Audience At FOX News Town Hall Agrees With Bernie Sanders On Minimum Wage, Free College,

[TexasTowelie]

31. "He wasn't afraid to try, he jumped right in and arm twisted his way to success."

Really?

LBJ did accomplish quite a bit, but did he try to get universal health care? No, he knew that wasn't possible so he used his influence to achieve what we take for granted now. He didn't attempt to revamp the entire economy, but he took steps to provide assistance to those that were most vulnerable.

LBJ did have a program to create a Great Society, but he certainly was not an advocate for a Great Socialist Society. LBJ didn't promise free college tuition because he knew it wouldn't pass. LBJ didn't propose that government be involved in every sector of the economy. LBJ did not argue that the energy industry be nationalized like Bernie did in his youth.

And in 1968, LBJ did show that he was timid. He was grounded in reality and knew that if he ran for reelection that he would be defeated so in that respect he was timid. He knew that his advocacy for civil rights made him a pariah among voters in the South. Yes, I'll admit that LBJ accomplished a lot but he also sacrificed a lot simultaneously.

Sanders has advocated changes that most of America is uncomfortable to support. If he moderated his views he might have built a broader coalition that supported him. However, his all-or-nothing approach has led to the outcome where he will get almost nothing. No significant legislative achievements in three decades in Congress Some states that increased their minimum wage, but no increase in the minimum wage at the federal level. And in another fifty years, he will get the same recognition as Eugene Debs--a few people will know who he is if they play Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy, but the bulk of the population won't remember him at all.