1968 and Now

1968 was a watershed year in American politics and probably one of the most tumultuous years in American history. The nation was embroiled in an unjustified war in Vietnam, had an unpopular president in LBJ, witnessed the assassination of two popular public figures - MLK Jr. and RFK, and cities were consumed by race riots. Since FDR's New Deal, Democrats had enjoyed a long run in the White House, but due to the civil unrest and a new Republican strategy of exploiting racism among white voters in the South, the Republicans have had a long run in the White House, every term to now, minus three - Carter's one and Clinton's two terms.

Forty years later, the nation is again entrenched in an unjustified war and under the leadership of an unpopular president. The economy is in the toilet and we have learned the hard way that an unchecked free-market economy is not all that it's cracked up to be. If history is repeating itself, this could be a watershed year for the Democrats if they heed the lessons of history, something President George W. Bush failed to do (maybe he should have paid attention during American and World History).

Let's look at a few quotes from the major players from 1968 (LBJ, MLK Jr., RFK, Humphrey, Nixon, McCarthy, Wallace) because it's uncanny how much of what they said, right or wrong, can be applied to current events. Lesson: Those that don't learn from history are destined to repeat it.

A President's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right. - L. B. Johnson

I believe we can continue The Great Society while we fight in Vietnam. - L. B. Johnson

Our numbers have increased in Vietnam because the aggression of others has increased in Vietnam. There is not, and there will not be, a mindless escalation. - L. B. Johnson

The last thing I wanted was to be a wartime President. - L. B. Johnson

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs for social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. - M. L. King, Jr.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love. - M. L. King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. - M. L. King, Jr.

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. - M. L. King, Jr.

We have guided missiles and misguided men. - M. L. King, Jr.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. -M. L. King, Jr.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. - M. L. King, Jr.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. - M. L. King, Jr.

All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity. - R. F. Kennedy

Ultimately, America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired. - R. F. Kennedy

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? - R. F. Kennedy

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. - R. F. Kennedy

I believe that as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil. - R. F. Kennedy

Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism. - H. H. Humphrey

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate. - H. H. Humphrey

If there is dissatisfaction with the status quo, good. If there is ferment, so much the better. If there is restlessness, I am pleased. Then let there be ideas, and hard thought, and hard work. If man feels small, let man make himself bigger. - H. H. Humphrey

It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped. - H. H. Humphrey

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. - H. H. Humphrey

Unfortunately, our affluent society has also been an effluent society. - H. H. Humphrey

When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal. - R. M. Nixon

The press is the enemy. - R. M. Nixon

The greatest honor history can bestow is that of a peacemaker. - R. M. Nixon

People react to fear, not love; they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true. - R. M. Nixon

The only thing that saves us from bureaucracy is it's inefficiency. - Eugene McCarthy

If any demonstrator ever lays down in front of my car, it'll be the last car he'll ever lay down in front of. - George Wallace