I was the 1968 version of a Bernie Bro. I still regret it.

[SunSeeker]

I am trying to remember the person I was in 1968. I was 22 years old and a recent college graduate. I was angry, infuriated by the war in Vietnam and racial segregation. It was my first chance to vote in a presidential election. I was living in New Jersey — very briefly — and I voted for Dick Gregory, the brilliant comedian running as a write-in candidate, instead of Hubert Humphrey, the Democrat running against Republican Richard Nixon. It was a protest vote, obviously. I regret it to this day.
...
We also knew what the 1968 versions of ourselves had learned in the 50 intervening years. We had learned the importance of stability, especially in a democracy. In Beirut in 1978, I had seen a sophisticated city ripped to shreds by tribalism … and had learned how fragile a civilized society can be. We had both learned how hard it is to make a difference, that the best change comes incrementally and only with a national consensus. We had both learned that idealism needs to be enhanced by civility and some institutional memory.
...
My question to young voters is this: If Sanders loses the nomination to Biden, will you be as stupid as I was in 1968? Will you allow the country — the federal government, the Environmental Protection Agency, the judiciary, the diplomatic corps — another four years of President Trump? Are you entirely sure we can survive that?

I am not trying to persuade young Sanders zealots that they should cast a vote for this year’s version of Humphrey. Not yet. In any case, they’re not going to listen to a geezer like me. I understand their impatience and anger, even if I don’t understand why a 78-year-old man insists on the puerile offensiveness of calling himself a “socialist” when the countries he purportedly admires — the Scandinavians — are bastions of free enterprise tempered by a robust welfare state. Perhaps Sanders needs to grow up a little, too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/04/i-was-1968-version-bernie-bro-i-still-regret-it/

[DonaldsRump]

1. Powerful stuff...well said! n/t

[Farmer-Rick]

20. I'm pro Bernie and I fought in the Vietnam war.

This guy seems to be stuck in the past.

Change is coming....

[Mike 03]

3. I was a 2016 version of a Bernie Bro. I still regret it.

[DBoon]

4. voting for Barry Commoner in 1980 was my equivalent

To this day, I regret that I ever used the term "corporate liberal" in a derogatory way

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. That's so familiar.

I was just a little too young to vote in 1968 (you had to be 21 then) but I remember the way we were thinking then - and even though we didn't realize what we were doing at the time, some of the more negative rhetoric and behavior of the antiwar movement was probably just enough to throw the election to Nixon. There's always blowback. Those of us who remember those times have not become more politically conservative. We have become more aware of consequences, and especially of the fact is that people shouldn't be voting to make themselves feel righteous and pure. Your vote isn't for yourself; it's for your country.

And if anybody tells me "OK, Boomer," I'll kick their scrawny little ass off my lawn.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

10. "Your vote isn't for yourself; it's for your country."

My first vote was for McGovern and I couldn't understand why everyone didn't do likewise.

[deurbano]

22. My first vote, too! I wasn't old enough in the primary, but turned 18 (the new voting age threshold)

in time for the general. (And apparently, I'm now so old that if I lived in Seattle I'd be advised to stay home to avoid the coronavirus, since it seems my age puts me at higher risk for complications! Time flies....)

And yeah, how did he lose?! "Everyone" (I knew) voted for him. (Must have been rigged...)

[dflprincess]

28. I will always be proud that my first vote was for McGovern

Like you I couldn't understand why everyone didn't do the same.

[Frances]

52. I lived in MA when I and everyone I knew voted for McGovern

I was astonished when McGovern won only 2 states

[dflprincess]

54. 1972 was the last time Minnesota

went for a Republican in the presidential race.

[lillypaddle]

37. I was young and poor

I donated $5 to McGovern, and in the memo area of my check, I wrote, "for peace."

I hate it that so many young people seem to think "boomers" are sellouts. We fought fucking HARD, and many of us continue to fight, as health and finances allow.

[DownriverDem]

68. Me neither

I didn't get why folks weren't for McGovern either.

[essme]

38. Ok, Boomer. NT

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

59. Get the hell off my lawn.

[essme]

60. Mow my lawn first Boomer. Oh your back hurts, right? nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

61. Mow your own damn lawn, kiddo.

Now please excuse me while I yell at some clouds.

