The Fall of the Liberal Consensus Essay

Starting during the 1970s, factions of American conservatives slowly came together to form a new and more radical dissenting conservative movement, the New Right. The New Right was just as radical as its liberal opposite, with agendas to increase government involvement beyond the established conservative view of government’s role. Although New Right politicians made admirable advances to dissemble New Deal economic policies, the movement as a whole counters conservativism and the ideologies that America was founded on. Although the New Right adopts conservative economic ideologies, its social agenda weakened the conservative movement by focusing public attention to social and cultural issues that have no place within the established Old

Then liberalism in the United States was also expanded through President Lyndon B. Johnson during the 1960s with his Great Society. Liberalism under President Johnson became a form of social liberalism, which meant that President Johnson thought that liberalism should include social justice. So he expanded liberalism through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Community Reinvestment Act, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He transferred liberalism into neoliberalism, meaning that it became more focused on the business aspect of the nation that would help determine the political and economic priorities

During Johnson’s presidency, the federal government significantly extended its domestic responsibilities in attempt to transform the nation to what Johnson called the “Great Society,” in which poverty and racial intolerance ceased to exist. A previously unsurpassed amount of legislation was passed during this time; numerous laws were passed to protect the environment, keep consumers safe, reduce unfairness in education, improve housing in urban areas, provide more assistance to the elderly with health care, and other policies to improve welfare. Johnson called for a “War on Poverty,” and directed more funds to help the poor; government spending towards the poor

The liberal ideas of FDR’s New Deal were coming to an end. The failing economy, poor political leaders, and drastic social issues that took place in the 1970s left Americans searching for salvation. Over the next decade, the United States will later find that salvation in conservativism.

The children of the baby boomers became more immoral than ever before with drugs and sex. Massive protests happened against the war in Vietnam. Major distrust in the government was at an all-time high when Richard Nixon resigned a mist the Watergate Scandal. Liberalism was at its height and conservative was the minority. Critchlow mentions that conservatives have been on their heels since the New Deal, set in place by the Democratic Socialist Franklin D Roosevelt. Which increased the federal government to a whole new level. Critchlow argues that the resurgence of the conservative movement was the result of conservative morals being injected into political power. And how the conservative revival changed America. During the 60’s-70 the Democratic and Republican parties were flip flopping their normal stances. Before this time Democrats were the Conservative party and the Republicans were the liberal party. During this time Critchlow talks about how the conservatives started to take over the Republican Party. By implementing conservative politicians through grassroots organizing. Pushing out the

The Great Society was a proposed plan of actions intended to benefit the American people. Johnson developed the Great Society in a utopian fashion that proposed programs concerning the cities, the environment and education which in return brought modern liberalism into turmoil and broadened the administrative state. Taking office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy put tremendous pressure on Johnson. Not only did he have his own ideas, he also needed to fulfill the legacy left by Kennedy. In order to do both, he created the Great Society. Johnson wished to create the glue that kept the American people together and according to Paul C. Aiken and John M. Redding (1965) he fulfilled his famous words of, “Let us continue...” while addressing the country after that fatal day in Dallas and passing several acts to better the country.

The Great Depression quickly altered America's view of liberalism and therefore, Roosevelt can be considered a liberal and Hoover a conservative, despite the fact that they did occasionally support very similar policies. The United States experienced political shifts during the Great Depression, which are described by Arthur Schlesinger’s analysis of eras in which public objectives were placed before personal concerns. It seems that the public view of what constitutes as liberal beliefs versus what is thought to be conservative beliefs shifts in a similar way.

