Too Little Johnson

I'm no fan of LBJ but after watching the Ken Burns thing on the Roosevelts, well, I don't know anymore. I always thought LBJ was a pig. That sounds harsh, putting it out there. But he was or at least became a real Roosevelt Democrat.

The last viable one. I think he internalized the whole outlook. One thing for sure, presidents know they will be remembered. Evaluated and appraised. Ranked and regarded. The legacy thing.

What most impressed me about Eleanor and Franklin was the extent to which they believed that we were all diminished, as a people, when any of us failed for want of a fair chance. That it represented a systemic failure and reflected on all of us.

No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man
is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine;
if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe
is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as
well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine
owne were; any mans death diminishes me,
because I am involved in Mankinde;
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne 

And now where are we? In a country founded on Enlightenment ideals and as an antidote to privilege we are being driven by anti-rationalists in love with privilege. Driven off a cliff. Probably only a fiscal cliff in the short run but ultimately to annihilation, I suspect.

This just in: Florida Senator Barko Rabio has fired a shot across the bow indicating that we are in for another fiscal cliff-hanger and government shutdown extravaganza. He blew the bow off the boat and it sank but, you know, stuff happens. Stuff like Iraq.

LBJ really tried. This man, the incarnation of ambition, was transformed by the presidency. From power politician to idealist. Which isn't to say he was well-motivated. Who knows. Who cares. As long as he does some good.

There were good wars and bad wars on his watch. Vietnam: bad. War on Poverty: good. Civil Rights Act: good. We should learn from this. Less Vietnam, more War on Poverty. More Civil Rights. More spending on education and infrastructure. 

More Johnson. I can hardly believe I want that, but I do. And less Barko.