<DIV>The story I like to tell here concerns FDR. Some labor leaders came to him in the mid 30s with a policy pitch. He listened politely, then said, OK, you convinced me. Now make me do it. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, no progress without struggle, you always need outside pressure. But it sure as hell helps if the guys in the inside being pushed don't mind so much being pushed and aren't pushing back too hard! Johnson and FDR wanted those changes. It made a difference.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>jks<BR><BR><B><I>Carrol Cox <cbcox@ilstu.edu></I></B> wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Justin wrote: "We also have things to be proud of: the Bill of Rights,<BR>Abolitionism, Emancipation, the labor movement, the partly successful<BR>struggle for civil liberties and civil rights, . . . . The analogues to<BR>our dark side in Nazi Germany's brief history are the best things about<BR>the Nazis. (The Autobahn and the VW aside.)&nb! sp;The worst things<BR>about them -- the Einsatzgruppen, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor,<BR>Chelmno, Maidenek, T4 -- have, thank God, no echo in ours."<BR><BR>A query.<BR><BR>There have been periods of expansion and periods of contraction of civil<BR>liberties in the U.S. My query regards periods of expansion. Has such<BR>expansion _ever_, even once, been initiated by president and/or congress<BR>or has it _always_ been a response from the government to great pressure<BR>from _outside_ the electoral system?<BR><BR>To put it another way, is there _any_ evidence that Johnson & Dirksen<BR>(and Dirksen was every bit as important as Johnson) would have attempted<BR>a civil-rights act except for the growing chaos which the lack of one<BR>was promoting?<BR><BR>Carrol<BR><BR>___________________________________<BR>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</BLOCKQUOTE><p><hr SIZE=1> Do you Yahoo!?<br> Free <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/tag/*http://calendar.yahoo.com">online calendar</a> with sync to Outlook(TM).