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Well, imagine you're campaigning in a Democratic Party primary against an incumbent president from your own party who keeps bragging about how much GDP increase

Well, imagine you're campaigning in a Democratic Party primary against an incumbent president from your own party who keeps bragging about how much GDP increased during their administration.

bnralt 4y ago
That's a really strange portrayal of Lyndon Johnson. Under Johnson we had numerous efforts to improve society that went beyond GDP - the creation of Medicare, creation of Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Public Broadcasting Act, the Higher Education Act, the Economic Opportunity Act, etc. He was also instrumental in getting many of these passed. Here's what he said when signing the Public Broadcasting Act: > It announces to the world that our nation wants more than just material wealth; our nation wants more than a 'chicken in every pot.' We in America have an appetite for excellence, too. While we work every day to produce new goods and to create new wealth, we want most of all to enrich man's spirit. That is the purpose of this act." And here is Johnson talking about his "Great Society" goals[1]: > The purpose of protecting the life of our Nation and preserving the liberty of our citizens is to pursue the happiness of our people. Our success in that pursuit is the test of our success as a Nation. > For a century we labored to settle and to subdue a continent. For half a century we called upon unbounded invention and untiring industry to create an order of plenty for all of our people. > The challenge of the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization. > Your imagination, your initiative, and your indignation will determine whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled growth. For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society. > The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning. > The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. > It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods. > But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor. ** > Will you join in the battle to build the Great Society, to prove that our material progress is only the foundation on which we will build a richer life of mind and spirit?" [1] https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-university-michigan https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-univer...

Well, imagine you're campaigning in a Democratic Party primary against an incumbent president from your own party who keeps bragging about how much GDP increased during their administration.

bnralt 4y ago

That's a really strange portrayal of Lyndon Johnson. Under Johnson we had numerous efforts to improve society that went beyond GDP - the creation of Medicare, creation of Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Public Broadcasting Act, the Higher Education Act, the Economic Opportunity Act, etc. He was also instrumental in getting many of these passed. Here's what he said when signing the Public Broadcasting Act: > It announces to the world that our nation wants more than just material wealth; our nation wants more than a 'chicken in every pot.' We in America have an appetite for excellence, too. While we work every day to produce new goods and to create new wealth, we want most of all to enrich man's spirit. That is the purpose of this act." And here is Johnson talking about his "Great Society" goals[1]: > The purpose of protecting the life of our Nation and preserving the liberty of our citizens is to pursue the happiness of our people. Our success in that pursuit is the test of our success as a Nation. > For a century we labored to settle and to subdue a continent. For half a century we called upon unbounded invention and untiring industry to create an order of plenty for all of our people. > The challenge of the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization. > Your imagination, your initiative, and your indignation will determine whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled growth. For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society. > The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning. > The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. > It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods. > But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor. ** > Will you join in the battle to build the Great Society, to prove that our material progress is only the foundation on which we will build a richer life of mind and spirit?" [1] https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-university-michigan https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-univer...