Re: “Tilting left, then tilting right”:
The writer is certainly not speaking for a majority when he suggests that those of us who were radicalized during the ’60s eventually moved right because we believed our hard-earned cash was taken from us for those unwilling to work.
Then, as now, we saw clearly that the poor were not the beneficiaries of American welfare and that wealth in our country was gushing up rather than trickling down. The events of the past 40 years have only confirmed our view that deregulated capitalism leads to both extreme inequality and environmental destruction.
As one who was also in Students for a Democratic Society, like the writer, I don’t have a single friend from my SDS days who is now a conservative — a word that no longer means anything because the so-called “conservatives” of the GOP have no interest in conserving anything except privilege — certainly not our lands, air and water (even Barry Goldwater would not recognize them).
We are all still actively progressive and still fighting for a more humane system. I hope today’s progressive young people stay true to their beliefs as my friends have all done.
John de Graaf, Seattle