[essme]

63. When they yell back ignore them. Just don't ask them to repeat themselves. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

64. What?

[essme]

67. Touche! nt

[Hekate]

57. Thank you. I myself am no less liberal than I was then. I just see farther and broader.

[Blue_true]

77. I was too young to vote for McGovern.

But my progressive values have not changed, what has changed is that things are no longer absolutely black or white like then, life and change really does have a lot of grey shades and other colors, and now I see that clearly.

[beachbumbob]

6. the DNC convention in Chicago sealed the loss for Humphrey, Mayor Daley hated

Humphrey and the resulting chicago riots were live cast into people's homes.

a sad day for democrats and america. A different direction should have happen. 10's of thousands of americasn soldiers lives would have been saved. 10's of thousands.

all that misery was avoidable

same in 2000 which allowed Iraq and ME meltdown

same in 2016

[former9thward]

7. I don't regret anything I did in 1968.

I had just graduated high school and that summer hitchhiked to Chicago to participate in the protests at the Democratic convention. That fall I was elected Chairman of the campus Students for a Democratic Society. We sponsored demonstrations and other protests against the unjust Vietnam war.

The university I attended, and graduated from, recently asked me to speak at an event they are holding this May. It is the 50th anniversary of the student strike I helped lead in protest of the war and killing of students at Kent state and Jackson state. We shut down the university for the rest of the school year. I don't regret a thing about those years.

[SunSeeker]

8. You were obviously too young to vote in 1968; I don't think Klein regrets his political activism.

He just regrets not voting for Humphrey.

[AGeddy]

9. I was a 2004 version of a Bernie Bro (a Deaniac). I still regret it.

Youth is wasted on the young.


We were all naive and stupid.

[Raftergirl]

11. My husband

voted for John Anderson! This was well before he met me, but I never let him forget his stupidity!

[SunSeeker]

13. Does he regret voting for Anderson?

I hope he does...

[Raftergirl]

47. Of course he does....

But I still don’t let him forget it.

[windje]

23. Your husband isn't the only one who voted for Anderson. Learned my lesson; It's binary.

Hold your nose and vote accordingly. I still regret that vote. PS - I Don't need my spouse to remind me. 😊

[NNadir]

12. My oldest son is a very political millennial who had - unlike me - some respect for Sanders.

On the other hand, he is not naive.

He was disappointed when Yang dropped out, and isn't crazy about Biden, but he is very devoted, as are all decent Americans, to seeing Trump gone. That has always been and always will be first with him.

My generation has screwed my sons' generation over. They don't need our lectures. They need our respect.

These kids are remarkable people. I admire them enormously. It is not right nor fair to paint them with the same brush as the boomers paint themselves. They are not self absorbed loopy types running off to rock concerts and painting their faces with flowers.

We grew up to be whiny asinine consumers.

They will not have that luxury, but by comparison with us, they will be a great generation, and no, the Sanders myth that he represents young people, like most of the other stuff he says, is horseshit.

[Turin_C3PO]

41. Thank you for respecting us Millennials.

I see so many insults on this site aimed at us, implying we don’t work, sit in our mom’s basement, just want freebies, etc. Most of us are just as hardworking as previous generations.

[NNadir]

84. I think you work harder than we did.

And you work for less reward.

I deeply regret the world we are leaving for you. Our parents worked to make our world a better place, and in many ways they succeeded. By contrast we have been a bunch of twittering sybarites who have shown nothing but contempt for the future.

Overall, I would say that my experience of your generation is that you are smarter, tougher, more creative and less dogmatic than we have been. Your minds are open, at least the millennials I know.

The upside of the disaster we've left on your plate is that great challenges make great generations.

But for us...

For us...

What I often say is that history will not forgive us, nor should it.

[DBoon]

93. They said the same things about us in the early 1980s

We were lazy latte-sippers

Every generation when young gets its share of unjustified insults

[Freddie]

14. My BIL voted for Nader

And very much regrets it. He’s realized now that voting is not performance art.

[samnsara]

15. at that age I was a big Perot follower. I was even interviewed on tv and gave stupid non answers...

...so embarrassing!! But at that time Democracy wasnt being threatened. We could afford to be stupid. These new voter however...can NOT.

