Earlier this week the managing editor of our local paper, The Facts, invited readers who were around during the 60s to send their thoughts about how present day politics differs from what we experienced fifty years ago. I started my own list but abandoned the project as the list got longer and longer. I decided, instead to send him an essay-style discussion of my observations. It is too long for The Facts to publish so I will post it here.
Mr. Morris began his discussion like this pointing out that he was a child when most of the protests were happening “back then”. You may read his column in the facts here.
I sent him my reply this morning. It follows:
Mr. Morris,
I thought about your comparison of the 60s-70s protests to those of the present. I started a list of the things that are different and when I got to #15, it occurred to me that what I have witnessed in my 77 years has been a passing of power back and forth between the parties but with a spiraling descent of the Republican party to where we are today.
When President Nixon resigned, the public would not tolerate lies from political leaders.
Media was controlled by commercial interests that, in the case of broadcast media, was subject to regulation as users of the public’s broadcast frequencies. Print journalism was big business, too. They reflected a variety of viewpoints but still reported within the constraints of a journalism profession that valued facts and recognized a single reality.
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South of Town: Notes and Scenes from Texas' Upper Gulf Coast 