Now this may the case but their are few points that need to be mentioned. For one, LBJ actually should take the blame for the Vietnam war in the first place. We now know that the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin was faked as they made up that the North Vietnamese PT boats were firing on our ships. That by any means is a much bigger scandal because of course it was the reasoning for us to get involved in the war in the first place. If LBJ didnt committed 500,000+ troops to Vietnam which JFK avoided; these death toll numbers wouldnt exist period. All of these Presidents during the cold war believed in the Domino theory though were they felt like they had no choice but to step in to stop the spread of communism or it would take over whole regions, country to country so it was a very tricky situation and one where Johnson made the wrong choice to get involved in with the hindsight of history. I will also add that Nixon did end the war eventually, yeah he wasnt truthful with ending it right away but politicians do say things to win elections. Also yeah its indeed troubling what is mentioned in this article but its also a jump to say he killed 22,000 because we dont know if the peace talks would of done anything. This is all speculation but regardless he shouldnt intervene and get involved like that, I totally agree that it was a low thing to do for Nixon and his campaign. Now I might come across as a Republican by this rebuttal but Ill add that I vote Democrat most of the time. I just happen to have studied the history of both major parties and every President on the 20th century and am feel Im very unbiased and really judge each President on the good things and bad things theyve done despite what party they have been affiliated with. The fact is with Vietnam; LBJ made a very bad decision to get involved in this war and we paid as country and he paid the price personally from it. LBJ was miserable and it ruined his presidency and really hurt him for the rest of his life. On the other hand Johnson had done more for liberal causes than most other democrats combined. His accomplishments when it came to domestic issues are quite extraordinary with how many bills and legislation were passed (although a lot had to do with JFKs death and that momentum) but Vietnam really dragged him down. I do believe that Hubert Humphrey would of ended the Vietnam War sooner than Nixon. I have no doubt in my mind as he was very much against the war and even wrote a massive letter to LBJ about it which created a massive rift between them at the time which also prompted LBJ to keep him out of anything Vietnam related. Another thing Ill point out is that Republicans these days probably dont care much about Nixon because the party that now exists is NOTHING like the Republican party that existed pre-80s...hell Id even say pre-2000s. This is a fact I dont think that most Repubilcans and Democrats understand or realize how much this party has changed from the Party of Lincoln to what it is today. Ill take the Republican party that existed in the 70s and before ANY DAY over what we have nowadays which is an ultra-conservative faction that unfortunately took over the party. The Republican party used to stand for Moderation and even had a decent Progressives presence pre-Barry Goldwater who Ill add lost handily in the election in 64 because people thought he was too extreme. Apparently the people were ready though for that kind of conservatism when Reagan was elected twice in the 80s which brought that conservatism to be the new mainstream among Republicans and their new platform.Today we have a party full of Barry Goldwaters and Reagan worshipers except they are even more to the Right of Reagan where all Moderates are practically extinct. An interesting thing Ive noticed is that even those called by the media as moderates are very rarely real moderates; they are mostly conservatives that just arent extremely bonkers...Thats how bad the party is these days when normal conservatives are called Moderates. To me this is very unfortunate when a party is driven by ideologues instead of sensible, logical Republicans that could negotiate and work with Democrats like they used to. Regardless though instead of focusing on what party did bad things in the past perhaps we should pay more attention to the fact that both parties these days are bought out by corporations. This really is the main reason why things arent getting done and things arent improving for most Americans. Perhaps we are too distracted with pointing fingers at each party to really come together and fix the real issue and that is getting money out of politics.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 21:27:01 +0000
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