[Lanius]

16. There is a difference between a social democrat and a democratic socialist

[Hekate]

62. There's also a difference between a lifelong Democrat & an Independent gadfly...

...who comes along every 4 years to take advantage of the infrastructure Democrats built.

[Lanius]

96. Agreed

[LenaBaby61]

17. "I was the 1968 version of a Bernie Bro. I still regret it."

Last edited Wed Mar 4, 2020, 08:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Yeah, well on twitter, several of the young Bernie enthusiasts basically told me to go fuck off old-timer (They didn't seem like bots, because their profiles have been on twitter for several years (6-7 years plus for the ones I engaged with).

One telling me "You old people helped to destroy my life, because you kept putting corporate Dems in control." That Bernie voter said that she, nor any of her friends will be voting this fall, and that she/nor they CARE what happens from here on out. Wait, Republicans like Reagan, Daddy Bush and W. didn't hurt us in any way? The tReasonous fat one's not hurting the entire world?

Another told me that "Black voters were being kinda selfish in South Carolina, voting for Joe Biden just because of their love of fellow African-American Pres. Obama."

All I can say is LORD HAVE ALL OF THE FUCKING THE MERCIES.
Missing the forest for the damn TREES

SOME of these young Bernie folks (NOT all), and SOME of these Adult Bernie voters seem to not have all of their marbles ... or something. They'll be NO revolution anytime soon, and this country will resemble broke ass, flat out busted ru$$ia (Outside of St. Petersburg/Moscow) if EVER if tReasonous fat ass and his Party of Putin get back in there, and turn this country into the USSA. It's bad enough that the courts have been stacked, for a generation or more, with youngish WWJD judges--some of whom are Federalists/racists who'll make Bernie voters lives--hell, all of our lives--a living HELL.

Do they know what's at stake here?

[Farmer-Rick]

19. When everyone is telling you something....

Maybe you should listen.

[LenaBaby61]

36. Maybe you should listen.

Listen to what?

I'm blue no matter who. I'd vote for Bernie if he were the last man standing, and the person Dems chose to run vs tRump.

However, they've got their minds made up to make us suffer along with the rest of them by either not voting, voting third-party, or by having the fucking nerve to say that African-Americans were 'kinda selfish' for not voting for Bernie Sanders because Pres. Obama was black like them.

Sanders has a commercial up and running currently showcasing himself with .....

Pres. Barack Obama.

Da Irony

[StarfishSaver]

74. A handful of people venting on Twitter isn't "everyone" or even close

A big problem we have these days is the assumption by many that the Twitterverse is the world.

[Farmer-Rick]

18. Socialist is Not a swear word. Learn to live with it because it's here to stay.

It sure beats capitalism that hands everything to the already filthy rich.

[SunSeeker]

26. Socialism does not beat well regulated capitalism with a robust safety net (Denmark).

Denmark does not have a socialist economy. None of the Scandinavian countries do.

[Turin_C3PO]

35. Socialism IS NOT better than capitalism.

I’d like to see one example of a successful socialist country. The best countries are highly regulated capitalist systems with strong safety nets and progressive taxation, such as the Scandinavian countries. And yes, billionaires still exist in those countries but they pay their fair share.

[Farmer-Rick]

95. Highly regulated capitalism....why do we have to regulate it if it so great?

That's like saying slavery is a good economic system as long as you have enough armed guards and militia to keep slaves from escaping and enough abusive overseers with whips to ensure the slaves keep working.

If you have to regulate it, and guard it with police and laws, it is an abusive system.

"In order to understand the brutality of American capitalism, you have to start on the plantation"


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html

[DBoon]

94. Socialism is where liberals get their good ideas

Be proud to be co-opted. It means you are being taken seriously.

[yaesu]

21. whats that got to do with this election? nt

[grantcart]

24. I just talked with Dick Gregory and he said that this guy suffered enough.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

25. KR NT

[lapfog_1]

27. Will they allow Trump another 1 or possibly 2 Supreme Court seats?

[BigOleDummy]

29. Well and nicely said

This old geezer agrees 100%.

[jalan48]

30. For what it's worth the Bernie Bros of that era helped bring the Vietnam War to an end.

Sometimes please and thank you doesn't work. I'd rather have the Bernie Bros in a fight against Trump Fascism than Centrist reaching across the table to find common ground.

