posted by trina in TheWar forum.

Sid, if I read the history of just two decades, the fifties and the sixties, this is what I see. In the fifties a really frightening acceptance of extremism in the form of McCarthyism. An atmosphere of fear and paranoia created by the extreme right, which we now know encouraged a setting where neighbors were encouraged to turn in neighbors or themselves be labeled traitors. I see incredible injustice in the form of the oppression of African Americans which was accepted as the norm. I still find it hard to believe that any of this was tolerated in a country that prided itself on being a Democracy.

Then, as always happens when there are grave injustices, there was a movement to correct them, which came about in the sixties. What the extreme right (I would prefer to use the word ‘wrong’) would like to do is to paint those efforts as ‘communism’ because they are still evoking McCarthy’s ghost to strike fear into anyone who recognizes that what happened in the sixties should have happened decades before but while way too late, is something this country should be proud of.

Is it right or wrong, or left or right, to correct injustices? We now know that the government lied about the Vietnam War, and that those who opposed it were ‘right’ not ‘wrong’, unless you want to accept the government lying to the people about war and causing the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Aside from anything else, this is against our Constitution, which all public officials and military personel take an oath to protect.

I understand what you are saying about ‘extremism on the left’ creating an atmosphere for ‘extremism on the right’ but what was extreme about wanting all Americans to have equal rights, or to demand that the government end a wrong war? I think when you talk about extremism on the left in the sixties, you are referring to minor issues, (by comparison to the much more important and real issues of the sixties) like drugs, and other cultural changes which happen in every generation, but which opponents of civil rights eg, focused on in order to distract from the real issues.

But, for the sake of argument, suppose I were to agree with your premise, that extremes on the left caused the current extremism on the right (and that premise has merit, imo) then what caused the sixties, if it wasn’t extremism on the right in the fifties?

If we are to accept this ‘left’ ‘right’ premise, then this is what you have to consider. You are saying that:

it is ‘left’ to demand equal rights for all Americans.

It is ‘left’ to follow the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions when it comes to when this country should go to war.

It is left to want fair, living wages for all Americans.

It is ‘left’ to want the government to stay ouf of people’s bedrooms.

It is ‘left’ to want the government to stay out of the religious practices of American citizens.

It is ‘left’ to demand that all Americans have access to healthcare.

It is ‘left’ to demand that this country never, ever operate prisons in secret or hold anyone without charge or trial, or to conduct secret trials, or to suspend habeus corpus, or to authorize the torture of any human being, regardless of status, as laid down in the Geneva Convention, #4, I believe (which covers and protects illegal combatants AIRC) because torture is never tolerated, no matter what the status of the detainee, contrary to what the Bush has been insisting on.

If this is the case, then it is ‘right’ to oppose all of the above and more, what I believe to be the right thing to do in a country that claims to be a democracy.

While I do agree that extremism on the right or left leads to a backlash, and I also understand why you are under the impression that there was ‘left extremism’ in the sixties, and in a country this size I am certain there were a few extremists back then, but the sixties is being misrepresented, constantly, by the radical right and the incredible history of the civil rights movement is being characterized as ‘extreme’ when someone accepts that misrepresentation.

I, eg, don’t accept the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ at all. I accept right and wrong, and my question to you is, did those who rose up against oppression and vile prejudice in the sixties do the right thing? Were those who, once they discovered that the government was lying about the Vietnam war, doing their duty, as Teddy Roosevelt says a patriotic citizen must do when the government does wrong, by insisting that the war end?

So, I guess to answer your question, I do agree that one extreme leads to another, but you need to go back before the sixties to find out what led to the sixties, and then decide whether or not you agree with those who wanted an end to a wrong war and to shameful policies which denied civil rights of a segment of society.

From my understanding of the sixties, all the rest ‘hippies, drugs, sex, rockn’roll are unimportant, as Rush would say (wouldn’t he?) ‘just kids letting off steam’ and a part of every generation in one form or another, but are consistently demonized and blown up out of proportion, to diminish the importance of the huge steps forward this country took (way too late) in terms of granting to all Americans the rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution.

I would not want to say that I did not support those who were responsible for that progress. Maybe those who want to characterize anyone who was on the right side of those issues as ‘left’ or ‘commies’ because they are ashamed that this country took so long to get to the sixties, and would like to forget the shameful resistance there was to righting those wrongs. Or maybe, and this I hope is not true, they regret and try to demonize the sixties because they favored the status quo and would prefer to go back to the fifties?

Anyway, I consider what I believe is the right thing to do when I think about issues, and I agree with our Constitution and the Geneva Conventions regarding human rights and torture, therefore I am totally opposed to Guantanamo Bay. I think all decent people agree with that, I don’t think it is a left or right issue. But people should be careful about making it so. Because if it is, then it’s right to be ‘left’ and wrong to ‘right’, isn’t it? Unless you do not agree with the Constitution or with basic human decency?