Learning to fight at the LBJ library
“We did not choose to be the guardians of the gate, but there is no one else.”
I spent much of the past week in Austin, Texas. The city is an excellent microcosm for a politically and socially polarized nation. As a music-crazy, big college town with a reputation for weirdness, it’s about as progressive as you’ll find in the Lonestar state.
It’s also home to a legislature that has enacted abortion bans, anti-LGBTQ+ regulations and attacks on its public universities’ DEI initiatives every bit as vile as those inflicted here in Iowa by the numpties in Des Moines.
Austin is weird, alright. And not necessarily in the fun way the unofficial city motto suggests.
I was in Texas for an editors’ conference and with some time to kill before Day 1 sessions, a couple of colleagues and I hit up the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library on the UT campus.
Housed in a brutalist architecture styled building, it looms over the northeast corner of the massive campus the way LBJ used his imposing physique to discomfort his political rivals.
I like museums, but admit I sometimes rush through them, intent more on checking off the box of “I visited this museum” than being drawn into the exhibits.
That was not the case with the LBJ library.
What struck me was the sad reality that right now, as we speak in 2025 America, forces are hard at work dismantling every pillar of the Great Society Johnson was trying to build.
I am not naïve and know that Johnson was a deeply flawed politician. History shows he could be comfortable with racism early in his career when it was politically expedient. His escalation of aggression and intensive bombing during the Vietnam War is a stain on his legacy that can never be erased. He could also be a crass, crude, bully.
But he had a vision for America where We The People - that is, the government - through collective action attempted to reduce poverty, protect the environment, secure civil rights, support the arts and promote democracy.
One of the best features of the LBJ library is the access given to the public to dozens of phone conversations he recorded with other politicians, world leaders and private citizens. Listening to him have intense but collegial and respectful debates with his Republican opponents, Soviet leaders, wife Ladybird and the recently widowed Jackie Kennedy was a startling contrast to our current world of nasty, snarky, cutting soundbites and insults.
Around every corner, one was reminded of what is at stake as President Donald Trump and the hijacked GOP systematically dismantle the federal government. LBJ declared a War on Poverty. The Trumpian Republicans have declared war on the poor.
Likewise, it was insane to think that LBJ in 1965 had a greater awareness for and appreciation of the damage humans were doing to the environment than today’s party in power.
The Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Immigration Act of 1965 - all of these legislative achievements from his first term are currently under direct assault in one way or another.
As I left each exhibit, I couldn’t help sadly asking myself how in the hell could we as a nation be moving BACKWARD from where we were in the mid-1960s.
Despite the dispiriting realization that progress is not unrelentingly forward moving, the tour also strengthened my resolve to fight however I can, even through my small ability to express free speech on this platform.
Like many in the months since Trump re-entered the White House, I have been in a bit of shocked paralysis watching his continued attacks on our institutions, rule of law and human dignity. Nihilism offers a comforting siren call.
But we ARE better than this. And some things are worth fighting for, even when it’s hard.
And as a bigger-than-life bully with a steadfast belief in the power of government to spread good likely said more than once - we can’t let the bastards win.
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No problem we cant solve together. I believe that with the right people working together, that is possible. And the more people that try and help solve the problem, the more likely a quick resolution.
Having written a dissertation on LBJ, this take on Johnson is on the mark. As you may know, I lived in Austin from 1978-2024 and was a UT-Austin faculty member until I retired in 2019. I wish I had been there when you visited. While I worked with you during your tenure as the editor of the Iowa City Press Citizen (and remain grateful for publishing dozens of my op-eds), I never had the pleasure of meeting you in person. BTW: Your essays are excellent!