Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson is one of my favorite reads. He is an eminent historian and unlike other historians does not interpret the world through a statist prism. He has reportedly written over 40 books, most of them long and informative.
A recent article on him appeared in the Wall Street Journal. His opinion regarding how and when things changed in this country is embodied from a quote from the article:
“The big change in principle came under Kennedy,” Mr. Johnson writes. “In the autumn of 1962 the Administration committed itself to a new and radical principle of creating budgetary deficits even when there was no economic emergency.” Removing this constraint on government spending allowed Kennedy to introduce “a new concept of ‘big government’: the ‘problem-eliminator.’ Every area of human misery could be classified as a ‘problem’; then the Federal government could be armed to ‘eliminate’ it.”
By all means, read the article. I hope it encourages some to read his books.
