I’ve been visiting President Johnson’s ranch for many years now. It is located in one of the most beautiful parts of Texas and I tend to get a bit emotional just being there. I often play some Willie Nelson music while driving along the roads leading to Johnson’s house. I stop at the family cemetery and stand under old oak trees in silent admiration for the man who created opportunity for so many Americans with his vision of a Great Society. 

I did not agree with President Johnson’s decisions during the Vietnam War but by his own admission he was uncomfortable with the job of Commander in Chief. What he loved the most was creating bills that improved the lives of the people of this country. He had a goal for our nation that began when he was a young man teaching children in south Texas in an area known as “the Valley.” There he taught youngsters many of whom were of Hispanic heritage. Often they lived in a state of constant worry about simply surviving. They sometimes came to school hungry because the family resources were so scarce in spite of the hard work of their parents. 

Johnson never forgot those kids and would often speak of them to his daughters, insisting that those years of teaching were the most important of his lifetime. He described a dream that had begun to unfold in his mind when he was in the classroom with them. He envisioned an American society in which even those struggling to simply survive would have systems of support. As President of the United States he finally had the opportunity to bring his ideas to life and they became part of the programs that he dubbed “The Great Society.”

So many Americans were uplifted by the legislation that unfolded as part of Johnson’s dream. Medicare insured that older Americans would no longer lose their homes and all of their savings in the event of a catastrophic illness like my grandparents did when my grandmother developed colon cancer. By the end of her life my grandfather literally had spent every dime that he had ever saved and was in deep debt attempting to pay for her care. After she died his only source of income was a small pension and a tiny Social Security check which did not afford him enough to even pay for an apartment. He ended up renting a room from a young widow who was struggling to keep her tiny house. Together they saved each other. Medicare would later allow our oldest citizens to receive medical care without becoming penniless.

The Great Society developed so many programs that made it possible for children to have food and enjoy desegregated educations. Medicare and Medicaid made it possible for low income Americans to receive medical care.  The Great Society took the work of Franklin Roosevelt to the next level of compassion making it possible for the children of widows like my mother to take advantage of opportunities that elevated their earning potential. In turn those benefiting were able to return the favor to our nation with the kind of professions that enrich us all. I became a teacher of mathematics. One of my brothers was an engineer who wrote the program for the navigational system of the International Space Station. My youngest brother was a firefighter who rose to the rank of Regional Chief. Before President Johnson’s Great Society programs we might not have had the opportunities to reach our goals. We benefited from the Great Society and in turn gave back so that others might enjoy better lives as well.

What a payback my family has been able to provide to the United States of America because of the Great Society programs! How may thousands and millions of times have those programs resulted in the creation of model citizens, including the first Black President of the United States! The genius of President Johnson’s Great Society has too often been distorted by those unwilling to understand the brilliance of a national investment in all Americans regardless of their race or economic status. Instead for many decades there has been one attempt after another to tear the legislation down and to reroute the so called savings to the wealthiest among us. Now that nightmare is on the cusp of coming true if it also passes in the Senate. 

In the middle of the night, just before the end of school sessions and a holiday weekend. the Republican Congress beholden to Donald Trump passed the so called “Big Beautiful Bill.” The changes will destroy much of the Great Society and insure that the richest citizens will keep more of their billions while the poorest will lose many of the safeguards that shielded them from hunger and lack of medical care. It is a travesty that few Americans will realize until the suffering begins in earnest.

It’s easy to imagine that poor people are in that situation because of laziness or bad choices they have made. The fact is that many people on the lowest end of the economic spectrum are often there because of unexpected tragedies over which they have no control. Perhaps they become injured or seriously ill and no longer able to work no matter how much they would like to do so. Maybe they are actually working but making so little money that they cant’t keep up with the cost of living. My own mother was employed from the time she was a teenager until she retired in her sixties. She would struggle financially for most of her life because one tragedy after another would impede her progress. She never complained and even adjusted to the limitations in her life but without the programs from the Great Society she would have been destitute. Now much of the help that kept her going has been decimated. 

I am saddened and angry by this turn of events. I find myself wanting to visit the Johnson Ranch. I imagine myself driving along the roads leading to his quite modest home listening to Willie Nelson singing his anthems. I’d like to sit under one of the big oak trees shading the lawn where President Johnson once envisioned a kinder nation than the one in which we now live. I will no doubt shed a tear or two and then I’ll become as determined as he once was to repair the damage that most surely has been done. That so called Beautiful Bill will soon enough make life quite difficult for so many Americans. We should all be angry.