Rest Easy Knowing Democrats of the 1960s and 1970s Were Far More Radical Than Today’s Woke Leftists

I don’t worry about the future very often. You see, I have a powerful advantage over many Americans, especially the younger ones.

I have context, a very powerful coping mechanism.

Context provides perspective. I can recall nearly half a century of American history because I was there. It’s tempting to view today’s Democratic Party as the most radical imaginable, especially given debates over abortion, climate policy, income theft, gender, etc. However, for anyone looking honestly at history, the Democrats of the late 1960s and 1970s were far more radical than their modern counterparts, and in ways that would shock even the most politically moderate Americans today.

The difference? The 1970s version of leftist radicals were much better at hiding their true intentions.

Sky-High Taxes That Would Stun Today’s Voters

One of the clearest examples is taxation. In 1968, the top marginal income tax rate in the United States was 70%. Just two years later, it climbed to 77%.

Think about that for a moment. In what modern reality could anyone envision imposing a 77% top bracket?

These rates were not limited to ultra-millionaires either. In fact, the top bracket began at around $200,000 in annual income, equivalent to roughly $1.8 million today. In comparison, the top 2025 marginal rate is 37%, barely half of what it was in the 1970s. Democrats then were unapologetic advocates of redistribution on a scale that today would be deemed socialist or worse by MAGA conservatives. Any suggestion of a 70% tax rate would give Republicans a collective aneurysm. It’s literally unimaginable.

Democrats also supported high corporate taxes and capital gains rates, aiming to fundamentally reshape wealth in America. If these policies were proposed today, they would be viewed as a direct assault on capitalism, entrepreneurship and personal freedom.

Gun Control That Would Make Modern Conservatives Panic

The Democrats of this era pushed aggressively to regulate firearms. The Gun Control Act of 1968, passed in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, and other public figures, imposed strict federal licensing requirements and heavily restricted certain types of firearms. While contemporary Democratic proposals focus mostly on background checks and assault weapons bans, the 1970s measures were sweeping and unapologetic, signaling a willingness to aggressively regulate a constitutional right. To a modern MAGA voter, this level of federal intervention would appear draconian.

The Equal Rights Amendment: Radical Constitutional Change

Democrats were also fiercely committed to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which sought to enshrine gender equality directly into the Constitution. While today the ERA is largely forgotten, in the 1970s, it was a central plank of the party’s platform. Passing the ERA would have fundamentally altered American law and culture, giving Congress sweeping authority to enforce gender equality across every institution. Try to imagine a similar effort to pass a constitutional amendment granting equal rights for transgender and non-binary individuals. MAGA-aligned Americans, especially social conservatives, would view this as a radical redefinition of society.

Violent Leftist Movements and Radical Allies

Antifa is high profile; Black Lives Matter less so these days, but modern, violent leftist groups couldn’t hold a candle to their radical counterparts from the late 1960s and early 1970s, Groups like the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground, and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) embraced militancy, armed self-defense, and in some cases outright revolutionary tactics. While these groups were never official Democratic organizations, they aligned closely with the party’s rhetoric on civil rights, anti-war activism, and social justice. The Weather Underground, for example, carried out bombings targeting government buildings and infrastructure. Ordinary Americans living in major cities were truly afraid of these dangerous groups because they were unpredictable and unafraid to use violence to achieve their goals.

Control of Congress and Legislative Power

This may come as a shock to younger Americans, but Democrats enjoyed nearly uninterrupted control of both the House and Senate for decades, giving them a unique ability to implement sweeping horrible leftist policies. From 1955 to 1981, they dominated Congress almost continuously, passing expensive, societally transformative programs in healthcare, education, labor, civil rights, and environmental regulations. This level of legislative dominance enabled bold experimentation with federal power, which, thankfully, is something that modern Democrats, with slimmer majorities and a more fractured electorate, could hardly attempt.

Civil Rights and Social Engineering

In the 1960s and 1970s, Democrats were at the forefront of civil rights and social engineering. They championed busing for school desegregation, affirmative action, and sweeping expansions of voting rights through the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These were not incremental reforms. Instead, they were structural interventions designed to reshape American society. These actions created a level of boldness that today’s woke leftists yearn to emulate, even if the efforts of their predecessors were justified while today’s movement is fetid, corrupt and self-destructive.

Other Policies That Would Shock Today’s Voters

Here are a few other policies from the 1970s that would make a modern MAGA supporter’s skin crawl.
* Economic Planning and Nationalization: Some Democrats openly debated expanding government control over energy, transportation, and industry, signaling a willingness to restructure the economy from the top down.

* Environmental Activism: While environmental policy is mainstream today, the creation of the EPA in 1970 and aggressive federal regulations on pollution were bold, untested, and controversial. Democrats were willing to impose significant federal authority over private industry, something today’s MAGA supporters would call socialism.

* Labor Power: Democrats strongly supported unions, collective bargaining, and workplace protections. They backed legislation that tilted the economic balance decisively toward labor, far beyond any contemporary Democratic proposals.* Anti-War and International Posture: Many Democrats vocally opposed the Vietnam War, often siding with protest movements that engaged in public civil disobedience. Their willingness to challenge U.S. military policy would appear radical to today’s voters, who prioritize strong defense and patriotism.

Viewed through a modern lens, the Democratic Party of the late 1960s and 1970s was radical, ambitious, and unapologetically interventionist. With top marginal tax rates double today’s levels, aggressive gun control, support for constitutional amendments like the ERA, sympathies toward militant leftist organizations, and nearly unchecked legislative power, the party embodied a level of activism that would astonish both moderates and conservatives today.

For MAGA supporters, these policies would not seem just incremental or “woke,” instead, they would appear revolutionary. You don’t believe me? Check out the Democratic national platform of 1972, and read some of the speeches the Democratic presidential candidate, George McGovern, gave during the Democratic primaries. Some of McGovern’s radical ideas would make Jasmine Crockett blush.

Yeah, today’s woke leftists are extremely annoying, but for the most part, they are transparent. That is what drives old political stooges like James Carville and Paul Begala crazy. They like the old way better. A world where Democrats lied about their intentions and then unleashed their radical leftist crapstorm once they got into office.

Believe it or not, modern woke leftists are a hollow shadow of their powerful, sneaky and lethally effective predecessors.