Want to kill the liberal impulse? Start a war.

This interesting tidbit from the USATODAY story, Conflict will define Bush's role in history:

"War kills reform," says Robert Dallek, an LBJ biographer and author of Hail to the Chief: The Making and Unmaking of American Presidents. "It consumes the energy of the administration, the public, the press. This is what the focus is on."

The Spanish-American War curtailed a populist wave. The Progressive Movement ended when World War I began. When the United States entered World War II, FDR told Americans that "Dr. New Deal" had been replaced by "Dr. Win-the-War." The Korean War stalled Truman's Fair Deal. Vietnam overshadowed the Great Society.

posted by Quiddity at 3/13/2006 10:46:00 PM