Lyndon B. Johnson And The Great Society

Speaker Of The House Mike Johnson May Lose Leadership During Unproductive 119th Congress!

Ronald 4 Comments

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana has been the leader of the House of Representatives (119th Congress) now for two years and one month, but his time as Speaker seems assured to be limited, and to end soon.

His House majority is becoming smaller, and after the announced resignation of Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, to take place in January, there are strong hints that some more House Republicans, sensing doom in the Midterm Congressional Elections of 2026, may opt out before then, leaving vacancies.

The 119th Congress already stands out as the worst, least productive Congress, possibly going back to the early 1930s, and the 71st and 72nd Congresses (1929-1933), as the Great Depression overtook the nation under Herbert Hoover!

That led to Democratic dominance for the next six decades from 1932-1994, and helped to bring about the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson.

If more House Republicans decide to take an early exit, suddenly, the House of Representatives could fall into the control of the Democrats, dislodge Johnson, and make Hakeem Jeffries Speaker of the House.

Even if that does not occur, there is a lot of discontent in the Republican Party with Johnson, who is seen as having “caved in”, being a sycophant and obsequious to the demands of President Donald Trump, and not concerned himself enough with pleasing his own House majority.

Hard to believe, but many think of Johnson as the worst Republican Speaker of modern times, which is saying a lot, when one considers his competition is Kevin McCarthy, his direct predecessor; Paul Ryan, who preceded McCarthy; John Boehner, who preceded Ryan, and even Dennis Hastert, the longest serving Speaker from 1999-2007, who ended up in federal prison on charges of sexual abuse of teenage boys.

By comparison, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (2007-2011, 2019-2023) shines as a brilliant House leader, regarded as one of the top few of all time, and now choosing to retire at the end of the 119th Congress at the end of 2026!

Chief Justice John Roberts: A Total Disappointment And Disaster!

Ronald 1 Comment

Chief Justice John Roberts has been the leader of the Supreme Court now for 20 years, fourth longest service of the 17 Chief Justices since 1789.

Roberts came on the court as a “moderate conservative”, appointed by George W. Bush in 2005 right after Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, and the day before Roberts was to begin hearings to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Sandra Day O’Connor.

Fate would have it that due to the death of the Chief Justice, suddenly Roberts would be elevated to a special status of being the leader of the Court.

Roberts came across for many years as “reasonable”, including when he “saved” the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) in a court decision in 2013.

Roberts always spoke of the need for balance and reasonableness, but in reality, that was a false, misleading image of him.

Now, 20 years in, Roberts is revealed as a phony, who has moved the Court toward the extreme Right, and shocked people with statements in recent years that reveal just how Right Wing he is.

For instance, he has said that racism is no longer an issue, which is totally preposterous and outrageous.

He has led a Court that has brought Donald Trump to have awesome power and has undermined the separation of powers, and he has contributed to what is becoming an authoritarian and Fascist Presidency, undermining American democracy and the rule of law.

So Roberts will go down in history as a tragedy and disaster, and his reputation long term will be in tatters!

And now, the Voting Rights Act is being challenged in the Court, which could destroy the idea of representation for minorities, and making the possibility of a white dominated House of Representatives, that could make the Republican Party dominant into the future.

And if that happens in this Supreme Court term, the Roberts Court will have sealed its reputation of returning American to the time of JIM CROW, and white supremacy, which was overcome by the Civil Rights Movement and the massive positive contribution of President Lyndon B. Johnson and the “Great Society” in the 1960s!

Trump Systematically Destroying All Reforms From Progressive Era Onward!

Ronald 26 Comments

Donald Trump is systematically destroying all reforms from the Progressive Era onward, with particular attention to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has been a willing participant in this reversal of all of the great changes that promoted equality and justice, which became about after nearly a century since the Civil War of continued violation of basic human rights to African Americans and other minorities, including women and gay and lesbian Americans.

This is a very emotional time, as Donald Trump is moving full stream ahead, to return America to the late 19th century Gilded Age, where multi millionaires dominated the economy without any government regulation, and where racial discrimination and lack of basic human rights to anyone other than white male Christians predominated.

Trump and his supporters in the most despicable and corrupt Cabinet in American history are actively destroying

the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era reforms that he initiated, through his Square Deal and New Nationalism proposals and actions.

the reforms of Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom legislation.

undermining the social justice reforms of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt ;

and the Fair Deal of Harry Truman;

and the civil rights advancements of Dwight D. Eisenhower;

and the ideals of the New Frontier of John F. Kennedy;

and the overwhelming reforms in so many areas of public life of the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson;

and the many initiatives of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden toward major reform initiatives.

