1968 Democratic Convention:  Disruptive Chaos That Worked

The status quo always projects a media image of peace and solidarity for candidates they like.  Good enough for most people who want to be left to their workaday routines.  So orderliness and polite campaign discourse is a virtue.  This facade was broken, as we remember, during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

      Inside the hall, Wikipedia describes how “CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite turned his attention towards the area where Rather was reporting from. Rather was grabbed by security guards after he walked towards a delegate who was being hauled out, and asked him, ‘What is your name, sir?’ Rather, who was wearing a microphone headset, was then heard on national television repeatedly saying to the guards, ‘Don’t push me’ and ‘Take your hands off me unless you plan to arrest me’ to the guards.” 

      Cronkite soon told Rather, “I think we’ve got a bunch of thugs here, Dan.”  Outside the hall, any pretense of law and order was quickly dispelled as “10,000 demonstrators gathered in Chicago for the convention where they were met by 23,000 police and National Guardsmen.”

      Underdog demonstrators know one political truth that has reverberated throughout history:  Agitation is often the best way of breaking up an entrenched power hierarchy.  It costs nothing and can be claimed as a form of free speech.  The 1960s radicals knew this and it worked.  These folks are now in charge of media, government, and education.

      So what do we do with outside agitators who deliberately attempt to disrupt campaign rallies today?  After all, the national news media have their cameras in place.  The disrupters also know that the media want to take out Trump in the worst way.  Same with the unified establishment of both parties, as when the GOP decided to trash its own chances once Goldwater was nominated.  Gives “don’t want to break up the party” a whole new meaning.