think DU squabbles are bad these days? Imagine if DU were around in the 60s...

[CTLawGuy]

and half the Democrats on this board would have had markedly different views on the ability of African Americans to participate in society.

I bet there would have been some "entertaining" discussions.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Except in the '60s we'd all have been stoned

and would be too distracted to argue about much of anything.

[SteppingRazor]

6. Yeah, because no DUers are stoned today.

:eyes:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Then it must be some kind of weed that makes them crabby and contentious

instead of happily staring at their Lava Lamps for hours at a time.

[Marrah_G]

19. heheh thank you for making me smile.

thank you for making me smile.

[tritsofme]

14. Well I'm certain that nobody at DU would have inhaled.

nt

[FreakinDJ]

2. Smoke a What ????

[book_worm]

3. I could see squabbles about the war and other things but I think most DUers would be in favor of AA

participation in society and civil rights.

[CTLawGuy]

7. well remember

a significant number of Dems were racist southern whites. Race was the "elephant in the Democratic room" at that time. Personally I don't know how I would have dealt with the existence of these "democrats" (I was not alive during that time).

[book_worm]

9. We're talking DU which is far more progressive than the Dem rank and file

and I doubt if there was a place like this for progressive dems during the 60's it would have been a lot of racist voices heard.

[CTLawGuy]

13. thats a good point

but the Dem party today is a lot more uniform than it used to be. The conservative wing was a LOT larger in the 60s than it is today. Also I think there is a fair representation of DLC types today on DU, even if they are outnumbered.

[SteppingRazor]

4. How would DU work in the 60s? Cans and string?

:silly:

More to the point, though, I think a lot of the Dixiecrat types that would be on the other side of that debate wouldn't frequent DU, just as Zell Miller types don't frequent it today.

[CTLawGuy]

8. well Zell Miller is what we'd call a "straggler"

in the great Migration induced by Nixon and the southern strategy.

[SteppingRazor]

15. Oh, granted, I'm just saying I don't think it'd be as contentious as you think...

as far as the race relations thing. Of course, I think GDP would be killing each other off over the 1968 primary. I can see it now. There'd be folks screaming for McCarthy, others screaming for Humphrey, a small but vocal contingent demanding that we run Abbie Hoffman's pig ... yeah, it'd be great.

[Marrah_G]

20. Tubes man! The Tubes !

[C_U_L8R]

5. Yeah but we'd all need a room sized Univac to log on

[anonymous171]

10. The 60's were a rough time for democrats.

But it was a cakewalk compared to what lay ahead for our party (and nation.)

[babylonsister]

12. We'd be typing a lot slower. Hunt, peck, whaaa? nt

[wyldwolf]

16. JFK and LBJ would be called the 60s equivalent of "neocon"

[Crunchy Frog]

17. Somebody posted this several months ago.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. DU wasn't around in the 60s.

:P

[Marrah_G]

21. Or it was and you were too drunk to know it !

:hide:

[tomg]

22. I don't know if DU would have been DU,

per se. Many of the squabbles and fights over tactics and "purity" are pretty much the same as what we went through, although ours were far more arcane.

Maybe it is better to look at what we wouldn't have had and can be thankful for. You wouldn't have had the voices of Gays and Lesbians coming in ( Stonewall in 1969, First Gay Pride in 1970). Similarly, some of you know might painfully recall the "joke" about a woman's position in the movement. And that was from "progressives." In other words, a lot of us were leftists but it didn't prevent us from being neanderthals in a lot of ways. On race the left was relatively decent. On gender, less so. On GLBT, not at all.

If anything, DU reminds me of how far we have come since the 60s. Something like DU did exist in the 60s, but DU is far more progressive.

edit to add: "ours were" and two typos

[Peacetrain]

23. Take DU today anyday over the reality of the 60's

People paid in blood, bone, their lives. Words on on a board gets your hackles up or down, but you live to type another day. Your house isn't burned, your children aren't bombed in a church, friends hung on trees of all colors, and castrated, trying to make sure everyone had the opportunity to vote.

Those opposed to the war had their own battle in the streets with their running from our own military. I saw police beat bloody demonstrators at the Univ of Minnesota, was tear gassed myself, and never knew when someone could come through the door and take you out.

This is a piece of cake, even on its worst days!!! And wonderful to have a place where people can express an opinion and share a thought with others all over the country in a heartbeat. :dem:

[Solon]

24. A somewhat interesting parallel could be drawn with GLBT rights discussion on DU...

and AA civil rights in the 1960s. There would be DUers talking about how so and so politician can't support African American civil rights, or the Civil Rights Movement in general because it was a losing issue in such and such state, etc. But then the DUer would say they support Civil Rights. :eyes: