Imagine we’re in the decade of the 1960s. Imagine that the civil rights movement is heating up. Imagine African Americans agitating for their rights as Americans, demanding equal protection, equal access to the commons, equal rights under the law.
Imagine the heat they direct at the white racist establishment. Imagine the harsh words they have for the Jim Crow enforcers. Imagine white bigots in both parties getting outraged and indignant over these “Negroes with their pet issues.”
Imagine Democrats fighting these developments. Imagine white bigots representing the Democratic Party, taking money from the Democratic Party, speaking for the Democratic Party, saying miscegenation is an abomination, that blacks should know their place, that our American traditions demand this, that our children our being corrupted by these disruptions. Imagine bigotry being framed as “moral values.” Imagine bigotry being accepted as “divergent views.”
Cross-posted on MediaGirl and DailyKos. Read on….
Imagine other Democrats saying that these bigots are wrong. Imagine other Democrats saying that there are higher principles than playing to the establishment.
Imagine the cries of outrage over the infighting. Imagine the claims that the Democrats need a “big tent” to succeed. Imagine the assertions that the bigots belong in the Party, and those who object are hurting the Party.
And imagine the Democratic Party saying, “We don’t want to divide the nation.” Imagine the Democratic Party embracing bigotry and racism in order to chase after the bigotry vote. Imagine the Democratic Party turning its back on racial minorities. Imagine strategists and pundits complaining that civil rights is a losing cause, because “those people” haven’t already won their civil rights — i.e., the civil rights movement up until now has been ineffective, and therefore not worth supporting.
Imagine JFK backing down to state governors. Imagine a 7-year-old girl not being escorted to school by federal troops. Imagine LBJ going along with his good ol’ boy colleagues. Imagine segregation continuing with official sanction today.
Imagine no war on poverty. Imagine no civil rights movement. Imagine all the things that would be, and all the things that would not be, today, had the Democratic Party gone for the “big tent” fantasy and pandered to the establishment in everything, not just the Vietnam War.
Imagine what life would be like today if the Democratic Party did not stand up for what’s right in the 1960s.
Imagine what life will be like tomorrow if the Democratic Party does not stand up for what’s right today.
Imagine.
