>-Whenever I hear this argument, I always want to ask: What if you
>-compared Northern Dems from 1965 to today's Northern Dems?
>
>A more interesting question-- although the Northern Dems back then were
>voting to put those reactionary Southerners in leadership positions -- but
>even those northern Dems were pretty weak on a range of issues. And let's
>be real-- on gay rights and womens rights, you have to look at Dems today as
>a massive advance.
>
>
>
Well yeah, but then on gay rights George W. Bush is a major advance over Franklin D. Roosevelt.
I don't doubt that you could find some Joe Liebermans or Ben Nelsons in the class of '65. But I think there was more political space then for vigorous social-democratic rhetoric/ideology within the mainstream od the Democratic Party. Maybe I'm wrong.
Seth