[radical noodle]

81. Those who didn't vote for Humphrey

most likely helped delay the end of the Vietnam War. If they voted for Humphrey, they weren't Bernie Bros.

[jalan48]

85. Johnson was the reason the War expanded in 1964. Humphrey represented a continuation

of Johnson's policies. Had Humphrey, like Robert Kennedy, made ending the War his priority he would have received more votes. Many voters, for good reason didn't trust him.

[radical noodle]

86. I will agree with that

but Humphrey was more likely to end the war than Nixon. I was angry with LBJ, as most were at the time, but Nixon sure wasn't the answer.

[jalan48]

87. I agree as well

[wyldwolf]

31. 1968. Not only did that year's version of Bernie Bros give us Richard Nixon

Four years later they finally got their chance with their version of Bernie - George McGovern. They gave us Nixon again.

[DavidDvorkin]

32. I voted for Humphrey

What a fine president he would have been, and how much better this country would be now had he won.

[Dem2theMax]

33. Age isn't always the factor.

I had to talk Democratic friends into voting for Hillary.
They were so mad that Bernie wasn't the candidate, that they refused to vote. These people were in their 60s.

I had to explain, more than once, that if they didn't vote for Hillary, they were basically voting FOR Trump.

Eventually, that got through to them.

And that is what we will have to say, over and over and over, when we finally know who the Democratic candidate will be.

And I understand that you referred to yourself as being stupid when you didn't vote for Humphrey. But please take that out of your speech in the future. We don't want to offend our own team. We need every vote. We can't afford to offend even one person. And I know you didn't mean it that way. But I know some people will take it that way.

[SunSeeker]

42. That is author Joe Klein talking, not me. I was too young to vote in 1968.

I just posted excerpts from his opinion piece at the link. I have always voted for the Democratic nominee.

[Dem2theMax]

71. Ooops.

Sorry about that! I need to send my reply to Joe Klein.
I'm on pain pills for a very badly pinched nerve.
I've been missing a lot of things lately. LOL?

Me --->

[SunSeeker]

80. No worries.

[wyldwolf]

34. Pretty much what I've always said on DU...

We were counseled by our elders: Vote the lesser of two evils. But Humphrey’s kindness and humanity simply didn’t register. We saw only this wimpy, old guy who was probably lying about his newfound opposition to the war. And it didn’t really matter if Nixon won: We were young; we had a world to win, an establishment to overthrow. We had a plenty of time. Four years of Nixon would bring the country to its senses. What was one election?

It was more than 20,000 American deaths in Vietnam and uncountable numbers of Vietnamese people killed and wounded. It was the onset of a politics — Nixon’s Southern strategy — that began the process, which continues to this day, of white racial backlash. It was a descent, by many of us, into a reflexive, silly left-liberalism that caused the Democratic Party to suffer more than 20 years of defeat before being hauled back to reality by Bill Clinton in 1992.

[wyldwolf]

45. You can choose anyone you want

[DinahMoeHum]

46. Sorry, but the real world doesn't work that way.

What if what you want simply ain't available?

Go for the next best thing, then. But don't ever dare not vote or vote third-party.

As the song goes: ". . .you can't always get what you want/ but if you try sometimes/ you just might find/ you get what you need. . ."

[SunSeeker]

49. The Democratic nominee is never an "evil."

They are invariably decent, if sometimes flawed, human beings who genuinely want to help the working class, unlike Republicans.

That was the author's point. So many of us were blind to Humphrey's decency in 1968.

[Hekate]

79. I've never encountered an "evil" Democratic candidate. Some greater, some lesser, some not my ...

...exact heart's desire -- but all in all, supporters of the core Democratic Party agenda.

And in every single case, NOT REPUBLICANS.

[Freddie]

83. Voting isn't performance art

It’s not about “sending a message”. It’s about the future of this country. Would you prefer the candidate you agree with 90% of the time, or the one you agree with 0% of the time? One of them is going to win. Not your write-ins or 3rd party candidates.

