LBJ Justice, Let’s Roll

16 Responses to LBJ Justice, Let’s Roll

1. Blonde Wino says:

   09/03/2012 at 12:13 PM

   Woo hoo for labor day and democrats!!
2. purple-in-tampa says:

   09/03/2012 at 12:49 PM

   II. The rightward ratchet (and how the Democrats help keep it going)
   By Michael J. Smith

   The American political system, since at least 1968, has been operating like a ratchet, and both parties — Republicans and Democrats — play crucial, mutually reinforcing roles in its operation.

   The electoral ratchet permits movement only in the rightward direction. The Republican role is fairly clear; the Republicans apply the torque that rotates the thing rightward.

   The Democrats’ role is a little less obvious. The Democrats are the pawl. They don’t resist the rightward movement — they let it happen — but whenever the rightward force slackens momentarily, for whatever reason, the Democrats click into place and keep the machine from rotating back to the left.

   The ratchet clicks: Nixon. The pawl holds: Carter. Click again: Reagan. And again: Bush Senior (and Iraq War I). The pawl holds: Clinton. Click: Bush Junior and Iraq War II; then another click, and it’s Bush Junior triumphant, and God knows what to come.
3. Flatus says:

   09/03/2012 at 1:22 PM

   That was a marvelous address by LBJ.
4. Flatus says:

   09/03/2012 at 1:26 PM

   I propose, from this day forward, that the Honorable Mayor Clint Eastwood also be known as Mr Chairman.
5. nemo says:

   09/03/2012 at 1:37 PM

   … That’s a very thought provoking excerpt you linked, Purple.

   From it: ” I have a somewhat unlikely friend, a rich man in Chicago — let’s call him Al. Politics is not Al’s profession, or even his first interest in life, but he is a well-connected, intelligent guy who has some pet political causes. I happened to ask him one year, during a Senatorial campaign, which candidate he and his friends were contributing to. Both candidates were quite friendly to his cause, and I thought he might have had a hard time deciding between them. Al looked at me as if I had just revealed unsuspected depths of idiocy. “Both, of course,” he replied.

   “Both?”

   “Well, we’re giving a little more to X [the Republican], naturally, ’cause he’s got a better chance of winning. But we’ve given a lot to Y [the Democrat], too. In fact, I think we may be his biggest single bloc of support.”

   “But… which one do you want to win?”

   He laughed. “It doesn’t matter. We own ‘em both.”
6. purple-in-tampa says:

   09/03/2012 at 1:49 PM

   LBJ and his Gulf of Tonkin lies that took us into the Vietnam War! I turned 21 in 1964 and I voted for Johnson because I did not think we should escalate into a Vietnam War the way Goldwater was talking including the nukes. Then on March 8, 1965 Johnson sent the first U.S. combat troops into South Vietnam and I turned Republican.

   LBJ pushed through Congress a lot of JFK’s agenda for some very good programs like Civil Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid. But I still believe that Lyndon B. Johnson has the blood of over 58,000 U.S. troops that died in his Vietnam War on his hands. A few of them I new and some were friends from both high school and college.
7. patd says:

   09/03/2012 at 1:51 PM

   We have in 1964 a unique opportunity and obligation — to prove the success of our system; to disprove those cynics and critics at home and abroad who question our purpose and our competence.

   If we fail, if we fritter and fumble away our opportunity in needless, senseless quarrels between Democrats and Republicans, or between the House and the Senate, or between the South and North, or between the Congress and the administration, then history will rightfully judge us harshly. But if we succeed, if we can achieve these goals by forging in this country a greater sense of union, then, and only then, can we take full satisfaction in the State of the Union.

   Here in the Congress you can demonstrate effective legislative leadership by discharging the public business with clarity and dispatch, voting each important proposal up, or voting it down, but at least bringing it to a fair and a final vote.

   lbj’s 1st state of the union speech is applicable to today
8. purple-in-tampa says:

   09/03/2012 at 1:59 PM

   Thanks Chloe,

   I saw that but I felt that I had posted my limit. I am glad you posted it as it is well worth the revealing and so true.
9. Jamie White says:

   09/03/2012 at 2:03 PM

   Interesting Baltimore Sun Editorial: We Built That
10. Nash 2.5 says:

    09/03/2012 at 2:20 PM

    The Civil Rights Act is one more element of “big government regulation” that the racist GOP would like to get rid of.
11. Nash 2.5 says:

    09/03/2012 at 2:33 PM

    I’ve been watching a CD collection called “World at War,” a 26-hour TV miniseries produced in Britain in 1974.

    Several episodes document Hitler’s rise to power. As I watch them, I can’t stop thinking about the simularities of 1930′s Germany and the USA today.

    Here’s a clip from “World at War” called, “A New Germany.”
    This could us in a few years.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElKbQhs0pO8
12. patd says:

    09/03/2012 at 3:11 PM

    from taegan’s political wire today:

    “Before Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital, the enormously profitable investment firm he founded, he made sure to lock in his gains, both realized and expected, for years to come,” the Washington Post reports.
    [....]
    “His severance package, for instance, allowed him to continue sharing in the profits of the company as if he were still a partner managing it, according to his 2010 tax return and interviews with present and former Bain executives. And because he benefited from the firm’s investments as if he were an active Bain partner, he paid taxes at a lower rate on these earnings than if they were treated as ordinary retirement income.”
13. nemo says:

    09/03/2012 at 3:21 PM

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1968

    The first time I even became aware of politics as a kid, I heard all I needed to hear to know I wanted to be a Democrat. Back then, it was known as the party for the little guy, the working guys party. Republicans were for ‘big business’.

    I know how simplified an explanation that sounds like now, but it was so long ago and it was nice to know (or at least think) that we, the ‘little guys’ had some political party fighting for ‘us’ and our rights and well being.

    Someone mentioned Eisenhower the other day, and I went to Wiki to check his exact years and some of the other things that were happening way back then. What surprised me, was the Election Results map on the right side. Wow, how things have changed!
14. Jason Fuente says:

    09/03/2012 at 3:49 PM

    California Democratic Chair Tells It Like It Is…Pelosi Slinks Back.

    Everyone fears the truth now. It is no wonder that people cannot stand up for what is right and fix the problems that we have.
15. patd says:

    09/03/2012 at 3:57 PM

    ‘‘Romney and Ryan don’t think that much about you guys,’’ he said at the outdoor rally. ‘‘They view you, the working women and men of America as the problem. We view you as the solution. Look folks, we know who built this country and we know who is going to rebuild it. It’s you. Instead of vilifying you, we should be thanking you. We owe you.’’

    http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/09/03/biden-organized-labor-with-you/6WIaoPar1TmHdirl638ytM/story.html
16. patd says:

    09/03/2012 at 4:27 PM

    new thread