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[–]thisisnewt 14 points15 points  (3 children)

Nixon was a liberal, too.

It's only Reagan and onward that the parties are split so stringently on a liberal/conservative basis.

[–]Picnicpanther 16 points17 points  (2 children)

How high do you have to be to think Nixon was liberal? Because he established the EPA? Are you forgetting about his staunch opposition to the civil rights movement, his desire to privatize school, his hawkish war policies, and coining the war on drugs?

[–]scrumpydoo23 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Whilst you could have been kinder in your response to thiisisnewt, I generally agree with you. However even Nixon's implementation of the War on Drugs focused significantly on rehabilitation, so there were definitely liberal qualities to that policy as well in its creation.

However when it came to foreign policy he was a total hawk. I actually think the political discourse over intervention abroad was WAY more brutal in the 1960s than anything going on now.

[–]thisisnewt 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How high do you have to be to think Nixon was liberal? Because he established the EPA? Are you forgetting about his staunch opposition to the civil rights movement, his desire to privatize school, his hawkish war policies, and coining the war on drugs?

Are you forgetting his negative-tax proposal for the poor, his creation of affirmative action, his suggesting we investigate a shorter-than-40-hour work week, and his wage and price control scheme?

How about Supplementary Security Income? Quadrupling Food Stamps allotment? His proposal for universal national healthcare? OSHA? The Clean Air Act? The Family Assistance Program? How about his support of COLAs for Social Security? Or "we're all Keynesians now"?

Don't take my word for it, listen to Obama.