[Hortensis]

90. :) +1000, and so well said. nt

[mjvpi]

40. Calling Sanders supporters stupid is flat out wrong.

All of the Sanders supporters I know are life long Democrats and will vote blue no matter who. They are passionate. They are really educated on issues. However, young people are idealistic and passionate. I see it as an evolutionary imperative. I don’t see how we can afford to lose 10% of Sanders most passionate supporters by trying to scare them or insult them into supporting someone else. I see that approach as short sighted as some of the things being said by Bernie supporters.

[SunSeeker]

50. The author is not talking about all Sanders supporters, just those who won't vote D if Bernie loses.

[Gore1FL]

51. +1

"Bernie and his supporters don't belong, are ignorant, <fill-in-the-blank>" are common themes I've seen by some of the same people lamenting that some of them won't support the ticket in November.

I am reasonably sure that 2020 will be a blue wave again. It would be nice if we gave Sanders supporters a seat at the table rather than lock them out of the dining room.

[paleotn]

70. Not all...

Some. But we all need realize what's a stake this time around. This isn't some half ass protest vote for Nader in 2000. If we lose this one, all those issues we hold dear and argue about endlessly are meaningless. If we lose this one, our country will be barely recognizable. Whoever our nominee is needs all of our support. If it's Biden, he has my vote without question. If it's Bernie, he has my vote without question. Sorry, but it's well past time to grow up and understand what's at stake here.

[Ferrets are Cool]

43. Grow up a little and stop living in a fantasy world. nt

I used to hang on Bernies every word, but he has just become a old "get off my yard" man.

[Gore1FL]

44. Most Sanders supporters will vote for the nominee, just as they did in 2016.

The "my candidate or else" is not a unique feeling to Sanders supporters. It's not unique to this decade.

What this article should address is what the Party needs to aim at to pull these voters into a unified front. I bet some of those items would be affordable healthcare, affordable education, and the opportunity to do OK in life. Instead of hearing, yes, those are Democratic ideals from way back, what they hear is all of those things are expensive pipe dreams. (We had these things when I was growing up and we went to the moon, so they clearly aren't pipe dreams at all.)

They hear almost the same basic "NO!" from both parties. It shouldn't be that way.

[handmade34]

53. ...a better name...would be compassionate capitalism

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2018/07/08/sorry-bernie-bros-but-nordic-countries-are-not-socialist/#5a64badc74ad

If the left insists on naming a system of generous government benefits combined with a free market democratic socialism, I cannot stop them. That seems unnecessarily confusing since the government is actually running no industries other than education (and meddling somewhat in healthcare). It certainly isn’t socialism. In fact, the only reason most such countries can afford those benefits is that their market economies are so productive they can cover the expense of the government’s generosity. Perhaps a better name for what the Nordic countries practice would be compassionate capitalism

[Hekate]

55. Paywall. Very good essay: he seems to be the same age as I. 1968 was intense...

Last edited Wed Mar 4, 2020, 10:26 PM - Edit history (1)

I didn't turn 21 until the end of September, but all year worked my heart out for Gene McCarthy, the first to declare himself as an antiwar candidate. I missed out being able to vote for Humphrey by moving out of state for university, but I would have if I could have.

The essayist shows that most of us mature over time...

ETA: saw the author's name in the thread.

[SunSeeker]

78. Yes, it's written by Joe Klein.

His bio at the top of the piece is listed as:

Joe Klein, a veteran of the New Yorker, Newsweek and Time, is the author of seven books, including “Primary Colors.”

[Frances]

56. I was so angry about Chicago

That I planned not to vote.
Then I visited Wallace loving relatives in Alabama, came back to Boston and voted for Humphrey. There’s nothing like seeing first hand the difference between a cruel racist and a less than perfect candidate.
Wallace did repent much later as did Lee Atwater, the author of the Southern strategy.
I don’t think Trump will ever repent

[Martin Eden]

58. My first vote was 1976, for Eugene McCarthy

He ran as an independent in '76, and my vote was essentially appreciation for his antiwar stance as a candidate for the Dem nomination in 1968.

[Rebl2]

65. Thanks

for sharing this.

[NurseJackie]

66. Best post I've read today!

[Denis Enko]

69. Bravo, Joe Klein!

He's the author of the op-ed piece quoted in the OP.

