It’s not just a “Once in a Lifetime” question
“Huh, I wonder what happened in 1980?” Dissent magazine’s Matthew Sitman snarked on Tuesday. He referred to a chart posted by David Leonhardt.
“Reaganland” author Rick Perlstein replied, “Folks stopped getting a free ride. Now only can enjoy long life if they honor the natural order of things as dictated (if religious) by the Almighty; or (if secular) the almighty market. Or else, they had it coming. Order having been restored, conservatives are satisfied now…”
But not really. Not until they’ve fully restored the monarchy on these shores. Barring that, reinstated feudalism will suffice. Surely the peasants will rejoice.
Leonhardt has been working on “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream.” The book that analyzes how over the last half-century “our society has abandoned working-class people – of all races – in crucial ways. Their incomes have stagnated, as has their life expectancy. They no longer trust either political party or other institutions. They are frustrated, with good reason.”
He explains:
My basic argument is that the past century has seen a struggle between democratic capitalism and rough-and-tumble capitalism. Democratic capitalism respects both the power and the weaknesses of the free market. Rough-and-tumble capitalism keeps taxes low and regulation light.
I like the term “democratic capitalism” because it captures the symbiotic relationship between the two ideas under the best of circumstances. Democratic governance prevents the excesses of capitalism, while rising living standards foster the good will on which democracy depends.
Democracy can strengthen capitalism, and capitalism can strengthen democracy.
If you’re tempted to give up on our political system as hopelessly rigged, I would urge you not to be. Every successful political movement of the past century did not give up on the political system. It set out to change that system.
Except it was the changes wrought by the Civil Rights and liberalizing movements of the 1960s that provoked the last half-century of conservative backlash.
“Not one step back,” insists Bishop William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign. Arrayed against him are well-financed, rough-and-tumble capitalists determined to restore “the natural order of things” in which (at a minimum) their economic, political, and cultural supremacy is unchallenged once more.
With apologies to the bishop, the natural order of things is two steps forward, one step back. See chart at top.
My God, what have we done?