George Will castigates "liberalism"In his
op-ed today, he writes:
With one piece of legislation [health care reform], President Obama and his congressional allies have done in one year what it took President Lyndon Johnson and his allies two years to do in 1965 and 1966 -- revive conservatism. Today, conservatism is rising on the steppingstones of liberal excesses.
What happened in 1965 and 1966? The
following legislation was signed into law:
Will continues: (emp add)
Between ... the 1938 midterm congressional elections ... and ... 1964 ... there was no liberal legislating majority in Congress: Republicans and conservative Democrats combined to temper liberalism's itch to overreach. In 1965 and 1966, however, liberalism was rampant.
Rampant liberalism brought you Medicare, aid to education, voting rights, and more.
But nowhere in Will's op-ed does he tell you that. He merely cites the years 1965 and 1966 as years that started a conservative resurgence*, and in some mysterious way is supposed to be parallel to today's health care legislative efforts.
* - which tells you how history should view conservatives of that era.
posted by Quiddity at 1/21/2010 04:40:00 AM
George Will avoids direct reference to the Civil Right legislation under LBJ. That legislation revived conservatism, leading to the 1968 election of Nixon. We know what Nixon did. Would these conservatives dare to openly undo these Civil Rights laws and perhaps undo Brown v. Board of Education (1954)? These conservatives will not do that openly as they continue to encourage Nixon's "Southern Strategy" in its various forms.
If the Obama administration's efforts in one year have revived conservatism based upon health care reform, in due course populism will surface as health care costs increase. Conservatists have not been successful in taking civil rights back to pre-Brown v. Board of Education (not that they haven't tried) and progress will continue, even with conservatives applying the brakes. Health care reform will continue with these same brakes applied.
By the way, the Citizens United 5-4 decision is being compared to the Dred Scott decision. Justice Kennedy may replace CJ Taney in time.
Conservative idealology: I got mine, screw you - and double screw you if you are not white or Christian. Progressives want to give our money and rights to the poor, brown and godless, and must be stopped at any cost.
