A SAMPLE OF MY POLITICAL/PHILISOPHICAL IDEAS...Ronald Reagan VS. Lyndon B. Johnson: Two Sides of the Same Socialist Coin!
At first glance, President Lyndon B. Johnson, a liberal democrat, and Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican, appear to be complete and total opposites. Philosophically, this is obviously true. During his presidency, Reagan was even quoted several times as saying his goal was to “undo” Johnson’s “Great Society” and bring America back to prosperity. Again, at the surface, the early 1980’s are seen as the end of liberalism in this country that began decades before. However, when exposed, each president proved to be an advocate, not of the philosophies that America was built on centuries ago, but two individual theories of government that both led to several socialist programs, legislation, and problems that still plague America today. And although “liberalism” did end, the hints of socialism still remained. When one looks closely, not just at the rhetoric that was preached by these men, but the agendas they possessed, one will see the hidden evils both created.
Again, philosophically, these men were total opposites. Lyndon Johnson was an outright collectivist, viewing whatever was best for the whole as the greatest option. In his first State of the Union Address, he waged his “war on poverty” that would last throughout his presidency. Johnson refused to sit back and watch the hard working intellectuals get richer while the freeloading poor got poorer. He had always spoken of his “Great Society,” with liberty and abundance for all. But he did not realize that by abandoning the capitalist ideas that this country was founded upon, he was making it impossible for liberty and abundance to be available for all. Johnson did believe in equal rights of blacks and fought strongly for those rights, however didn’t see the relation between racism and poverty in this country. Johnson can be credited with getting the blacks of America the right to vote. During Johnson’s presidency, the first discussions of a minimum wage began, being greatly supported by the Office of Equal Opportunity. These people believed that if income were to be properly redistributed (an evil oxymoron), a wage rate would be a good first step. Like Reagan, Johnson also hated communism and vowed to end it in Vietnam. The problem was that he lied to the American people continuously about a war that we should not have been in in the first place, saying in his first weeks in office that he would never put ground troops down, and again later concerning the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Just like Kosovo today, America had no rational self-interest in Vietnam. That was probably the chief reason that it remains the only war in which America has fought in and lost. But Johnson’s collectivist/altruist mentality won over logic and today Vietnam is just a sad memory. Later, his philosophy also led us into a civil war in the Dominican Republic, one less known than Vietnam.
On the other hand, Ronald Reagan (although he began as a staunch liberal) possessed ideas of halting “big government”, lowering taxes, and bringing America back to where it belonged. Reagan firmly believed that God had actually put him in office to complete these tasks. Instead of the collectivism of Johnson, Reagan brought his mysticism into the Oval Office. It is well known that Reagan actually consulted his wife Nancy’s astrologer often, and marked his calendar with colors according to the movements of the planets. He successfully replaced the good of the whole with the good of God and the will of the stars. An economics major in college, he believed in Supply-Side economics, later coined “Reaganomics,” where decreased taxes would lead to more productivity and jobs due to the “trickle-down” theory. The problem with his policy and views was that neither Reagan, nor his administration, ever defined what “big government” was, or actually succeeded in reducing government spending due to decreased revenue. And if the American people had looked at his history in office, they would have found that while promising to cut spending while governor of California, Reagan actually doubled their debt and increased spending three-fold, exactly like he did in the 1980’s. Fortunately, Reagan’s key people, namely Alan Greenspan (present Fed Chairman), and Paul Volcker (then Fed Chairman) were following the right ideas, which they formulated together at midnight vigils at the apartment of Ayn Rand, the founder of Objectivism. Faint hints of Objectivism can be seen in Reagan’s original philosophies, but it’s easy to see he did not follow through with any of them. Without Volcker, the economic disasters that Reagan caused (namely the doubling of the national debt) could have been much, much worse.
Now, it is clear ideologically that these men were different. But when their agendas are put back to back, similar qualities can be found. It is well known that Lyndon Johnson started the Medicare, Medicaid, and other socialist programs that have caused medical standards to plummet and prices to skyrocket. The minimum wage, which he also helped to start, is continuously rising now, causing millions to be put out of work. And obviously, Vietnam is the largest blemish on the history of Johnson’s legacy. Johnson did start one noble program, Head Start, which helped provide childcare to poor children. Since children have no way of supporting themselves, this is a perfectly logical idea.
Contrary to popular belief, Reagan’s agenda can be compared to Johnson’s. While promising to cut government spending, Reagan doubled it, always saying it was necessary for defense. But the fact was every program was expanded. Jim Baker, Chief of Staff, and Reagan both agreed not to touch Social Security or Medicare. He made the largest budget expansions in years. He also added 250,000 employees to an already over-staffed government payroll. Inflation did drop, yet most of the cheers should rightfully go to Paul Volcker, the Federal Reserve Board Chairman at the time. He caused interest rates to fall 6 points also, while the unemployment rate drastically fell. In the epilogue to his book, The Triumph of Politics, David Stockman, an advisor to the president, brings out much unheard and controversial information. Stockman’s anti-welfare statism philosophy literally got him kicked out of the White House. A young progressive intellectual, Stockman was meeting with elderly conservatives who would not increase, or decrease, government spending. He refused to sit back and watch the Reagan administration mortgage the future of America, which in reality it did. They did however stop the outright socialist restraints put on California agricultural producers, but for the wrong reasons. In 1985, orange-growers in California were given limits as to how many oranges they could sell. This successfully kept prices high and new competition non-existent. And due to Jim Lake, the committee head for Reagan, these limits were not even made known to farmers until after they had been approved. These programs were forgotten leftovers of the New Deal. When Stockman brought this issue up the first time, he was shot down. The president was being quoted as saying, “We can’t make an honest business lose money.” However, when Stockman showed pictures of mountains of rotting oranges during a meeting for free-food programs for the homeless, the committee could hardly disagree. Attorney General Edwin Meese ironically concluded, “It would be wrong for the government to suddenly disrupt their market.” Following this lead, Reagan signed a bill in ’86 that paid farmers $1300 per head not to milk their cows. Considering his campaign promises of lowering taxes, and government spending, Reagan’s agenda was obviously a gross contradiction. Again, if one had looked at his record as Governor, they would have seen that in four years in California he had successfully vetoed 994 bills, a policy he continued in Washington. Stockman concludes in his epilogue by stating that the Reagan Administration were just plain “welfare-statists.”
It is obvious from the above evidence that the two diabolical opposites were not exactly as different as is commonly believed. Johnson created Medicaid and Medicare, which have led to millions of moochers and looters that are sucking our medical system dry. We have an ever-increasing minimum wage now, and the thoughts of Vietnam and America’s altruism will never be forgotten. With a Democratic Congress, Johnson passed 40 bills in his first year. And, although Reagan, or more specifically, Paul Volcker, made inflation and unemployment drop, our national debt is now a major concern. Recently, our nation was made aware of an actual budget surplus. However, currently, the money in that budget surplus cannot even be directed to paying off the debt because of our present day Vietnam in Kosovo. Our military budget has continuously increased, even though Reagan did successfully end the Cold War, probably the only highlight of his career. Our trade deficit is also growing everyday. Mike Noble, a journalist, states profoundly in his words about Reagan; “It is unfathomable how that man can be viewed by anyone as an economic intellectual.” The same could be said of Lyndon Johnson.
Email: blair-ad@juno.com
