force Biden out, and the convention is going to be a disaster. We have already had the primaries. Biden/Harris won dramatically. If we ignore that, we lose.

[unblock]

4. Rejecting the sitting president is a recipe for the opposition party winning

Only twice has a party rejected its incumbent president for renomination and held the presidency: Buchanan and Garfield. Only Garfield was after the civil war with the entrenched two-party system.

And in both cases, the replacement had run a popular primary campaign.

It's really hard to convince the general population to vote for the status quo after the incumbent party rejects the status quo.

[wnylib]

6. Very true.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

7. And Guess What Happened As Soon As He Dropped Out

Everyone around him was urging him to drop out because he had low favorability poll numbers. So he did. Immediately after he dropped out, his favorability rating shot back up to 56%, the Democratic Party devolved into warring factions (some wanting Humphrey and some wanting Muskie--this was obviously post-RFK), they settled on a middle-of-the-road candidate (Humphrey) and saddled the country with Nixon. And in a lot of ways, the country has never really recovered. Pay attention to history, because it's repeating itself right now. Except in this case, a second Trump presidency would mean the END of our country, not just deep wounds we're still suffering from 50 years later.

[2naSalit]

13. So let's get it right this time.

[hume]

14. Good analysis.

The Chicago coincidence is relevant.

[Bettie]

15. You'd think that party leaders would know history

but apparently, they don't.

And when we lose everything, those leaders can flee the country, because they have the cash to live elsewhere. Maybe that donor class will help them (LOL, I kid, they don't help anyone but themselves).

Though, I'm not sure that with Trump and Putin joinjing forces there will be anywhere safe to go....imagine, our young men and women being drafted to invade Europe on Putin's orders, via Trump.

Feeling pretty bitter over the idea of our Democracy turning to a dictatorship because the leaders of the party that was supposed to save it were too afraid of their donors turning off the spigot. Afraid for my fellow citizens....especially those who are visible minorities.