I still wouldn't say that, though. In fact, a lot of people would shit on me for this, but I think that the US has been slowly moving away from Fabian Socialism since it's Zenith in the 40's. I think we're actually moving slowly, decade by decade, back towards Liberalism.
In previous decades, they never had to actually make an act as desperate as a counter-revolution. With pirate radio, they straight up criminalized it. Janet Reno tried to literally use the force of the FBI to shoot it to death. Normally, corporate cartels would allow for regulation and licensing enough to stifle their opposition & competition, while working with unions to ensure that labor was controlled.
There was a time where everybody looked up to getting a job at "one of the big 3/4/5/6" in whatever field they were in. Corporate Cartels were the norm, and even considered an important aspect of American life. There was a time when if you pissed someone off at one of the cartelized corporations, your career was over everywhere. There was a time when if you weren't with the union, they'd break your fucking legs. There was a time when killing "scags" and "stool pigeons" was a moral act.
There was a time when there was only 3 TV stations, when the government created a 50 year multi-trillion dollar infrastructure project to fight the Soviets, where the military incentive the banks and construction companies to move people out of cities and into nearby housing complexes in the event of a nuclear attack. Where near these very communities were Anti-Strategic Missile Defense systems (NIKE sites). There was a time the entire American Aerospace industry was developed at the behest of NASA, NRO, and the USAF. There was a time when you worked at one company for 50 years. There was a time when the president of the United States said of a single news anchor: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the war."
The American Corporatist culture is nothing like what it once was. Maybe this is part of the perspective I gain living as the Millennial child of a genuine Baby Boomer. Corpartism, the inevitable endpoint of any pragmatic approach to Socialism, has been broken by economic and technological factors outside of it's control; and this breakdown has caused the serious decay of our Corporatist institutions. They can't be saved. More importantly, they shouldn't be saved.
The fact that the society & culture itself is turning away from Corporatism, while the Corporatists reach out to Progressivism, National Socialism, and Communism out of desperation, is a sign that we really have moved quite a distance away from the way things used to be. There are now even some working class people embracing anti-union positions, no threat of them being murdered or fleeing for their lives. No one looks at Don Lemon or Anderson Cooper like they did towards Walter Cronkite. Even Dan Rather's credibility has been sullied beyond repair.
The unions are failing, they can barely control their own members to vote correctly. The media is being soundly rejected. The big cartels have broken, or have even changed hands with major players falling out completely. Really look at it from a dispassionate historical perspective of where we were to where we are, and I think you'll see that we've been sliding towards Liberalism.
Think about it like this:
"You think El Presidente is getting weaker? He's ordering secret police to shoot people in the street. They're shooting people randomly!"
"If El Presidente was strong, he wouldn't have to make those orders at all."
Leftist policies are unsustainable. It is cultural entropy and the natural force of societal decay. Their inevitable failures and the accompanying violence doesn't mean they have less power. Cancel culture is the modern equivalent of breaking legs and more effective.
You're right. I didn't think that one through. We were still aggressively Keynesian before the wuflu though, and now we're more left than ever.
I still wouldn't say that, though. In fact, a lot of people would shit on me for this, but I think that the US has been slowly moving away from Fabian Socialism since it's Zenith in the 40's. I think we're actually moving slowly, decade by decade, back towards Liberalism.
State backed corporations are openly funding socialist counter-revolutionaries, and you call that less progressive?
No, I call that regular progressive.
In previous decades, they never had to actually make an act as desperate as a counter-revolution. With pirate radio, they straight up criminalized it. Janet Reno tried to literally use the force of the FBI to shoot it to death. Normally, corporate cartels would allow for regulation and licensing enough to stifle their opposition & competition, while working with unions to ensure that labor was controlled.
There was a time where everybody looked up to getting a job at "one of the big 3/4/5/6" in whatever field they were in. Corporate Cartels were the norm, and even considered an important aspect of American life. There was a time when if you pissed someone off at one of the cartelized corporations, your career was over everywhere. There was a time when if you weren't with the union, they'd break your fucking legs. There was a time when killing "scags" and "stool pigeons" was a moral act.
There was a time when there was only 3 TV stations, when the government created a 50 year multi-trillion dollar infrastructure project to fight the Soviets, where the military incentive the banks and construction companies to move people out of cities and into nearby housing complexes in the event of a nuclear attack. Where near these very communities were Anti-Strategic Missile Defense systems (NIKE sites). There was a time the entire American Aerospace industry was developed at the behest of NASA, NRO, and the USAF. There was a time when you worked at one company for 50 years. There was a time when the president of the United States said of a single news anchor: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the war."
The American Corporatist culture is nothing like what it once was. Maybe this is part of the perspective I gain living as the Millennial child of a genuine Baby Boomer. Corpartism, the inevitable endpoint of any pragmatic approach to Socialism, has been broken by economic and technological factors outside of it's control; and this breakdown has caused the serious decay of our Corporatist institutions. They can't be saved. More importantly, they shouldn't be saved.
The fact that the society & culture itself is turning away from Corporatism, while the Corporatists reach out to Progressivism, National Socialism, and Communism out of desperation, is a sign that we really have moved quite a distance away from the way things used to be. There are now even some working class people embracing anti-union positions, no threat of them being murdered or fleeing for their lives. No one looks at Don Lemon or Anderson Cooper like they did towards Walter Cronkite. Even Dan Rather's credibility has been sullied beyond repair.
The unions are failing, they can barely control their own members to vote correctly. The media is being soundly rejected. The big cartels have broken, or have even changed hands with major players falling out completely. Really look at it from a dispassionate historical perspective of where we were to where we are, and I think you'll see that we've been sliding towards Liberalism.
Think about it like this:
"You think El Presidente is getting weaker? He's ordering secret police to shoot people in the street. They're shooting people randomly!"
"If El Presidente was strong, he wouldn't have to make those orders at all."
Leftist policies are unsustainable. It is cultural entropy and the natural force of societal decay. Their inevitable failures and the accompanying violence doesn't mean they have less power. Cancel culture is the modern equivalent of breaking legs and more effective.