One of the advantages of being older is that I experienced some things that younger folks only know from history books.

1972

            1972 was the first presidential election in which I was able to vote. The unofficial platform of the George McGovern Democrat Party of 1972 was “Acid, Abortion and Amnesty.”

            “Acid” was LSD, a psychedelic drug promoted by Timothy Leary. There were other drugs, primarily heroin and marijuana. These drugs were vastly less potent than they are today.

            “Abortion” was a crime in most of the nation and in most of the world. Only New York, North Carolina, and Colorado had legislated significant loopholes. In 1972 the debate was over whether exceptions would be recognized. Roe v Wade (1973) overturned the law in all 50 states.

            The anti-Vietnam War candidate, George McGovern, would grant “Amnesty” to draft dodgers to return from Canada with no consequences. “Amnesty” did not relate to immigration.

2020

            The winner of the Democrat presidential nomination in 2020 will be running again on a platform of pot, planned parenthood, and porous borders, but in a newly supercharged context.

            The Democrat candidates want legalization and expunction for marijuana. Will we have a nation of zombies if they get their way?

            Since 1972 abortion has always been at the top of the Democrat agenda. Jimmy Carter was all for Roe v Wade but now says he was “against abortion.” He still acted to make the government pay for it. Bill Clinton said he wanted abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare.” Abortions reached their highest number in 1998, during his presidency. Clinton usually acted pro-abortion. But he signed budgets with Hyde Amendment (and similar provisions like the DeWine Amendment) language restricting federal government payments for abortion, except to save the life of the mother, and in cases of rape or incest.

            Barack Obama was the most pro-abortion president in history. But he repeatedly signed budgets during his entire presidency that included the Hyde and DeWine Amendments which effectively stopped Federal funding of elective abortion. Obamacare even allowed states to restrict abortion coverage in insurance policies sold on the Exchange. North Carolina did so.

            The New York liberal, Pat Moynihan, had been Domestic Advisor to President Lyndon Johnson. As a Democrat Senator he called late-term abortion “akin to infanticide.” Now, the crop of Democrat presidential contenders in 2020 defend the right to post-birth infanticide. And they have shamed Joe Biden into renouncing his long time support for the Hyde and DeWine language. They claim the mantle of public support for their hard-core position, a platform held by about 20% of the American people – Abortion, all the time, for any reason, paid for by taxpayers – no restrictions for minors, and no regulation of clinics.

            The term “amnesty” has been grossly misused in immigration debates. Proposals for immigration reform by some Republicans are not amnesty at all. These proposals include real consequences, such as paying back taxes, learning English, moving to the back of the line, or long delays before citizenship is granted, if ever.

            But most of the Democrat contenders for President favor open borders, including the right to receive free medical care at taxpayers’ expense. This was not the position of President Obama. His acolyte, Joe Biden, is criticized by most of the other contenders for being an old fogey who has forgotten the “lessons of history.”

            If Democrats want a rerun of 1972, they will get in 2020 what they got in 1972. They will richly deserve it.