Supreme Court and conservative 'forces of hate' looking to undo progress of the 1960s: L.A. Times column

Leftist protests today versus leftist protests in the 1960s. (Getty)

An L.A. Times opinion column on Friday argued that America is currently facing a threat from "authoritarian," "white supremacy"-promoting conservatives that could destroy the progress Americans have made since the 1960s.

For Milsaps College professor Robert S. McElvaine, who wrote the piece, it might be even worse than that. "The United States in 2022 is at a crossroads and the direction taken will likely determine whether the experiment in democracy launched in 1776 will survive," he lamented.

McElvaine’s column fixated on America losing its progressive achievements of the 1960s, when the country was "reshaped politically, socially, racially, economically, and sexually." He added it was a period in which America "became a full democracy for the first time."

However, he claimed, "Today, the right-wing extremists who have hijacked the Republican Party are determined to reverse all that progress. Their chances for success depend to a substantial degree on what the zeitgeist of 2022 is."

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Abortion advocates protest outside Supreme Court after Roe v. Wade is overturned.

McElvaine described the nightmare zeitgeist that could be present in November's midterm elections, warning that "Authoritarianism has been spreading." He claimed "Sinister promoters of white supremacy and opponents of democracy" now "dominate one of the two major parties."

The piece continued, "Political violence has come to be accepted by a sizeable fraction of those who identify with that party."

The author provided the example of a recent Texas GOP party platform as emblematic of everything threatening this progress. He listed its proposals which included, "abolishing the income tax, putting into law that life begins at conception, requiring that lies be taught as history, idolizing the traitors who fought the United States to maintain the ‘right’ to enslave human beings, prohibiting any gun safety laws."

He further described people who support these policies as "forces of hate," asking, "But do those forces of hate reflect the spirit of our time? Is there reason to hope that our society has the strength to drive out the forces of antidemocratic extremism?"

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Abortion-rights protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases.  ((AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana))

Though McElvaine expressed hope that the current political climate is sparking pro-democratic backlash throughout the world. "But events elsewhere, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, may have produced a renewed appreciation for democracy around the world, including in the United States."

He mentioned how the Supreme Court is adding to this backlash. "Even now, the extremism of the Supreme Court in denying women control over their own bodies and the eagerness of many Republicans to demolish LGBTQ+ rights and innumerable other freedoms are producing a resurgence of activism."

And he claimed the January 6th hearings – showing "that Donald Trump was determined to overturn a democratic election result" – "will diminish the attractiveness of authoritarianism."

Though there is hope, we are not out of authoritarian woods, he expressed. "The zeitgeist of 1964 was freedom, and a substantial majority of Americans embraced it as a path to a better future, out of a past built on racism and oppression. The American soul stands at a crossroads now — whether to reaffirm that legacy or repudiate it," McElvaine proclaimed. 

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., makes remarks during the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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