2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Fifties were a better time. We need to return to a better Democratic Party. [View all]denverbill
(11,489 posts)They not only want to undo all the progress made since the 1950s, progressive things such as Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights laws, the EPA, etc, they want to undo Social Security, child labor laws, the 40 hour work week, the minimum wage, national parks, and everything else progressive done since Roosevelt, Teddy, not Franklin.
They've succeeded in partially privatizing education, crushing the power of unions, destroying pensions, giving enormous tax cuts to the super wealthy, and destroying the power of government to regulate business.
The 1950's might not have been a great time for minorities in America, but it was the progressive values that most Americans shared at that time that finally broke the barriers of racial segregation, gave women equal rights, and at least attempted to end racism and sexism in America. None of those things would have been done without a progressive population. Racism and sexism were certainly much worse in the 1950s than today, but it was the voters during the 1950s and 1960s that were responsible for putting people into power that passed laws and, when necessary, sent in troops to enforce the laws.
There is no progressive that wants to undo the progress made in those areas, but the 1950s and 1960s were among the most progressive times in our history. Back then, Eisenhower warned of the industrial-military complex and Nixon implemented the EPA. Good luck finding more than a handful of people that progressive among elected Democrats today.