Populist Reform of the Democratic Party

What time did stores open on Black Tuesday?

Too few Americans know the difference between Black Tuesday and Black Friday. Very true and very well put. Fewer still can put Black Tuesday (and the New Deals that resulted it from it) within the context of world history: World War I, the Russian Revolutions, etc. Including me. However, the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that the New Deals and the Great Society were not so much indicia of liberalism within the Democratic Party as they were programs conceived from the idea that, pushed far enough, people just may revolt--and get the military to go along with them.

Once, Democrats were considered the party that took the nation to war. Next, both Houses of Congress were filled with Democratic veterans of the Korean War (Ted Kennedy, for one) and Vietnam, while Republicans who voted for war were known as chickenhawks (Bush v. Kerry is a perfect example). Now, the military is predominantly RW and Democrats are trying to win it back. Throughout, the left has been deemed a risk to the government. Weird.