Lyndon Johnson was convinced that liberal nationalism and the power of the federal government could transform society. His faith grew out of his youthful experiences with poverty in Texas, his political apprenticeship during the New Deal, and his desire to surpass Roosevelt 's legacy. When he took office in November 1963, after John F. Kennedy 's death, Johnson inherited the early initiatives to address poverty that the Kennedy administration had under consideration. With characteristic enthusiasm and expansiveness, Johnson declared a war on poverty in 1964 and pushed legislation through Congress to establish the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).In this speech, the purpose Lyndon B. Johnson outlines his vision and goals for "The Great

The poverty stricken families were suffering from finding aid from the government. Previously, the government denied the proposals Kennedy tried to pass, but once in office the poverty was addressed by Johnson. In his ¨Great Society Speech¨ Johnson stated that the ¨great society rests on abundance and liberty for all… demands an end to poverty,¨ and that is surely what happened (Document 1). From the beginning of his term to the end, from 1963 to 1969, the poverty rate decreased by 10 percent (Pg. 611). In document 3 it states that the decline of American poverty ¨was the most dramatic decline over such a brief period of time.¨ Johnson furthered his fight against poverty by declaring the war on poverty and he passed ¨forty programs that were intended to eliminate poverty by improving living conditions and enabling people¨ (Document 2).

The Civil Rights Movement had a lot going on between 1954 and 1964. While there were some successful aspects of the movement, there were some failures as well. The mixture of successes and failures led to the extension of the movement and eventually a more equal American society.

The 1950s in America are often described as a time of complacency. By contrast, the 1960s and 1970s were a time of great change. But the economy of the 70s was not stable because of the Oil crisis and presidents did not seem to find a solution to get the economy work again. For the right, the federal government had been spending too much money on the social programs. Conservatism believes that the best way to run a society is to maintain social and political framework and that the government should be as limited as possible,

Lyndon Johnson was convinced that liberal nationalism and the power of the federal government could transform society. His faith grew out of his youthful experiences with poverty in Texas, his political apprenticeship during the New Deal, and his desire to surpass Roosevelt's legacy. When he took office in November 1963, after John F. Kennedy's death, Johnson inherited the early initiatives to address poverty that the Kennedy administration had under consideration. With characteristic enthusiasm and expansiveness, Johnson declared a war on poverty in 1964 and pushed legislation through Congress to establish the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).In this speech, the purpose Lyndon B. Johnson outlines his vision and goals for "The Great

During LBJ’s presidency, liberalism was at its high point. LBJ called for collective action in hope to complete and perfect FDR’s New Deal to create the “Great Society.” LBJ emphasized that there is more to life than just jobs and economic gains, but the importance of realizing the meaning to life and society. In addition, he believed there should be a focus on cleaning up neighborhoods and appreciating the beauty of nature. As a result, the government focused on environmental protection and stressed that “man needs to renew contact with nature.” Also, he focused on ending poverty and racial injustice through governmental programs. He believed that government had an obligation to ensure opportunities for its citizens which ultimately resulted

President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a series of domestic programs, between 1933-1938, as a means of combating the effects of the Great Depression. Both presidential executive orders and laws passed by Congress created programs that provided relief for the unemployed and the poor. Democrats, supporters of this New Deal, were considered “liberal” while opponents who viewed the New Deal as an enemy of business and economic growth were deemed “conservative.” The purpose of New Deal liberalism and the programs of the Great Society were to boost the nation’s economy and help Americans get on the road to recovery. As these programs have grown, and the federal government has enlarged its scope and involvement in lives of the everyday citizens, some fear that American’s freedoms are being infringed upon. Barry Goldwater, in his book The Conscience of a Conservative, presents the conflict between the ideas of liberalism and conservatism that have emerged in the 20th century. He argues that liberalism has taken man’s freedom away and man has become “enslaved politically”, and therefore dependent on the government (11). Because of this, Goldwater disagrees with much of New Deal and Great Society legislation which expanded the government’s power over the people. According to Goldwater, “throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man’s liberty.” (15) The Founding Fathers were acutely aware of

Johnson in the form of the War on Poverty. The term War on Poverty as commonly referred to is a set of initiatives proposed by President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration passed by Congress and implemented by his cabinet agencies. The war was fought with short term policy development and long term ones. The long term policies can be traced back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal from the 1930’s to combat poverty during the great depression, the New Deal was established to introduce assurances and security for all Americans. The Social Security Act of 1935’s created a safety net for elderly Americans providing unemployment insurance assistances it also assisted disabled Americans, mother and child health programs and children whose father is absent or deceased, the common names are welfare and social security. The New Deal was a program that helped millions of Americans just a not all Americas President Johnson Stated “Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope—some because of their poverty, and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity.