Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat
Individual Freedom For Everyone

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Chuck Collins: George McGovern’s 1972- The Peoples Campaign

Socialist-Liberal?-
This piece was originally posted at FRS FreeStates on WordPress: Chuck Collins: George McGovern’s 1972- The Peoples Campaign

The 1972 Democratic National Convention, was real Amateur Night at the Apollo. Or in this case Amateur Night at the Miami Convention Center. Just because Senator McGovern didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the 1972 presidential election because of how popular President Nixon was then and with his foreign policy success. Including ending the Vietnam War and opening Russia and China. And with the state of the Democratic Party thanks to the emergence of the New-Left in it that became todays Green Party. And Occupy Wall Street movement. It was as if what Democrats were saying with George McGovern, “we’re not going to win anyway. So we might as well nominate our heart and go down big, but swinging.”

Just because you probably aren’t going to win an election, it doesn’t mean you mean you prove to the wold how unqualified you are to not just govern a huge divide country, but to even win the presidency. And go out-of-your-way to do what you can to make that happen for yourself. And not run the best campaign that you can. Otherwise you might as well not have bothered running for president in the first place. And stay in the Senate and continue be part of the loyal opposition in Congress instead. But what happened with the McGovern Campaign is that they never gave themselves much of an opportunity to win this election. And neither did the Democratic Party with the division between the center-Left and far-Left in the party.

I have a lot of respect for how George McGovern as far as how he managed his life and career. He truly was a public servant and a people’s politician and always believed in doing what was in the public’s interest. Also as far as what he accomplished politically and moving the Democratic Party from being dependent on racists anti-minority Dixiecrats to win presidential elections. By bringing in ethnic and racial minorities, as well as women and men. And making the Democratic Party very competitive in the North. But his presidential campaign represents what can happen to the Democratic Party when their leadership is weak. And they don’t have a strong center-left establishment. And as a result they become divided and their Far-Left takes over. And they nominate George McGovern as their leader in 1972.