The Price of Political Purity
June 28, 2012 at 7:04 pm
(This post was last modified: June 28, 2012 at 7:05 pm by Whateverist.)
That is the name of the article by Robert Parry posted to Consortiumnews.com yesterday. There is an interesting side story of Nixon sabotaging peace talks with South Vietnam in order to win the election against Humphrey. But the main story is of a war protestor's regrets about withholding support for Humphrey when his candidate, Eugene McCarthy lost the primary. A couple quotes:
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/06/27/the...al-purity/
Quote:Brown’s 1968 dilemma also has recurred periodically for Democrats as some on the Left prefer to cast votes for third parties or simply not vote to protest some shortcoming of the Democratic nominee – even if the Republican alternative is likely to pursue more warlike policies and roll back programs aimed at helping the poor and the middle class.
Quote:On a personal level, Brown said his decision in 1968 still causes him pain and embarrassment. “I’m not proud about what I’m about to tell you,” Brown said, adding that he cast his ballot for a minor third-party candidate as “a throwaway vote.”
Brown said he justified his choice because he was living in Iowa, which was expected to go for Nixon anyway. However, in retrospect, he called his rationalization “a cop-out” and told me, “I wish I had voted for Humphrey even in a place that didn’t count. … In retrospect, everybody should have been for Humphrey.”
There is a larger lesson from his youthful choice, Brown believes, understanding the danger of political purity. Brown, who later in his career ran the government ACTION agency for President Jimmy Carter and headed the U.S. mission to the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe for President Bill Clinton, worries that a return of this attitude among young activists could lead to Mitt Romney defeating President Barack Obama in 2012.
Brown said that on every important issue, “this guy [Obama] is 100 times better than the alternative” and that activists should put aside whatever disappointments they feel about Obama – and not repeat the mistake of 1968.
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/06/27/the...al-purity/
