ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

The role of government

The role of government

This paper will compare and contrast the ideas about the role of government presented by Lyndon Johnson, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama. In order to do so, the discussion will elaborate on how their ideas compare, the role they saw for the federal government and their favoritism or opposition towards federal action to address social, economic, and environmental problems.

Johnson was born at Stonewall, Texas on August 27, 1908, and graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College. He taught school in Houston, Texas until 1932, when he became Secretary to a United States Congressman, beginning his political career. Johnson's interest in politics and the policies of the new Roosevelt administration captured the young Texan's imagination and his heart. Lyndon Johnson served his country best by being many things to many people. With tremendous energy, directed toward helping the sick, the poor, the elderly, and the advocacy of equal rights for all people, both Presidents hold their place in history as liberal Democrats who faced the challenges of a society in need of change and a country in need of redefinition. As President of the United States, Johnson used his power to promote positive change, but tried to do more than his resources would allow. While he tried to fight a war in Vietnam, he was also trying to settle important domestic issues and reshape America.

Barry Goldwater ran an aggressive anti-Truman administration campaign—focusing on “Communism, Cronyism, and Chiseling” and accusing Secretary of State Dean Acheson of appeasing Asian communism—and won the Senate seat by seven thousand votes. He immediately displayed his conservative philosophy, supporting Joseph McCarthy's crusade to purge the U.S. government of communists. Although he recognized the campaign's excesses, Goldwater believed that the Wisconsin senator was performing a public service by shedding light on the “fifth column” within the United States and voted against the Senate's censure of McCarthy in December 1954. An avowed opponent of the religious right—who he called a “bunch of kooks”—Goldwater consistently voted to uphold abortion rights, spoke out in favor of allowing gays to serve in the military, and endorsed an Arizona initiative to legalize medical marijuana. He also criticized Ronald Reagan for overbuilding the military and for selling arms to Iran, calling the latter “the goddamn stupidest foreign policy blunder this country's ever made!”

Ronald Reagan, the fortieth President of the USA and Governor of California (1967-75), ...