Trump has declared war on common decency and humanity, and has ushered in an American Fascism, reminiscent of Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco, Juan Peron, and other right wing dictators.

The danger that there will not be free and fair elections, and the attempt to promote midstream Texas gerrymandering to weaken an opposition Democratic Party challenge to the authoritarianism taking place, is totally horrifying and depressing!

Donald Trump Has Set Out To Destroy “The Great Society” And “The New Deal”!

Ronald 32 Comments

Clearly, Donald Trump and his “Project 2025” has set out to destroy “The Great Society” of Lyndon B. Johnson, and given time and ability, the next goal is to wipe out “The New Deal” of Franklin D. Roosevelt!

IF the Democrats do not win control of the House of Representatives in the Midterm Congressional Elections of 2026, nothing will stand in the way of further destruction of federal agencies and programs.

The ability to win the US Senate is a tall order, but Democrats must find a way to flip four seats, and not lose any of their members.

Otherwise, the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), already under attack, will be also under threat, as well as environmental reforms promoted by Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden!

The last century and more of reforms will be under danger of total destruction!

Are There Enough GOP Votes To Kill “Big And Beautiful Bill” Attack On Medicaid?

Ronald 19 Comments

It is still possible that a few Republican Senators and or Republican House members could kill the “Big and Beautiful Bill” of Donald Trump, and in the process, save Medicaid!

ALready, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul have made it clear that they will not support the legislation, Tillis because of the Medicaid cuts that would affect so many North Carolinians, and Paul, because he does not want to add trillions to the National Debt, already 36 Trillion!

But what about Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Maine Senator Susan Collins, who have both expressed dismay at the Medicaid cuts, that would hurt so many of their constituents?

And also, similar thoughts have been expressed by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, and also, to some extent, Kansas Senator Jerry Moran.

In the House of Representatives, with Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon deciding not to run again for his Omaha seat, and already seen as the most moderate, centrist Republican who might refuse to support such legislation, since his seat was won by Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024, there could be another vote.

California Congressman David Valadao has also spoken out against Medicaid cuts, and is one of two Republican Congressmen to have voted to impeach Donald Trump in the second impeachment effort following the January 6, 2021 US Capitol Insurrection.

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie and Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson haver voted against the House bill already, and New York Congressman Nick LaLota, Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, and Texas Congressman Chip Roy all have different reservations.

Also, the members of the Republican House Freedom Caucus are not guaranteed in any sense to support the complicated legislation.

This horror of a bill will do such heavy damage to the American people at large, while the corporations and Billionaires will gain major tax cuts that will add many trillions to the national debt.

It is a repudiation of much of the mid 20th century “Great Society” of President Lyndon B. Johnson, a totally horrendous attack on common decency and compassion for those among us less fortunate!

Trump Cancellation Of Federal Funding Of National History Day Contest A Step Too Far! :(

Ronald 12 Comments

Donald Trump cannot go low enough, as now National History Day, a contest that involves hundreds of thousands of students in a competition for the best history project, conducted annually in June, is no longer being financially supported by the federal government

This is part of the gutting of the long operating National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment For The Arts, first initiated 60 years ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society!

It is clear that nothing is too low for the Trump Administration in the mad dash to cut spending through Elon Musk and the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and allow massive tax cuts fot the wealthy to go through to law!

The 119th Congress, with a slim Republican majority, is on the road to destruction of much of federal government programs, without any regard for the damage that is being wrought!

The Right Wing Attack On NPR And PBS Since 1980

Ronald 8 Comments

National Public Radio (NPR), and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), created as part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society in 1967, nearly six decades ago, has been under constant attack by right wing forces ever since its beginning.

Ths was particularly true under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, but also a controversy under George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

And again, the funding for the Coporation for Public Broadcasting is being targeted for being cut from the US Budget.

The idea that these radio and television channels have promoted education, and equity, diversity, and inclusion, and openmindedness over the decades, irritates conservatives, who think it should not be funded by taxpayers.

But the actual funding is miniscule, only 3 percent for NPR and only 16 percent for PBS.

Right wing Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was holding hearings today in the House of Representatives, advocating the total end of public support.

Most of the funding for both NPR and PBS come from ordinary, motivated Americans, including this author and scholar, but to make an issue of public funding, which is quite low, is a total disgrace.

Hopefully, public funding will continue to survive in the end result!

