Can we live up to LBJ's hopes for our nation?

[bobbolink]

"People cannot contribute to the nation if they are never taught to read or write, if their bodies are stunted from hunger, if their sickness goes untended, if their life is spent in hopeless poverty just drawing a welfare check. So we want to open the gates to opportunity. But we're also going to give all our people, black and white, the help that they need to walk through those gates."

- Lyndon B. Johnson, from his speech, "We Shall Overcome," given to Congress on March 15, 1965, after racial violence broke out in Selma, Alabama

[virgogal]

1. Thanks for a wonderful quote.

[leftstreet]

2. K&R

[laughingliberal]

3. A wonderful quote! Thank you for that.

Big rec and warm hugs

:pals:

[bobbolink]

11. You're very welcome. Sometimes quotes like this are a very good meditation.

And, thanks for the WARM hugs.

This snow sux. :hug:

[laughingliberal]

14. Yes, they are.

You're welcome. Please stay safe. I'm thinking of you and praying for your safety.

:hug:

[bobbolink]

25. Thank you! I made it OK. Appreciate the thoughts very much. More later...

Some people whistle in the dark to assure themselves... I listened to Hawaiian Cowboy over and over all the way up the canyon! ^_^

:pals:

[truedelphi]

4. A good reminder

I remember how scary those days were. I am glad to be reminded of how LBJ stepped forward and made some lemonade out of the lemons of those dangerous times.

Strange thing I noted back then - no city that had competitive baseball teams ever had riots during a year when the team was kickin' major butt. If your team(s) had a shot at being in the World Series, you could relax. But if your city's baseball teams sucked, then you had to worry about the riots.

[bobbolink]

6. Its such a simple compassionate statement..... Seems utopian, now.

Those were ugly times, but ...... this country seems so much meaner now.

WHO ARE WE???

:cry:

[truedelphi]

8. We are far less Mom And Pop, and far more Corporation -oriented.

As in Big Corporation, not little self-sustaining Corporation.

Community can be hard to find. Jobs are few and far between. Neighbors who work have to work so hard, so often. that they cannot make friends with the people who live next door.

Fear is the driving force behind so very much of what goes on. Turn on the TV and you are reminded that "Killer virus whatever" is out there and will kill you. (We have had the Killer Avian Flu, follwed by the SARS, followed by the H1n1 whatever flu.) None of those killer viruses have yet done the trick - and in Europe where people are very informed - people didn't even go in and get the vaccines. (Five million out of sixty five million French people went in for the vaccines.)

[bobbolink]

9. While all of that is true, nevertheless, WE are making the choice to be divided and hard-hearted.

WE chose what people we will be.

I see that in my Indian friends. If anyone in this country has a legitimate reason to be harsh, bitter and cynical, it is the Indians.

But that is not the path they follow.

They give out so much caring and acceptance that I bloom when I am around them.

We can ALL do that.

[truedelphi]

10. It's a major synchronicity that you say this -

Just this afternoon, I met this totally magical young man, who makes his living finding old arrow heads and other remarkable things. He is Native American, and being with him was very healing.

[bobbolink]

12. "being with him was very healing." Exactly. I was with my Dine' friend

Sunday, had emails and phone call from her today, and she is really good for my head.

I feel threatened by that storm right now, and it makes me want to be with my friends there, and bask in their warmth. They make me feel cared for and safe.

WE can all learn to do that for each other!

[maryf]

18. The mean ones

Have the louder voices, we all need some voice training!

[bobbolink]

26. "we all need some voice training!" I will second that! The Power Of Four...

a book about the warrior-training of Crazy Horse, and how the Plains Indians dealt with enemies.

Four steps..

1. Know yourself.

2. Know your friends.

3. Know your enemy.

4. Be a leader.


I am finding the book very interesting, and showed it to my Dine' friend....she just called me and said she has to find the book, because what I showed her is helping her to understand how to deal better with the BIA. :evilgrin:

She and I talked a lot about raising our voices, so you are right in tune! :pals:

[dajoki]

20. I made this post...

shortly after Obama was inagurated and it looks like the answer is no.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/dajoki/82

[eridani]

5. Indeed. Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act

That last was a major act of political courage, and if I regret anything about his presidency, it is that it looks like you get to do only one thing like that in your term or terms. Otherwise he might have shown the same courage re Vietnam.

[bobbolink]

7. I can't help but think LBJ would be kicking MAJOR butt about homelessness.

From these words of his, I don't think he would tolerate it, and would LEAD us to taking care of our brothers and sisters.... he would make sure we ALL have a decent place to live.

I don't think LBJ would suffer a selfish nation gladly.

I can remember being at big marches and rallies in Berkeley, shouting about LBJ, and horrified that he was continuing the bloodshed. Then I remember a soft-spoken man close to me saying, "The day will come when we wish we had LBJ back."

I was appalled. BUT, it didn't take long before I saw the wisdom in that soft-spoken man.

[eridani]

13. He is looking pretty good from a distance alright

If we had him back, he probably would have applied to Iraq and Afghanistan what he learned from Vietnam.

[laughingliberal]

27. He is looking good from a distance

Then again, Nixon is looking better from a distance. lol

Johnson did a lot of good for our country. Sadly, I think he was the last President we had who thought helping the poor was worth something.

