Big Education Ape: George McGovern For President (1972)

Source:The Big Education Ape- Senator George McGovern, running for President in 1972. Actor Warren Beatty in the background.

"George McGovern - a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain.

Nixonland: An unpopular war, an economy in the dumps, a President with low approval ratings, his opponent revitalizing his base: How did the democrats lose in 1972, and by a historic margin?"

From Big Education Ape

"NBC News’ Dasha Burns looks back at the 1972 presidential race between George McGovern and Richard Nixon and how it compares it to the liberal message of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign...

Source:NBC News- Senator George McGovern, accepting the 1972 Democratic Party nomination for President.

From NBC News

If self-described Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders, is even unelectable in the Democratic Party in 2020, where their young voters tell pollsters that they like socialism, imagine what it was like for Senator George McGovern (the Bernie Sanders of the 1970s) to run for President as a Democrat in 1972. In 1972 being called a Socialist or Communist in America, was like being called a rapist, or murderer, terrorist, etc. No mainstream politician in America and even fringe politicians in the Democratic Party, wanted anything to do with Socialist or Communist to describe their politics.

Except that Bernie is very honest about his politics, at least as far as how he self-describes himself. George, called himself a Liberal, meaning the pop culture and mainstream media stereotypical version of a Liberal: the guy who doesn't shave, doesn't get hair cuts, has a government program and tax increase for every problem known to man, as well as problems that haven't even been invented yet. Wears military fatigues, even though he claims to be anti-military. Wears Che Guevara t-shirts that have the peace symbol on them, (even though Che wasn't a pacifist) claims communism is a good thing and that capitalism is racist, even though he does everything that he can to subsidize American capitalism with everything that he buys and the way he lives.

George McGovern, obviously wasn't a hippie, but he was a proud and devout leftist (some would even say Socialist) whose version of what the American economy would look like is very similar to what Senator Bernie Sanders believes in today: American capitalist economy, with a strong regulatory state, as well as a welfare state that would be universal to provide the employee benefits that most Americans get from their employers today.

George McGovern, wasn't a Liberal, at least in the political sense as someone who believed in liberal democracy and individual liberty. (Which is what liberal is actually about) George, believed in liberty, but he believed that it had to be supplemented by a large welfare state and tax system, so people didn't become what he and Bernie would call too independent and wealthy, while others were struggling just to survive. Social Democrat or Democratic Socialist would be the best ways to describe both George McGovern's and Bernie Sanders politics, which is why Bernie Sanders is called the George McGovern of his time. 

You can also see this post on WordPress.