Liberalism’s Unpopularity

Shogan’s article was an interesting analysis of why that political philosophy is less popular than it was. However, I would point to two changes during President Johnson’s Administration as key to the backlash--changes which Shogan mentioned only obliquely.

First, the Great Society went beyond equal opportunity to “affirmative action,” i.e., legal discrimination against white men. While previous discrimination against blacks, women, and other minorities was rejected by many white men, affirmative action punished them for other crimes in the past. This was not perceived as entirely fair.

The second was cost. Equal opportunity (even affirmative action), voting rights, school integration, etc. didn’t cost money; however, many Great Society programs did. That meant higher taxes. Everyone has a threshold at which one says, “The program is nice, but the cost is too high; forget it.” Of course, no two people have exactly the same threshold, but each additional dollar spent goes over someone’s threshold.

BRUCE WALKER

San Pedro