There was a defining moment in the 20th century when the left lost ground it has never regained

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I say this looking back over many years as a Democrat, a Liberal, a Progressive.

Sometimes, late at night, you wonder, how did this all happen? How has the world shifted so much and lost it's moral compass?

I trace it back to the Iran hostage crisis in the Carter administration. We saw our embassey held hostage for days, weeks, months. It was an international humiliation. The Carter administration was ineffectual, to say the least.

I know all about what happened behind the scenes and how the situation was manipulated for political advantage by Reagan.

But, really, that was the turning point. It set the stage for the militarism and foreign misadventures that were to follow. It was the single event that defined Republicans as militant, hawkish defenders of the national pride and Democrats as milquetoast negotiator/appeasers in the public mind. It's why Republicans are always given the benfit of the doubt and why Democrats are raked over the coals in any foreign situation. Reagan invades Grenada to great acclaim. The barracks in Lebanon was bombed under Reagan. pass. Clinton on the other hand, gets excoriated for both his actions and his inactions. The baton gets handed to Bush who allows 9/11 to take place and fights a war on spurious grounds and yet gets accolades and support for both.

This legacy continues to this very day.

[niceypoo]

1. Since Reagan the Democratic party has steadily marched to the right

...and it continues to this day. What is now called, 'centrist,' used to be called republican.

[sharesunited]

2. Even before that, the anti-war movement faced off against

one of the most liberal presidents of the century.

That was a fatal inner conflict on the left.

[villager]

3. all those "coincidental" "Lone Nut" assassinations in the 60's didn't help, either

...in terms of shifting the historical axis toward the right...

[DLnyc]

11. Good point. Sad but true.

The left didn't fail. More accurately, it got clobbered by a fanatical and well-funded coalition of economic royalists, war-profiteers and others who manipulate various groups via racism, homophobia, xenophobia and other tactics to give their ideas a veneer of populism.

And killing the occasional loved and respected leader goes a long way to draining hope from people who actually care what happens.

Considering the stacked deck we work against, the left is doing well to still exist at all.

IMHO

[Tumbulu]

15. I agree with you (nt)

[ljm2002]

20. Yeah, no kidding!

"Coincidental", indeed. Amazing, isn't it, how the most effective leaders, the most amazing speakers that gave voice to a generation, were the very ones who ended up dead.

But then, I must be one of those people who indulge in tin foilery, right?

Hmmph.

[napi21]

4. U think it was when Johnson pushed through the equal rights

amendment. Even Lyndon said the Dems would lose South for at least a generation. Between that and the Vietnam war, the Dems have never recovered.

[lapfog_1]

5. Yup, pretty much nailed it.

Before that, both Democrats and Repukes were considered just about equal on national defense and foreign policy.

But since the days of Reagan, the country has tilted way to the right, in almost every way possible (economic policy, foreign policy, regulatory policy, military policy, trade policy... you name it and we are on a playing field where the repukes are always running down hill and the liberals are climbing uphill.

[mrcheerful]

6. Actually it goes back to Truman, everything went to hell after

Give em hell Harry fired MacArthur. Then when Johnson signed the civil acts bill it got worse. Carter was to nice for his own good and it allowed the right to play the soft on matters he should have stood up to card. But the hate for Democrats started when FDR stopped the rich from finishing off the country. My grand fathers generation said never elect republicons 2 presidents later they elected Ike. My generation said no to republicons after Nixon yet we ended up with Reagan, 2 presidents after Nixon.

[Odin2005]

7. It was when Carter appointed Volker as Fed Chairman.

Volker, who stated something to the effect of "wages must be brought down", taking inflation caused by oil prices, blaming it on "wage-push", and thus caused a deliberate recession that started the destruction of the middle class. When the oil prices collapsed in the early 80s Volker and Reagan got the credit, legitimizing the attack on the middle class.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. I think it was the race riots that emptied out cities

They created permanent suburban enclaves of paranoids scared of they own shadow looking for a cuddly authoritarian to protect them.

[DURHAM D]

9. Yep -" ineffectual, to say the least "

You nailed it.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[gratuitous]

12. See your Carter and raise you a Gompers

When the American labor movement allowed itself to be defined by ersatz patriotism instead of looking out for the worker, the American left was scared shitless of being labeled commies or socialists, and when the Palmer Raids gave way to the Red Scare and the Red Scare gave way to the Age of Nixon, the left had pretty much fucked itself by not standing up for what it believed in and what it knew was right. We're on the cusp of another fight, and all the old tricks are being trotted out once again. Patriotism questioned, guilt by association, hysterical accusations of class war, socialism, even communism. And if you don't like it, they'll haul out the guns and goons again.

Will we get buffaloed again, or do we fight for what we know is right this time? And by "what's right," the short list I mean is greater equality in the sharing of this nation's wealth, recognizing the rights of persons over the rights of corporations, and an end to imperial wars of economic conquest.

