Posted on 06/28/2006 4:33:55 PM PDT by pjsbro
America is about to revisit one of the most turbulent decades in its history, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told a religious conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "We're about to enter the '60s again," Dean said, but he was not referring to the Vietnam War or racial tensions.
Dean said he is looking for "the age of enlightenment led by religious figures who want to greet Americans with a moral, uplifting vision."
"The problem is when we hit that '60s spot again, which I am optimistic we're about to hit, we have to make sure that we don't make the same mistakes," Dean added. See Video
Anger over the Vietnam War and the country's escalating racial tensions made the late 1960s one of the most painful eras in American history. Republican Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968, following the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert Kennedy, as well as the riot-marred Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Later in his speech Tuesday, Dean appeared to backtrack. "I'm not asking to go back to the '60s; we made some mistakes in the '60s," he said. "If you look at how we did public housing, we essentially created ghettoes for poor people" instead of using today's method of mixed-income housing.
Another mistake Democrats made in the '60s, Dean acknowledged, was that "we did give things away for free, and that's a huge mistake because that does create a culture of dependence, and that's not good for anybody, either," he noted, a reference to the Great Society welfare programs created by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson in the mid-1960s.
"Those mistakes were not the downfall of our program," Dean added. "They helped a lot more people than they hurt. But we can do better and we will do better and our time is coming." See Video
Alternating between references to the "McCarthy era" of the 1950s, which he accused the Bush administration of reviving, the decade of the 1960s and the current era, Dean explained that he was "looking to go back to the same moral principles of the '50s and '60s."
That was a time that stressed "everybody's in it together," he said. "We know that no one person can succeed unless everybody else succeeds."
Dean's comments Tuesday came at a religious gathering convened in the nation's capital to discuss ways of eliminating poverty. After stating that America "is about as divided as it has been probably since the Civil War," Dean declared that "we need to come together around moral principles, and I'm talking about moral principles like making sure no child goes to bed hungry at night."
"I'm talking about moral principles like making sure everybody in America has health insurance just like 36 other countries in the world," he added. "This is a moral nation, and we want it to be a moral nation again."
As one method of accomplishing that goal, the DNC chairman called on Congress "to raise the minimum wage until we have a living wage in this country." He dismissed criticism of a minimum wage hike as "economists' mumbo-jumbo."
"We're simply asking to give the people who are working for minimum wage the same raise that Congress has had every year for the last 20 years," he said.
Dean also stated that the Democratic Party helped give people "the opportunity to become middle class" during the 1960s.
"I do think that empowering people to help themselves is what we should be doing in the 21st century," he added, stating that the Democratic Party now emphasizes the value of work.
"If you work hard, you ought to be able to support your family," the DNC chairman noted, and "in America, you need the opportunity to work hard, and that means some level of support from government -- no handouts, but some level of support so that you really do have a genuine opportunity to contribute to the country."
The DNC chairman pointed to President Bush's tax cuts as a major obstacle to what he called "tax fairness." He also criticized the Republican Congress for being "the biggest 'big government' government we've ever had," though he did make at least one positive comment about the GOP.
"How about if I'm a wild-eyed radical liberal who is willing to say the conservatives had some good ideas?" Dean told his audience. "But let's go back and make what we wanted to work, using some of their ideas to make sure that the mistakes don't get made again," he added.
"It's nice to see that Howard Dean's hostility to the religious community ends when people of faith vote Democrat," Republican National Committee spokesman Josh Holmes told Cybercast News Service.
Holmes added he was not surprised that "Howard Dean's political perspective is derived from a 1960s counterculture view of the world. What is surprising -- and disturbing -- is that he can urge a massive expansion of government and denounce the Democrat mistake of creating a 'culture of dependence' in the same speech."
"He may want to revisit that mistake to update his talking points and the Democrat policy manual," Holmes said.
Before leaving Tuesday's conference, the DNC chairman thanked those in attendance for giving him "a big lift."
"I came in the wrong door when I first got here," Dean said. "I came in the back, and everybody was talking about praising the Lord, and I thought, 'I am home. Finally, a group of people who want to praise the Lord and help their fellow man just like Jesus did and just like Jesus taught.' Thank you so much for doing that for me."
We've been saying that was where he was headed for several years now. Glad to see he's finally agreed.
Thanks to Democratic/liberal prowess at dividing the nation during a time of war...
They say Generals always fight the last war. Now we know politicians do the same thing. I think the Dems actually long for a return to their glory years, so much so that they aren't even looking to the future, only the past.
I don't think Howard Dean ever left the 60's.
His name is pronounced HOW-WEIRD not how-ard
Dear God, when will you freaking baby boomers JUST LET IT GO.
The 60s??!!?? Aw, C'mon!
Signed Mr. 1978
What's that guy smoking?
Too bad. I would have prefered the 50's. Early 60's , I guess ok though.
Take from some to give to the many.
He is smoking what he smoked in the 60s of course..lol
Which dem will play dem Bull Connor?
Where did I put that lava lamp?
Flashback.
We're already there and the cast of characters looks the same (the faces just a bit more wrinkled)
I just hope that we don't loose this war at home again.
Dean says they've learned from the 60's...hope we have too!
It's time for an old fashion witch hunt!
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