09-04-2023, 10:33 AM
I'm only 46, so my perspective on this is mainly as someone who's only lived through the economic ups and downs of the last half-century. I could be mistaken in this opinion. Here goes:
America is a relatively young nation. It has vast resources and a lot of land area that's tough to control by any one government entity. Outside of the British aristocrat cast-offs that founded the country in it's current state, the upper-class here has been in the process of forming over the last couple hundred years. There was opportunity for a wider range of people to become part of that upper class, and more quickly than in older Western societies.
In this, America seemed like a very special thing. It was something to fight for and protect. People (well, white people, to be honest) felt like they had a stake in something that was great.
Get into the postwar 50's, and the US is becoming a/the superpower. The baby boom created a massive economy, and the move from agrarian societies to industrial ones provided both jobs to work and products to buy and sell. Anyone could get a good job, relatively speaking, meaning anyone could live the "American Dream" of owning a home, a car, having two kids, etc on one salary. People with real ambition could do even more, but the baseline was honest work for a decent, respectable life with a few fun distractions tossed in on weekends.
What am I getting at? Well, it's my belief that although we are tribal animals, people don't want to spend their lives in conflict. People with a purpose and some economic stability (and potential for upward mobility) do not want radical change to their political environment. They don't elect clown candidates. They definitely don't regard political opposition as "the enemy". They drink with them, make fun of them, shake hands and go back to work on Monday. I recall it being this way right up until the early 2000's. Maybe even the Clinton administration in the 90's. Things were going so good economically and geopolitically that we sat around talking about some hillbilly getting a beej for a couple of years. The right wing radio got huge, right about when jobs were getting shipped elsewhere en-masse. Perfect storm again, as the right wing radio pioneers were successful in goading their minions to blame the social safety net and brown folk for the disappearance of their American Dream, when they should have been trying to get a grip on corporate greed run wild.
We took our collective eyes off the ball in this country in order to bicker with each other rather than the people who were slowly turning us into a high-rent banana republic. Fortunately or unfortunately, the system works. The good old middle class done turned feral on everyone. Companies and the ruling class have forgotten the value of a contented citizenry that believes in the basic "goodness" of their nation. The lost the motivation to keep people contented and secure enough to feel like there's something worth fighting to keep. Now they are feeling the brunt of that oversight. This would always lead to either enhanced socialism or authoritarian populism. I still think authoritarianism will win out which will do nothing for jobs and nothing for salaries/wages. It may boost the investor class, but that niche continues to shrink.
America is a relatively young nation. It has vast resources and a lot of land area that's tough to control by any one government entity. Outside of the British aristocrat cast-offs that founded the country in it's current state, the upper-class here has been in the process of forming over the last couple hundred years. There was opportunity for a wider range of people to become part of that upper class, and more quickly than in older Western societies.
In this, America seemed like a very special thing. It was something to fight for and protect. People (well, white people, to be honest) felt like they had a stake in something that was great.
Get into the postwar 50's, and the US is becoming a/the superpower. The baby boom created a massive economy, and the move from agrarian societies to industrial ones provided both jobs to work and products to buy and sell. Anyone could get a good job, relatively speaking, meaning anyone could live the "American Dream" of owning a home, a car, having two kids, etc on one salary. People with real ambition could do even more, but the baseline was honest work for a decent, respectable life with a few fun distractions tossed in on weekends.
What am I getting at? Well, it's my belief that although we are tribal animals, people don't want to spend their lives in conflict. People with a purpose and some economic stability (and potential for upward mobility) do not want radical change to their political environment. They don't elect clown candidates. They definitely don't regard political opposition as "the enemy". They drink with them, make fun of them, shake hands and go back to work on Monday. I recall it being this way right up until the early 2000's. Maybe even the Clinton administration in the 90's. Things were going so good economically and geopolitically that we sat around talking about some hillbilly getting a beej for a couple of years. The right wing radio got huge, right about when jobs were getting shipped elsewhere en-masse. Perfect storm again, as the right wing radio pioneers were successful in goading their minions to blame the social safety net and brown folk for the disappearance of their American Dream, when they should have been trying to get a grip on corporate greed run wild.
We took our collective eyes off the ball in this country in order to bicker with each other rather than the people who were slowly turning us into a high-rent banana republic. Fortunately or unfortunately, the system works. The good old middle class done turned feral on everyone. Companies and the ruling class have forgotten the value of a contented citizenry that believes in the basic "goodness" of their nation. The lost the motivation to keep people contented and secure enough to feel like there's something worth fighting to keep. Now they are feeling the brunt of that oversight. This would always lead to either enhanced socialism or authoritarian populism. I still think authoritarianism will win out which will do nothing for jobs and nothing for salaries/wages. It may boost the investor class, but that niche continues to shrink.
