Check into why Hilery called herself an "early 1900's progressive" and you will find the answer as to how the democratic party changed before the 1960's. The 60's was the end result of what took place in the early 1900's. It was the writings of the early progressives that inspired Hitler quite literally. Also if that is any kind of picture of the ideology that the Democrats carry today it scary as hell itself coming into our world here.
I am not on the sidelines per se. Local and state has been a major push for me and highly involved. Its difficult to influence the nation when people cannot even properly influence the state they live in.
Since this isn't the "History" thread, I'll not play ping-pong on that topic any more, other than this: no doubt Hillary Clinton called herself an "early 1900s progressive" (if she in fact did, which I will simply assume
arguendo) because she wished to appear to be the successor to the suffragists, who were active in the early 1900s. That, of course, would put her in good company with such "radicals" as the erstwhile Mrs. Banks from Mary Poppins:
I daresay that Mrs. Banks was not in the least philosophically or emotionally inclined toward the sort of statist totalitarianism embodied in the NSDAP, the various Communist Parties, and now the American
DemocratCommunist Party. As such, attempting to arrogate to one's self the victories of the suffragists in the early 1900s does not, without more, make one totalitarian.
As for the various literary well-springs of Mr. Hitler's inspirations, there are more sources than whomever you intend to refer to when you use the term "early progressives" - I doubt very much if Mr. Hitler would have spent much time listening to an upper middle member of the bourgeoisie such as Mrs. Banks, no matter how good her singing voice. No doubt others will chime in with their favorites if such needs doing.
Was the 1960s a cusp, a turning-point, a ripening of certain strong currents of thought in the so-called progressive movement(s)? Of course, but then again, that cusp included not only the violent terrorism of Bill Ayers and the Weathermen, but also the Civil Rights Movement. Painting with a brush that broad will cause endless troubles because I have no doubt that you do not intend to include people such as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the same class as terrorists such as Bill Ayers.
At any rate, that is quite tangential to the core point, which is this: it is a shame to see such a clearly committed conservative willingly commit political suicide for the sake of a degree of political/philosophical purity which is more suited to the niceties of academia than the real world of government.