[stopwastingmymoney]

72. That's before my time but...

I remember vividly 2004 when John Kerry was boring and long winded with his complicated ideas. I loved that about him and still do, as my choice below indicates

We were devastated in 2004, let’s remember that one too

[Rhiannon12866]

92. I felt absolutely sick after 2004

If you remember, GD and GDP were changed to two post election forums - one was for those who were angry and needed to vent - and the other was for those who were upset and needed sympathy. I mainly posted in the latter.

[StarfishSaver]

73. Great post. This is such an important perspective from someone with wisdom and experience

Thank you!

[gordianot]

75. I love this post.

I really love the age old generational dialogue in most recent form that “Boomers” do not understand me. Instead of resorting to “nostalgia” I give my best parental possessive grin and bite my tongue.

[Codifer]

76. I could never figure out why ...

Eugene McCarthy was not the nominee after Bobby was murdered. I do not think that Humphry even competed in any primaries. But that was the Chicago convention debacle. At the time it was the latest bit of savagery to my once rosy optimism. I was so damn sure that a great future lay ahead on earth and in space. Then...

The first big hit was 22 November 1963. I was nineteen.

Next was Viet Nam.

Just got back home in 1968 when Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Then bobby in LA just before I separated from the service in June.

Then the Chicago convention riot by Daley's police. (at that time the police seemed the enemy of the young in case anyone forgot).

But I STILL pulled it together to vote for Humphry.

Then Kent State.

In 2008 I thought that stupidity was in complete remission... and I relaxed a bit.

Then the darkest day of all, 8 November 2016. The stupidity came back with a terrible irony. The same fuckers who hollered "go back to Russia" at me when I marched for peace now were saying "They seem nice" when Russian thugs were laughing it up with trump in the OVAL OFFICE!

I have not given up yet.... but Jesus, I am so goddamn tired.

[IronLionZion]

82. Do any boomers think they would have done things differently in 1968

if only some wise older people had called you stupid and entitled?

Some people's perspectives on life have been shaped by the experience of having a lot of older people lie to them their whole lives. People who don't see themselves ever being able to afford a house might find it hard to be swayed by analogies of the house is on fire so don't remodel the kitchen. I know people who rent rooms that don't even have a kitchen. Some of the "eat the rich" types would like to see the likes of Bloomberg and Steyer as side dishes even if Trump is the main course.

Very interesting that Joe Klein would talk about Humphrey in 1968 when 4 years later Dems nominated McGovern to shake things up.

More recently, after relatively sensible Romney failed badly the GOP nominated a steaming pile of bovine excrement to shake things up.

Calm down Boomers, I have no problem voting Biden in November. Every Democrat should take a strategic pause now and then and try to see things from the perspective of a very different demographic of Democrat: by income, age, race, gender, or ideology.

SNL skit Millennial Millions
https://www.metatube.com/en/videos/426603/Millennial-Millions-SNL/

Alternate link for video
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/millennial-millions/3867395

[Polybius]

88. Still better than my first vote

George HW Bush, but I was 19.

[SunSeeker]

89. Wow. You have definitely evolved. Were your parents Republicans?

[Hortensis]

91. Excellent, Sunseeker. Thanks.

In 1968 I was a poor teen who'd dropped out of HS to work graveyard in a Nevada casino. I'd need to be out of school for a year before the university would admit me, and I'd need money to pay the tuition. Easy and very doable.

That was because back then, before the New Deal era ended in 1980, we had that critical stability and a spreading-wide prosperity that was growing the middle class and shrinking poverty. HS grads took it for granted that they could go out with minimal skills and get a full-time job that would support them. Public colleges were affordable, and there were great opportunities for social mobility for those who wanted more, including to lesser degrees for minorities and women. That was the civil rights and second wave era.

Now, after 40 years of devastating conservative domination of government, it's horribly different.

So what I really wish young generations knew is that we know how to do it right and it is very doable! We're an incredibly wealthy nation, modern production has more than quadrupled national wealth since the 1980s alone, and it'd be so comparatively easy to restore what we once had -- but even better with what we know now and have now.

That requires replacing the current majority control by strong conservatives unfit to manage an animal shelter (horrible thought) with Democratic majorities, and then keeping Democrats in power long enough to do the job. That's exactly how it was done in the 1930s after our nation was also brought to its knees by an era of conservative mismanagement.