Being a lefty back then for me was pot, long hair, stoned idealism and partying....maybe a bit greener, pro-civil rights but now being a liberal is so full of crazy crap we never envisioned:
50 million aborted babies...something undreamed of in 1972...a big one for me.
the rise of homosexuality
the fanaticism of the women's movement
gun control beyond restricting machine guns...
no new oil drilling or refineries.
passivity in the face of militant Islam
race lunacy and all the horrible crap that has come forth from the Great Society.....we did not know yet what fruits that would bear.
rampant anti-Christian values
rampant anti-family sentiments
support of illegitimacy
universal healthcare....unheard of.
Political correctness and the demonization of Western culture and the vicious onslaught towards equating my own Southern heritage with Nazis.
It goes on and on. Being a liberal is much different now than when we were kids.......much much different.
Average liberal today is worse than a Yippie was almost.
Excellent rant being a liberal has really changed.
Well said! Me, too.
In 1974 I was protesting Vietnam and Nixon. In 1975 Saigon fell, and the North won. We were elated, and actually thought peace would now finally come to that troubled region. Then in 1976 we heard about the Cambodian massacres by the Khmer Rouge, the re-education camps, and the brutality that comes from communistic totalitarianism. I remember telling my friends that we should protest the communists, too.
I was told in no uncertain terms, that, “Hey man, the war’s over, and so is the draft. We don’t care anymore, and the communists have a right to kill all those who opposed them for 15 years.” “Even women and children?” I asked. “So what”, I was told. “Oh, and pass that bong, man, don’t bogart it.”
I joined the USAF that year, and voted for Reagan, even though Ford won the nomination. 1976 was my epiphany year.
I agree with Rodguy, an excellent summary of what a Lib was then as opposed to the screaming radicalism it is now. Sort of like the devolution of the mainstreaming of Pinups to full blown Porn. And the pace of change is accelerating.
FRegards