I’m not a fan of Lyndon B. Johnson. He and his retention of Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense and chief architect of the Vietnam War, as well as their frustratingly idiotic “Rules of Engagement,” resulted in thousands of American casualties. Johnson was the product of a corrupt political system reminiscent of the corruption of Tammany Hall. He won his first run for national office through blatant election fraud and was an unrepentant bully and liar. But to Democrats, LBJ remains a hero. Why? Because he pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Civil Rights Act was a noble idea. On paper, it banned racial discrimination. That same year, Johnson declared a war on poverty, which did little to lift the penniless out of poverty but created a state of dependency that still exists today. Fifteen trillion dollars laterAmerica has little to show for its efforts — except a 60-year-old dependency state. Much like the war in Vietnam, Johnson’s war on poverty was lost before it began.
When Johnson decided not to seek a second term, Richard Nixon was elected overwhelmingly. Nixon’s legacy on civil rights is generally forgotten because his presidency is tainted and defined by Watergate. What did Nixon’s administration do in Civil rights?
Nixon increased funding for historically black colleges from $75 million in 1969 to $600 million in 1972.
The Emergency School Aid Act, which provided $1.5 million and was intended to end racial segregation in schools, was not a Johnson program. It was initiated by Nixon.
The executive orders requiring the federal government to apply equal opportunity principles in federal personnel policies and practices originated with Nixon. Nixon provided $12 million for sickle cell anemia research. During his first term, federal purchases from black-owned businesses increased 900 percent. During Johnson’s term, it was less than $13 million. Under Nixon’s administration, it rose to $142 million.
Nixon had his faults, but he seemed to be trying difficult to correct some of the country’s mistakes regarding race relations and prejudice.
Only fools would say Nixon did nothing about this issue, or worse, caused further division. You’d have to be a complete moron to say Richard Nixon was to blame for black men shooting each other in Chicago. Nevertheless, I offer you the man who sits in the mayor’s office of Chicago, Brandon Johnson.
Just six months after taking office, Sister Todjah noted that Johnson was proving to be even more incompetent than his predecessor, Mayor Lightfoot.
But as less radiant types predicted, Johnson behaved – incredibly – even worse than Lightfoot: he was flexible on crime toward juvenile repeat offenders and pursued an incoherent strategy for dealing with the influx of illegal immigrants. This frustrated citizens immensely and led to some pretty heated public meetings.
Johnson’s knee jerked so violently it hit him in the mouth. He blamed racism and, of course, Republicans for his own mismanagement of the illegal immigrants streaming into his sanctuary city.
Johnson is facing some of the worst approval ratings of a Chicago mayor in contemporary history. And so he’s doing what any good, little, radiant Democrat would do: He’s blaming so-called “right-wing extremists/racists” for his failure to lead the Windy City.
Now, six months later and a full year into office, Johnson has a recent bogeyman, but this time it’s a dead Republican: Richard Nixon. Johnson tearfully praised LBJ and blamed Nixon for the out-of-control gun violence in the city. Eighteen dead over the weekend, and about 90 more were taken to hospitals instead of the morgue, but Johnson is not to blame – it’s Nixon’s fault.
Last weekend, more than 100 people were shot in Chicago, 18 of them fatally.
Mayor Brandon Johnson blamed Richard Nixon in his press conference today.
No, this is not a joke. pic.twitter.com/dorETLl5os
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 8, 2024
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could capture that spirit and move beyond the baseless playing of hackneyed racism cards? It’s no surprise that we can’t do that with elected officials who make unsubstantiated claims. Unfortunately, the only strategy incompetent morons like Johnson have when elected is to pull the racism card. Blaming a dead man who hasn’t even been in office for half a century seems like a recent low – even for Johnson. It’s also historically uninformed – but facts rarely matter. At least not for Brandon Johnson.
As a reminder, Johnson was a teacher.
