I’m not a fan of Lyndon B. Johnson. He and his retention of Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense and the chief architect of the Vietnam War, along with their frustratingly idiotic Rules of Engagement, caused thousands of American casualties. Johnson was a product of a corrupt political system that had echoes of Tammany Hall corruption. He won his first bid for national office through blatant election cheating and was an unrepentant bully and a liar. But for Democrats, LBJ remains a hero. Why? Because he stewarded the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Civil Rights Act was a noble idea. On paper, it outlawed discrimination based on race. Then in the same year, Johnson declared a war on poverty that had little effect lifting the poor out of poverty but created a dependency state that still exists today. Fifteen trillion dollars later, America has little to show for the effort –…