Anti DEI Gone Mad: Removal Of All References To Race And Gender On Government Websites

Ronald 3 Comments

The vicious attack on DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) by Donald Trump’s administration has gone totally bonkers, with removal of all references to race, gender, nationality, only allowing information that promotes white straight male dominance.

So the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II and the Tuskegee Airmen are removed from the Defense Department website.

There has been wiping out of Jackie Robinson and other African American contributions and accomplishments on various websites.

The Enola Gay Aircraft (Hiroshima Atomic Bombing in World War II) was removed from the website because it has the word “gay”!

Demeaning of women’s role in government agencies and organizations is full steam ahead.

There is total repudiation of gay or transgender personnel in the military and elsewhere.

Donald Trump is accomplishing the total wipeout of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and since, and also the federal government’s major role in promoting equality and fairness.

This beginning with the Progressive Era of Theodore Roosevelt, the New Deal and Fair Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman, the New Frontier of John F. Kennedy and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, and the advancements under Presidents from Richard Nixon through Joe Biden!

Trump’s War On Federal Government: Young Civil Servants, Higher Education, Veterans, And More! :(

Ronald 30 Comments

Donald Trump’s war on the federal government is an attack on the future and on so many other areas of life.

It is a war on young people who have and wish to enter public service, with many thousands of probationary workers now unemployed, due to major cutbacks in many federal agencies.

It is a war on higher education, cutting funding for training and educating an intelligent work force in the sciences, the humanities, and all other areas of public knowledge.

It is a war on our patriotic veterans, who are losing many government jobs, and a cutting of programs to help veterans who risked their lives, and now are being denied adequate consideration of their health and welfare needs.

It is a war on protection of our national security, with mass purges of dedicated intelligence, foreign policy, and defense personnel who have dedicated their lives and careers to protecting the homeland from foreign threats of authoritarian government, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

It is a war on health care, science, and medicine, and endangers all Americans when it comes to threats from many diseases worldwide, that now will not be dealt with in an efficient matter, and will cost a multitude of lives.

It is a war on the environment, conservation, and the realities of climate change, guaranteeing worldwide disasters that will threaten human existence in the future.

It is a war on our long held alliances with democracies in Europe and in Asia, and antagonizing, unnecessarily, our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, and inciting anti Americanism in Latin America. It is causing our closest allies in NATO and in Asia to reconsider sharing intelligence information.

It is a war on public virtue, with a certainty that we will witness the greatest level of corruption and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few evil individuals, ever seen in American history, far surpassing the earlier corruption that took place under Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and even the first term of Donald Trump.

The Trump Presidency is setting America back to an earlier time before all of the great reforms that took place from the Progressive Era of Theodore Roosvelt and Woodrow Wilson; the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt; the Fair Deal of Harry Truman; the New Frontier of John F. Kennedy; the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson; the movements forward under Republicans Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon; the accomplishments under Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; and the advancements under Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Major Disaster In the Making, If Medicaid And Food Stamps Are Gutted By Congressional Republicans!

Ronald 34 Comments

President Lyndon B. Johnson, as part of the Great Society reforms of the mid 1960s, accomplished the passage of Medicaid and Food Stamps, two programs to help sustain the poor, seniors, the disabled, children, and pregnant women of all backgrounds.

A myth that is popular out there in the right wing fantasy world is that only minorities–African Americans and Latinos–benefit from these programs, and nothing could be further from the truth!

But even if that was so, should not America assist those of racial minorities who have not been given a “fair shake” in society?

But the reality is that the majority of those who benefit from Medicaid and Food Stamps are white Americans, many of them rural Americans, not just urban minorities, as the myth would have it.

A total of 72 million Americans depend on Medicaid, and 42 million on Food Stamps.

Should not the nation help poor and deprived people to be able to afford nutritional food, and should not the nation insure that health care is available, to prolong lives of those less fortunate and prosperous?

Should not those who call themselves “good Christians” support such programs, rather than give massive tax cuts to the super rich who do not need it, and already pay far too little to support the nation?

And these super rich Americans will not be harmed by paying more taxes, as their interest on their massive wealth makes up for whatever taxes they might pay!

So why cannot Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and the multitude of others who have become super wealthy, be patriotic enough to contribute to the advancement of American society, and care about the poor, the disabled, the elderly, and other groups that struggle for survival every day?

Donald Trump and the Republican Party are heartless and selfish, and have no concern for the damage that is occurring, and this is insufferable and unacceptable!