In an extraordinary address at Howard University in June 1964, a President set forth a vision for an America that lives up to the ideals Jefferson enunciated in 1776.
LBJ was my first real presidential experience. We were immersed in Camelot and then Camelot tragically ended. LBJ was not the president "they" wanted but he turned out to be the POTUS we needed. Just like Joe Biden. More than environmental, i.e., influenced by my parents (who were staunch FDR Democrats anyway), Johnson was in his way a very compassionate man and a very excellent "behind the scenes" POTUS. He is the reason that I have been a staunch Democrat all I voting life. And to be clear, I am a staunch LBJ Democrat. That's why I saw through the Reagan years and have much skepticism over those who call themselves Reagan Republicans. LBJ knew when his time was done and left the stage.
Well kinda MSM(mainstream media) has lost the confidence of WE the People simply because they are not willing to call out the fascists in the White House(WH) for what they are
Terry Moran of ABC/MSM(mainstream media) has finally showed what all of us WE the People want them to say….that the fascist haters in the WH are exactly who they are In calling out the Adolph Eichmann(Stephen Miller) of the WH staff “Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred He’s a world class hater” Moran decided in his X post to call Eichmann for who he really is
Of course the fascists in the WH claim foul as they always do because this is the way fascists get away with their barbaric speech and policy The attack by the WH is part of the fascist playbook But since when is free speech just free speech when someone agrees with what you are saying or better yet says nothing? Otherwise if you don’t agree with it then it’s not allowed That’s the whole point of being indignant by creating a veil of “how dare you criticize us”
The breech in the dam has been reached and reasonable people like Moran are willing to step up and not keep silient and have the courage to say the quiet out loud The slow erosion of freedoms such as speech is how dictatorships begin
trump and his band of maga trash cultists are playing the Hitler and Goebbels playbook. LBJ would be seen in the same light as FDR if not for his stubborn stupidity that led to 55,000 dead military service personnel in Vietnam. trump, on the other hand, will be seen as the worst president in America history as he destroys democracy, civil rights, labor rights, women's rights and voting rights. trump is a hideous abomination that millions of deranged voters think will save the from the internal enemies of democracy, the rule of law and the Constitution. Beware what you ask for maga. The outcome will be much worse than you expected.
LBJ, the product of his times, was still visionary enough to see the wrong and be willing to use the bully pulpit to try to right it. In doing so, he spent a lot of political capital, and split the Democratic party. At the time, the GOP still had an active progressive wing, but harbored many who were the true elitists of the time. But the very act of proposing, then enacting, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Bill brought to the GOP many of the Southerners who could not face a world without the oppression they had used to control people of color. So the GOP candidate of 1968 embraced them, with a 'Southern Strategy' and began the rise of the GOP we have today.
While LBJ's downfall was Vietnam, we must always remember what he did to help us all rise from the muck that existed in our society before 1965 and put many, not all, of us on a better path.
These words were brilliant and insightful. It is hard to believe that they were uttered 60 years ago. I was a small child when Kennedy was shot and Johnson became president, but my progressive parents explained how groundbreaking President Johnson’s ideas were, and how hopeful they were about our future as a nation. And now…this.
What a superb essay! What a needed breath of fresh air when the stench of Fascist words, actions, and horror assault the senses throughout each day. Thank you Lincoln Square for sharing his words and work.
LBJ was my first real presidential experience. We were immersed in Camelot and then Camelot tragically ended. LBJ was not the president "they" wanted but he turned out to be the POTUS we needed. Just like Joe Biden. More than environmental, i.e., influenced by my parents (who were staunch FDR Democrats anyway), Johnson was in his way a very compassionate man and a very excellent "behind the scenes" POTUS. He is the reason that I have been a staunch Democrat all I voting life. And to be clear, I am a staunch LBJ Democrat. That's why I saw through the Reagan years and have much skepticism over those who call themselves Reagan Republicans. LBJ knew when his time was done and left the stage.
Finally MSM Finally Shows Some Courage
Well kinda MSM(mainstream media) has lost the confidence of WE the People simply because they are not willing to call out the fascists in the White House(WH) for what they are
Terry Moran of ABC/MSM(mainstream media) has finally showed what all of us WE the People want them to say….that the fascist haters in the WH are exactly who they are In calling out the Adolph Eichmann(Stephen Miller) of the WH staff “Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred He’s a world class hater” Moran decided in his X post to call Eichmann for who he really is
Of course the fascists in the WH claim foul as they always do because this is the way fascists get away with their barbaric speech and policy The attack by the WH is part of the fascist playbook But since when is free speech just free speech when someone agrees with what you are saying or better yet says nothing? Otherwise if you don’t agree with it then it’s not allowed That’s the whole point of being indignant by creating a veil of “how dare you criticize us”
The breech in the dam has been reached and reasonable people like Moran are willing to step up and not keep silient and have the courage to say the quiet out loud The slow erosion of freedoms such as speech is how dictatorships begin
trump and his band of maga trash cultists are playing the Hitler and Goebbels playbook. LBJ would be seen in the same light as FDR if not for his stubborn stupidity that led to 55,000 dead military service personnel in Vietnam. trump, on the other hand, will be seen as the worst president in America history as he destroys democracy, civil rights, labor rights, women's rights and voting rights. trump is a hideous abomination that millions of deranged voters think will save the from the internal enemies of democracy, the rule of law and the Constitution. Beware what you ask for maga. The outcome will be much worse than you expected.
LBJ, the product of his times, was still visionary enough to see the wrong and be willing to use the bully pulpit to try to right it. In doing so, he spent a lot of political capital, and split the Democratic party. At the time, the GOP still had an active progressive wing, but harbored many who were the true elitists of the time. But the very act of proposing, then enacting, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Bill brought to the GOP many of the Southerners who could not face a world without the oppression they had used to control people of color. So the GOP candidate of 1968 embraced them, with a 'Southern Strategy' and began the rise of the GOP we have today.
While LBJ's downfall was Vietnam, we must always remember what he did to help us all rise from the muck that existed in our society before 1965 and put many, not all, of us on a better path.
These words were brilliant and insightful. It is hard to believe that they were uttered 60 years ago. I was a small child when Kennedy was shot and Johnson became president, but my progressive parents explained how groundbreaking President Johnson’s ideas were, and how hopeful they were about our future as a nation. And now…this.
What a superb essay! What a needed breath of fresh air when the stench of Fascist words, actions, and horror assault the senses throughout each day. Thank you Lincoln Square for sharing his words and work.
Check out the name of Robert McElvaine's current book project - I hope that's a typo.
Thank you. I had not known of his speeches. How appalled he would be today to know that such men as Trump and Steven Miller are loose on his country.