With SDS’ sharp turn from reform efforts to acceptance of nothing less than
revolutionary change, the radical organization was asking too much of its government
and too much of itself. Repudiating the efforts of Congress and the President’s
administration was repudiating the democratic political processes in America, which
many Americans considered legitimate. Of course, SDS believed that these processes
were a mere pretense, serving only elitist special-interests - certainly not
representative of the public at large, especially not for those who needed help the
most. And, it is quite possible that there were those in government who wanted to coopt
New Left rhetoric and practice for their own gain, to dilute revolutionary
potential.
However, for the most part, government officials may have seemed resistant
to New Left demands because radicals were asking them to deny the established
democratic process, founded on the half-century old Progressive reforms in which
they strongly believed. The liberals of the 1960’s were the descendants of