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| Richard Nixon & Lyndon Johnson |
By Thornton Crowe
Never was there a year so pivotal in our history...that is, until now.
Millennials weren't around in that fateful year but many baby boomers remember 1968 well. Some of us were little kids but the year was so devastating in our history, it was even felt on a child's level. Many young ones, having no idea about '68, don't grasp when political pundits brings it up, how America was torn apart at the seams.
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| Chicago Rioters |
Hippies of love provided a stark contrast because while love may have been abundant in the Haight-Ashbury culture, social unrest was everywhere else. Vietnam had become wildly unpopular. Two assassinations of prominent Political and Civil Rights heroes had come the Spring before the Democratic National Convention, which was fraught with violence in Chicago's streets. In short, the country was in turmoil - in every way possible.
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| Martin Luther King, Jr. & Robert Kennedy |
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in April caused major disturbances throughout the black community everywhere. In Salisbury, the area where most of the black families lived, was ablaze for a couple days as they burned their homes down, which took many years to rebuild. Two months late, in June, Bobby Kennedy, running for the Democrat nomination was gunned down in Los Angeles at the infamous Ambassador Hotel. Ironically, it was Bobby who preached to the black community not to riot upon news of King's death. Both assassinations hit at the heart of America's youth and minorities as both King and Kennedy were their voice against the status quo.
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| Vietnam |
President Lyndon Johnson, by this point, was unpopular with young men because every week, more and more were sent to Vietnam to fight a war many couldn't understand why we were involved. As the first televised war, every night at 6:00pm sharp, Vietnam came into every living room across the country, giving us horror images that have remained ingrained in our minds ever since.
After Johnson decided to not run for re-election, pandemonium reigned the months leading up to the DNC convention. And we all know it worked out; the summer's riots, many believe, have much to do with the outcome.
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| Presidential Candidates: Donald J. Trump & Hillary Clinton |
As we now watch each violent riot unfold on our big flatscreens, we feel the same fears and apprehension felt in that tumultuous year many decades ago. With the brazen lawlessness, a sense of urgency as America spirals out of control with special interest groups taking us hostage with their chants while shutting down free speech - at least, speech they don't agree with - forcing themselves on us.
Is it the candidates' fault? Not really. This kettle started simmering when Obama began dividing people into categories; pitting one against the other. It also comes from local governments issuing stand down orders to its police force, thus, letting physical assaults and property destruction run rampant without consequence.
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| San Jose Rioters |
America is, yet once again, at another fateful crossroads where we must decide whether
to restore prosperity to all people rather than a chosen few or continue to spiral down
into a country devoid of its sovereignty and the eradication of its 200+
year old Constitution, once and for all.
Is this the
last election we'll ever have as a republic...or has the Silent Majority re-awoken?
How say you?
