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We could have said that because of Johnson’s great society programs, the nation would never right itself.

I don't want to be mean, but how dense can you be? What percentage of the population was on the dole then? What percentage is on the dole today? Not to mention that Johnson has more in common with Romney and Bush than Obama.

What did Nixon do with those wins? He permanently ensconced Johnson's welfare state, and he was willing to end the space program to do it.

What you fail to understand is that winning elections is only good for us in relative terms. You have to go back nearly a hundred years to even find a pause in our leftward tack. After every republican president the budget is larger, the number of people on the dole is greater and the culture is coarser.

George W. Bush oversaw a bigger expansion of the government than Bill Clinton.

Even when we win, we lose.

“You have to go back nearly a hundred years to even find a pause in our leftward tack.”

Coolidge, yes. Reagan represented mostly a symbolic victory. He barely managed to slow growth, let alone pause it, let utterly alone reverse it. The last time we actually reversed ourselves in any meaningful way was Harding’s (or Mellon’s) normalcy after Wilson’s War Socialism, and even that was hamstrung by the annus horibillis of 1913. The last principled stand for laissez-faire was Cleveland. But who am I kidding? It was only a matter of time after 1865.

We could have said that because of Johnson’s great society programs, the nation would never right itself.

I don't want to be mean, but how dense can you be? What percentage of the population was on the dole then? What percentage is on the dole today? Not to mention that Johnson has more in common with Romney and Bush than Obama.

Oh I can be pretty dense, but luckily others seem to out-dense me at times. LOL Just kidding. Look, to the folks in Goldwater's era, things looked very bleak. Johnson had just installed a number of new programs. They were give-aways, and it quite easily could have seemed that he had purchased the vote. Goldwater coming up bupkiss, we both can see how those folks would have thought only give-aways mattered any longer. That wasn't the case then, and I still don't think it's the case today. Where is the major Hispanic vote? It's in California. Did Romney seek the Hispanic vote in California? No. No Republican presidential candidate has fought for the state since 1992. So we wale about the Hispanic vote going to the Democrats, and blame it on handouts.

What did Nixon do with those wins? He permanently ensconced Johnson's welfare state, and he was willing to end the space program to do it.

Yes, and he permanently ensconced the Vietnam war too. It's just laughable to see folks blame everything on Nixon. Even our own side does it. Was Nixon a problem? Why sure he was. He didn't get Conservatism. None of our president's have. Reagan got it to a certain degree, but he had a Democrat controlled Congress. As for the welfare state, it was all Johnson's and you should know that. Johnson used Kennedy's plans as the motivating factor, and installed all of it on his watch. Johnson filled out Kennedy's term from November of 63 to January of 65. He then spent his own full four year term in office. HE AND HE alone as far as presidents go, installed the Great Society programs.

What you fail to understand is that winning elections is only good for us in relative terms. You have to go back nearly a hundred years to even find a pause in our leftward tack. After every republican president the budget is larger, the number of people on the dole is greater and the culture is coarser.

I don't disagree with any of that. It's why I've only voted for two Republican presidents in the last four general elections. Bush was a slug. I refused to vote for him in 2000. I caved in 2004 and voted for him. He handed off a depression. And then there was McCain, a bucket of swill so bad I'd never vote for a man like him. As for Romney, I did finally agree to vote for him on the day before the election. Obama was so bad, I didn't want to take a chance on another four years of him.

George W. Bush oversaw a bigger expansion of the government than Bill Clinton.

I agree. He introduced another Great Society program. In some ways he was like Lyndon Johnson.

Even when we win, we lose.

I understand your emphasis here, and frankly, I agree.

I continually bash the RNC for allowing us to be gamed every four years, as Democrats help select our nominee. What's up with that? Either they're happy with it, or they're dense to the X. They stand by going 'Aw shucks' as leading Republicans bash our Conservative candidates. It makes you wonder if any of them have read the party platform in the last three decades.