On liberal "purity".

[Liberal1975]

53. Couple of Things...

First of all I agree with the basic premise that we cannot give ground on Medicare and Social Security. And I also agree that the Democratic party has moved too much the center (or the right).

However before we create a false history of the liberal movement in this country let's put some stuff in perspective. The Democratic party has not always been a "large tent" until Kennedy and LBJ enforced Brown v Board of Education the south was as democratic as it is republican now, maybe it means the tent was bigger but it sure had a lot of racists in it! In the same vein the labor movement in the rust belt began to weaken when African American workers migrated from the south and started joining the labor movement, giving the anti labor elements a classic wedge issue which was used expertly by both Nixon and Reagan.

Reagan used this to con blue collar workers into believing the Democratic party had abandoned the interests of the white working class in favor of the interests of minorities in the inner cities, the "Cadillac Welfare Queen" was as much a dog whistle for white blue collar workers as it was for racist southerners.

He could not have won, without support from the rust belt, especially as demographics stood then. The people abandoned the Democratic party before the party abandoned you and me.

Let's not forget Carter won in 1976 because of the gigantic scandal that was Watergate, as the 1972 election demonstrated the Republicans had already managed to turn white blue collar union workers against the party. 1976 was not a victory for Carter as much as a repudiation of Nixon.

Now we have a unique opportunity I think of truly uniting as the people regardless of race, sexual orientation or age. This is a coalition that would have been impossible to solidify in this way in 1976.

So what we need to do is educate those around us so that we can go back to the progressive principals as ALL the people. Not just the white, straight and Christian people that made up the bulk of both parties in the heyday of the labor movement and the New Deal. Just my two cents.