TODAY IN 1964
Johnson beat Goldwater
SIGNIFICANCE
After the assassination of John Kennedy, the nation was loath to elect its 3rd president in 11 months. Johnson seemed like a centrist for the most part and he hailed from a section of the country that helped his chances. Goldwater’s straightforward conservatism that looks very libertarian by today’s standards was beaten so badly that the conventional wisdom said we'd never have a conservative President.
AND THEN. . .
Johnson’s half measure fight in Vietnam only made matters worse and his domestic policy of spending his way out of poverty led the country on a road to massive vote-buying deficits. Johnson’s embrace of Civil Rights legislation versus Goldwater’s libertarian approach forever shifted the black vote in this country to the Democrats which led to things like busing that shifted the white suburban vote to Republicans. The polarization of Vietnam split the Democrats in the 1960s and the echo continues to this day.
TODAY
Republicans can win nationally by calling themselves conservatives and Democrats cannot win by calling themselves liberals. Since the 1964 election, America has only given Democrats a chance to govern when domestic concerns were greater than foreign ones. When foreign situations do come up, Democrats always get credit for handshake deals between warring nations, but our enemies are still emboldened to go after us. The hostages in Iran and the myriad of terrorist attacks on the 1990s are a result of electing a party that's split down the middle on whether the U.S. should ever fight an offensive war. All of this seems to go back to our choice in 1964.
1 comment:
When you look back at some of the Democrat presidents of the twentieth century, there is a lot to like all the way thru Kennedy. When you think of reasons why you dislike nearly every Democrat in politics today it is because they are too much like LBJ, the king of throwing good money after bad.
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