Suzie Perlstein, thank you for speaking for those of us who not only grew up in the ’60s put participated in the “revolutions” of that era: civil rights; women’s rights; environmental movement; the anti-Vietnam War movement; the Native American movement; and other liberal progressive movements that are the foundations of today’s liberalism. What I glean from the cynicism of the “purists” is that they do not know our history. Nor do they know that we have struggled and worked to make liberalism a part of the “establishment”. (Remember how we proved our liberal credentials by being able to spell “anti-establishmentarianism”?)

Remember how the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act drove the conservatives, and more especially the racists, out of the Democratic Party? Remember how we worked to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed (though that was not successful, it still pushed the political and social equality of women)? Remember how Rachel Carson and liberals started the modern environmental movement? Remember how the Native American Movement promoted a greater understanding of the complete history of the struggles of between Native Americans and Euro-Americans (the good, the bad, and the ugly)?

Remember the literal street battles (war) between the “establishment” and the liberals and radicals over racism and Vietnam?

These cynics of the “Feel the Bern” movement would rather maintain their “purity of ideals” than have to compromise (capitulate) to the realities of a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. Their scornful vitriol sounds like the left-wing histrionics of the 60’s and 70’s that made the left so impotent.

Remember: JFK; Malcom X; Martin Luther King, Jr; RFK; Medgar Evars; and all of those who were martyred for the causes of liberalism?

After having survived the onslaught of establishment conservatism over the past 40–50 years, it is OUR time to make LIBERALISM the establishment. THAT is what this coming election will determine: the survival of the liberalism over conservatism or the crushing of liberalism by the conservatism.

Charles A Johnston: one-time socialist; full-time liberal.