Geez

I sometimes wonder where people get their senses of historical perspective. I was listening to a guy on Nova-M today... It doesn't matter who he was or what group he was representing, because my argument isn't with what he believes in, but the larger meta-point about the world in general. He argued that 1968 was a turning point in the world where we suddenly as a people took a turn toward progressive policies and humane government, and he basically wants to try to recreate the "success" of 1968 in 2008.

I can appreciate the sentiment, but let's look at just two of the cases he cited. One was the Prague Uprising, which apparently brought enlightened government and human rights to the people of Czechoslovakia. Or at least until it was crushed flat by Soviet tanks. Gee whiz. I was eight years old at the time and even I remember Soviet T-55 tanks with white recognition markings rolling through the streets and transforming the "Prague Summer" into the "Politburo Fall". It was such a basic part of world history that it was part of the Saturday Night Live "Wild and Crazy Guys" sketch, for crying out loud!

The other example he cited was the United States itself. But wait a second, didn't we elect NIXON in 1968? And again in 1972? And wasn't Nixon followed (except for the troubled but laudable tenture of Jimmy Carter, and Ford the Nonentity) by eight years of King Ronald?

And he wants to recreate these things? Best to let them lie, I say, because if this guy's mistaken ideas about 1968 become part of real life in 2008, we're in for a McCain presidency and escalation of US military operations around the world.

Yeah, the world changed in 1968 - for the worse. Cripes.