The State of LBJ

ON THE RIGHT

Was it my imagination, or was the Congress that listened to the President deliver his State of the Union message unusually sycophantic? I mean, the business of interrupting every single phrase with a burst of applause — whose timbre was that of the schoolboy laughter after every single joke of the headmaster. The President said a few, not many, inspiriting things (the people will make the country great, not the government) , one or two moving things (how the area he came from had been transferred from caliche — his word, friends; don’t blame this one on me—country into luxuriant farms and pastures), a great many things meaningless (he wants an immigration law “based on the work a man can do,” whatever that means), and mischievous (he wants to repeal the authority of the individual states to legislate right-to-work laws).

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

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ON THE RIGHT

Was it my imagination, or was the Congress that listened to the President deliver his State of the Union message unusually sycophantic? I mean, the business of interrupting every single phrase with a burst of applause — whose timbre was that of the schoolboy laughter after every single joke of the headmaster. The President said a few, not many, inspiriting things (the people will make the country great, not the government) , one or two moving things (how the area he came from had been transferred from caliche — his word, friends; don’t blame this one on me—country into luxuriant farms and pastures), a great many things meaningless (he wants an immigration law “based on the work a man can do,” whatever that means), and mischievous (he wants to repeal the authority of the individual states to legislate right-to-work laws).