Two myths told by two Presidents have defined American politics for 60 years.
It’s time to retire both myths.
Lyndon Johnson’s myth was that the federal government would give us the “Great Society” – banishing poverty, ensuring old-age security and giving every child a great education.
Ronald Reagan’s myth was that “government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem” – that rolling back the Great Society would unleash the genius of capitalism and give us endless prosperity.
Because Johnson was President in the 1960s and Reagan, in the 1980s, we don’t think of them together.
But they were born only three years apart – LBJ in 1908 and Reagan in 1911.
And both their myths were born in one three-year period – 1963-1966.
The tale of those three years is told by Jonathan Darman in Landslide: LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America, published back in 2015 but which I just stumbled on at the library.
In the wake of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and his landslide election in 1964, LBJ pushed big legislation through Congress: civil rights, voting rights, Medicare, aid to education, Head Start and a host of anti-poverty programs.
He assured us we could win the war on poverty and the war in Vietnam.
His dreams collapsed with sweeping Republican victories in 1966, which included Reagan’s landslide election over incumbent California Governor Pat Brown, father of Jerry Brown.
Reagan had launched his political career with a televised speech supporting Barry Goldwater’s doomed presidential campaign in 1964. But he didn’t get to the White House until 1980.
For all his anti-government rhetoric, Reagan never really rolled back FDR’s New Deal, Truman’s Fair Deal or Johnson’s Great Society.
Only under Trump do we see what happens when the federal government is shredded – healthcare, education, veterans’ care, consumer protection, scientific research, clean air and water, on and on.
And we don’t like it.
A poll by The Economist – taken late this month, after Charlie Kirk’s murder – found that Trump’s approval rating has dropped to just 39% – to 56% disapproval, a net of minus-17.
Americans also didn’t like it when President Biden passed big LBJ-type bills: the American Rescue Plan ($1.9 trillion), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($1.2 trillion) and the CHIPS and Science Act (a measly $52 billion).
Biden thought voters would reward him. They thought he just fueled inflation.
A Democrat has a good chance of winning the White House in 2028.
He or she must find a middle way between LBJ and Reagan, between Biden and Trump – a new vision for how the federal government can best serve the people.
They should be wary of big, ambitious programs like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.
They’ll be busy enough repairing the damage Trump is doing.
It’s time to mothball the myths – and find a new way forward.
