By George F. Will, Published: May 16
Standing on his presidential limousine, Lyndon Johnson, campaigning in Providence, R.I., in September 1964,
bellowed through a bullhorn: “We’re in favor of a lot of things and we’re against mighty few.” This was a synopsis of what he had said four months earlier.
Fifty years ago this Thursday, at the University of Michigan,
Johnson had proposed legislating into existence a Great Society. It would end poverty and racial injustice, “but that is just the beginning.” It would “rebuild the entire urban United States” while fending off “boredom and restlessness,” slaking “the hunger for community” and enhancing “the meaning of our lives” — all by assembling “the best thought and the broadest knowledge.”
In 1964, 76 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right thing “just about always or most of the time”; today,
19 percent do. The former number is one reason Johnson did so much; the latter is one consequence of his doing so.
Barry Goldwater, Johnson’s 1964 opponent who assumed that Americans would vote to have a third president in 14 months,
suffered a landslide defeat. After voters rebuked FDR in 1938 for attempting to “pack” the Supreme Court, Republicans and Southern Democrats prevented any liberal legislating majority in Congress until 1965. That year, however, when
68 senators and 295 representatives were Democrats, Johnson was unfettered.
Full piece:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/george...ZKXN_page.html
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On The Record
Thread Starter: PAFRobert F. Kennedy Jr. On the Record RFK has never held office, therefore no voting record exists. The following are interviews, tweets and statements . About Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Rumble
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