But if you look at what JFK was saying it would seem pretty coservative now. LBJ got us on the path to the Great Society entitlements when he received what he considered was a mandate in the 1964 election. What surprises is how people think Obama is a great speaker when LBJ was doing a lot better job selling the Great Society.

The demand for decent housing is not quite as important now because there are many fewer people now living in shacks without inside plumbing, A/C, etc. because of the basice improvement in living standards since then. There was not that much unemployment in the 1960s so there was not that much need for an employer of the last resort.

Old Sammy Wrote:

75Owl Wrote:I thought moderate Democrats went extinct around the time I when I was in Rice in the early 1970s.

A relative of mine who went to Rice in the early 1960s said:
The Republicans are like what the Democrats used to be like
and the Democrats have become the socialist party.

I don't think you realize how far right the whole spectrum has shifted since the 1960's. When I was an undergrad there were serious discussions in Democratic circles of a "right to decent housing" and of the government as employer of last resort. Think of the reaction if anyone proposed either of those things now.