When It Comes to "Progressives" and Their Good Intentions, Be Careful What You Wish For

George Will is hoping for a new round of liberalism because he says it will end up benefiting conservatives:

The presence of Bill and Hillary Clinton at the New Year’s Day inauguration of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio prompted Chris Wallace to ask whether we’re witnessing a resurgence of liberalism in the Democratic party. If George Will has anything to say about it, surely we are. 

“I hope there’s the resurgence you talk about,” Will said. “There’s nothing better for American conservatism than periodic examples of untrammeled liberalism.” He pointed to the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, during which he worked with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to enact the Great Society – Republicans won five of the next six presidential elections. 

“Let him have his way in New York City and let people see what happens,” Will said. “I give him three years and people will be begging for a return to something else.”

Maybe so but think of the damage--some of it irreversible--that can be done in that time. Here's an example. During our recent trip to Texas, we spent some time in Austin, and at the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum located there. On the museum's second floor there was one of those interactive thingys featuring an array of LBJ's "accomplishments" and how they affect Americans today. One of them was the food stamp program. When LBJ signed it into law in 1964, one is informed, fewer than half a million Americans took part in it. All these decades later, we are told, 36 million Americans make use of it--as if that were a good thing and something to boast about.

On the same floor, one can see displays of various Americans who have been the beneficiaries of LBJ's initiatives. They included: Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple (and an egregious, pathological Zion-loather; that part was left unmentioned, natch); Oprah Winfrey, wildly successful chat show icon (who yet condemns America--also snooty Swiss saleswomen--for endemic "racism"); and, of course, Barack Obama, first African-American president (even though he's half white, and is dreadful at his job).

My conclusion: LBJ had good intentions--nay, "great" intentions. But he ended up doing incalculable damage to the body politic (some of it: the destruction of the black family and the creation of an ethos of entitlement). That, more than anything, is his legacy.

Update: Here's a promo for the LBJ edifice (which includes my favorite museum feature--the rather creepy, animatronic Lyndon).



Update: Something I didn't learn at the LBJ museum--Johnson, who ran around on Lady Bird like crazy, "was a sexual beast, and also fond of (literally) waving his dick around." BTW, he called his johnson "Jumbo" ('cuz everything's bigger in Texas).