Anti-War Movement & Lieberman

      The defeat of Lieberman by Lamont in the Conn. Democratic Primary has brought talk of the McGovern - Anti-War Movement of the sixties.   These two eras share much in common.   This time there are major differences that people are overlooking.

In the early seventies I was a young teenager that was caught up in the philosophy, music and the protest marches on tv.   We were young and idealistic and most of all we were disgusted with the killing.   At that time there were thousands getting shipped off to Vietnam only to make the nightly news by being documented as faceless cannon fodder returning home in a bodybag.

The War in Iraq is different in that an all volunteer army is being used now (unless you call 'Stop-Loss' the 21st century's conscription tool).   There are a lot fewer deaths but the outrage at the uselessness of their sacrifice is just as great now as it was in the Vietnam War.

There is another and even greater reason that this time the Anti-War Movement is of greater consequence.   All of us middle aged, graying and bald ex-hippies and flower-children all are voters now.   Think about it for a second.   All of us who were revolutionary individualists have been absorbed by the 'Establishment'.

Much noise is being laid down hard and heavy that the Democratic Party is being taken over by the extreme left wing Anti-War element.   The extreme left wing label they want to use is what is wrong with their analogy.   We are centrist, moderates and progressives that are standing up to the current war-mongers.

They want the old sixties meme to infer that we are all nut-cases.   The danger we present to them today is that we have the power to vote them out of office if they do not reflect the now majority of Americans who want our troops out of Iraq.   Lieberman is just a wake-up call to Democrats as well as Republicans.   - fc

 •  Tags:   Politics · Bush · Iraq · Peace Movement