[bobbolink]

34. Yup, Nixon---our last liberal president.

Who'd a thunk, back then, eh?

It's all shakin' head NUTZ.

:yourock:

[bobbolink]

33. Interesting thought. We would hope leaders learn from their mistakes.

Sadly, that is not always the case.

It would be interesting to know.....Thanks for this thought!

[TexasObserver]

15. Recommend

[bobbolink]

31. Thank you.

:hi:

[TexasObserver]

36. LBJ is one of my heroes.

What he did domestically from 1963 to 1968 should place him among the top presidents, but his status as JFK's successor and his disaster in Vietnam limit that.

He should be heralded for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and Medicare Act.

I met him in 1968, while I was in the military. In the mid 1970s, I had the privilege of working with Lady Bird on some matters. She was on the UT board of regents, and it was in her capacity as a board member that I worked with her on some items of interest to good Democrats.

[bobbolink]

39. We poor people have not had a champion since.

LBJ messed up victories for poverty with the war.

Edwards messed up even hearing about poverty now with his silly messing around.

We have NOBODY.

From everything I've heard, it must have been interesting to meet these two people.

I sure wish we could have an Al Gore of poverty NOw!

[G_j]

16. to care about people is

socialism...

[bobbolink]

24. Long May It Wave. ^_^

:hi: :pals:

[bobbolink]

28. Another quote just for you, G_j.....

"Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down."
- Archbishop Oscar Romero, an advocate for the poor and marginalized, was assassinated thirty years ago today while giving Mass in El Salvador.

Yes, that is an anniversary for TODAY

[G_j]

44. presente

wonderful quote!

sorry it took so long to get back to you.
:hug:

[maryf]

17. K&R!

Thanks Bobbie!! I've been working so hard of late to make sure our kids will still be taught to read, write, draw, sing, and THINK that I haven't been on here much, others I know have been working to see them fed, and housed, so glad I caught this!!

[dajoki]

19. K&R

What a great quote, thanks Bobbie!!

[DailyGrind51]

21. LBJ did more damage to the Klan than U.S. Grant did under the "Force Acts".

[Greyhound]

22. K&R.

[ChiciB1]

23. Thanks For The Post & The Quote... Say SOOOOOOOOO Much...

And also says soooooooo much of what IS NOT happening today!!

[PufPuf23]

29. That's certainly not the USA today

and the situation has been in decline for 30 years since Reagan.

I may be called a pessimist but I am pragmatic and a realist and expect things to get worse until I die (granted I am AARP-eligible).

There is too much willful blindness (even at DU) and the willful blindness is increasingly institutionalized as normal and even humane.

[bobbolink]

30. Yes, we geezers see a lot.... I understand what you are saying, and hope you are wrong...

But, sadly, I'm afraid I share the same view.

:cry:

:yourock:

[truedelphi]

35. Have you ever noticed and then thought about the absence of any

Older people working as tellers at most banks?

Younger people are all too happy to tell you that you bounced $ 229 in checks because you were $ 1.13 off your balance. An older person would find that policy unconscionable. They would help you try and get some of the fees back.

The younger ones just blithely say, "Well, you used OUR MONEY." As though it is not high crime usury to charge that amount for 36 hours use of $ 1.13 !! (It works out to over 50,000 percent interest on that money!)

[tom_paine]

32. No. And that's the sad truth. We are falling into the penultimate and final transition phases

of whatever RW Authoritarian State we are becoming.

I wish it were not so, but wishing never changed a damned thing.

[bobbolink]

37. I hope you are wrong.....

...but there are so many things that point to the end you are describing.

It frightens me, because people like me will be the first to die, and they will be agonizing deaths. I don't know that I can handle that with anything resembling grace.

[tom_paine]

38. I hope so, too, but as you said, the evidence doesn't support it.

Nobody knows how we all will react to the upcoming horrors.

At this point, we've got to hope the American Corporatists don't lose control of the demons they have awakened in our National Soul and don't wind up playing second fiddle to them, as the German Industrialists did in the 1930s.

[bvar22]

40. NO...not at this point.

If a viable Political Party emerged that represented Working Class Americans, there could be a chance.
There is a HUGE vacuum in that area now.

[bobbolink]

41. Uh..... LBJ did a fine job of representing POOR folk... that is what we need.

I gotta tell ya... it really hurts to constantly be left out of the thinking process.

We POOR folk are people, too.

[bvar22]

42. Do you see the emergence of a viable "Poor Folk" Party?

The very best thing we could do for The Poor would be to rebuild the Working Class.
If there were more and better jobs available with GOOD benefits, we would have far fewer "poor".
A strong and prosperous Working Class would be far more open to providing benefits for their next door brethren The Poor than the sociopathic RICH.

When LBJ was able to enact his reforms, the US HAD a strong, prosperous, and expanding Working Class.
NOW, we don't

Over my years at DU, I have frequently used this as my sig line:
The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[bobbolink]

43. The muddle class doesn't give a damn about us poor folk.

Do you see a "Womens Party"?

Do you see a "Gay Party"?

Do you see a "Black Party"?

We are tired of standing back, waiting to be seen as valuable to all of you, just as are women and gay folk, and just as blacks and other people of color before.

This is the same old "wait, it isn't the right time" speech that is always given to those on the bottom.

Enough.

I presented it to you clearly and politely, and you come back with a dismissal.

ENOUGH.