[Hardrada]

19. The real left, the Wobblies and the anarchists were murdered

or exiled during WW1 and these actions effectively removed "Left" from the American political spectrum. I think the American CP was linked too much to the state capitalism of the USSR to be considered a true left party. Ditto Progressive Labor and Beijing.

[Skittles]

13. you are correct, Phoebe

[OHdem10]

14. Another defining moment, the Party went right with founding of the

DLC, New Democrats or Third Way. Each year they have
become more and more Pro-Business which is a GOP principle.
The more Pro-business the more the middle class has been
pushed to the side of the road.

[omega minimo]

16. Yes. And the cherry on the turd blossom was

"Ollie North is a HERO."

The hostage release/inauguration was The Moment that folks either accepted or rejected the Big Lie.

Ollie North as HERO was The Moment that folks let the Constitution become "a damned piece of paper."

[tblue]

17. It also didn't help when Poppy Bush called Gov. Dukakis a

liberal "Card-carrying Member of the ACLU," to which Dukakis had no response. This was in a 1988 Peesidental debate. To be "liberal" was thenceforth considered something shameful and unAmerican. So many possible killer comebacks, and the good governor and Dem nominee fell speechless. I'll never forget that moment.

[bertman]

18. I'm going with villager and his assassins argument. When JFK started negotiating reductions

in nuclear arms with Kruschev, there was a swelling of hope in America after a decade of dread of nuclear annihilation. For those who are not old enough to remember those days, it was a palpable fear that permeated American society because of the insanity of the Soviet and American nuclear missile standoff. Shortly after Kennedy was able to have a nuclear arms reduction treaty approved by the Senate, he spoke in Utah and received a standing ovation from the people of a state that had voted overwhelmingly for his opponent, Richard Nixon. Weeks later JFK was dead and the country was stunned.

Even staunch right-wingers like my parents were in shock that a President--even one they despised--had just been assassinated. Within five years three of the strongest voices for the Left and for reason had been silenced by assassins.

Carter's mistakes were bad, but they were only adding to a downward spiral for the Left.

Thanks for this OP. Recommend.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

21. When Reagan fired the air traffic controllers...

that was for me a defining moment. It was the beginning of the big "fuck you" to labor that has brought us to where we are today.

[KT2000]

22. Nightline counting the days

was a big deal that humiliated the president during the crisis. Media certainly helped weaken the Carter presidency during that time.
I don't think of it so much as Carter being ineffectual but rather the realized takeover the military/industrial complex envisioned for themselves.

[undeterred]

23. Thank you for not bringing up Monica Lewinsky.

There are lots of righties who use that as a turning point- proof of the immorality of Democrats.

[democrank]

24. We keep drinking from the same tainted well.

There are many reasons the left lost ground, but the obscene amount of money in politics means we have a tough road ahead. Many in our party regurgitate corporate talking points rather than take up causes based on long-held Democratic Party principles. How many times have you heard someone ask how politicians manage to get citizens to vote against their own best interest? It`s a very good question and one we should pursue with great interest.

We must figure a way to combat the incestuous relationships between politicians, their consultants and corporate media. We must send a tough, united message to the leadership in our party stating that we will no longer vote for candidates who don`t represent our values simply because "we don`t have anywhere else to go."

We must get serious about defining ourselves and getting our message out. Corporate media treats Leftists like rodeo clowns even though the Left holds economic and social justice positions similar to those taught in many mainstream churches. We don`t have to apologize for not wanting to torture people and we don`t have to say "sorry" because we care about what happens to children who step on landmines we left behind. We don`t even have to be ashamed because we don`t believe you prove you`re a patriot by buying a flag pin.

The day our principles become more important than a "win" at any cost is the day we move forward.

[zeemike]

25. I take a a different view or it....it is all about image.

And that image is created by the TV for the most part.

Just as an example....the tv show Family Ties.
And for those that do not remember it was about a family...where the parents were hippie like liberals but their son, played by Micheal J Fox what a free market Conservative with a poster of Nixon on his wall.
The message was clear....that the new generation had permission to go against the path the parents took and become a free market right winger.
And if you look at what was on the TV you can see the they were creating an image and that image today is still the same for the most part....
Shows like 24 make it OK for us to torture people to defend ourselves against all the evil they have imaged to us over the years.
And today the kids see all of this every day as they watch the tube, and it does have an effect.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

26. It was the cue for Reagan to enter from stage right

This is where America really went off the rails, defined best in Oliver Stone's movie Wall Street. This is where the credo "Greed is Good" and "he who dies with the Most Toys Wins" took over our national ethos.

It's when private corrupt wars became de rigeur with little or no consequence. As someone noted above, Ollie North becomes a hero and a radio talk show host instead of mouldering away in a jail cell. A few hands were slapped, but Reagan avoided the impeachment he richly deserved. Bush I said "I was out of the loop" with a straight face and went on to win his own election.

One would have thought that 9/11 should/would have been a similar defining moment for the right/Republicans - the day they were asleep at the wheel and thousands were killed as the President sat immobilzed reading a book to school children while planes disappeared and buildings fell down. And yet, quite the opposite.

Strange, isn't it?