The New Deal massively overhauled the American economy and produced a sharp reversal in quality of life that lasted generations.
The Great Society stamped out elder poverty and misery on a national scale, dramatically improved public education, and invigorated the WASP middle class as it was faltering in the wake of the 1950s. Similarly, the Civil Rights agenda transformed race relations at the petite bourgeois level.
The EPA put an end to leaded paint and gasoline, saving countless lives and cutting the "crime wave" off at the knees before the US ripped itself apart.
Without these reforms, the US would have collapsed decades ago.
Our increasingly paralyzed and polarized administration is undoing two generations of accumulated prosperity. The US absolutely can be "fixed". It can be transformed in a dozen different ways, depending on the right combination of conditions and successful movements. Don't undersell the impact prior generations of policy have had on this country. These decisions - or the absence of them - will have real and profound consequences for ourselves later in life and for our progeny.
And maybe the entire world (especially the global south) wouldn't be completely fucked if the US had fallen back then?
Maybe the USSR would still exist?
FDR literally said The New Deal was meant to save capitalism.
Not to mention there are real arguments to be made that all of the policies you point to were ultimately only made because of pressure from the USSR existing and revealing what the alternative could be, forcing the ruling class into concessions to avoid a full revolution.
And maybe the entire world (especially the global south) wouldn’t be completely fucked if the US had fallen back then?
Maybe. Or maybe it would be a different kind of fucked. The settler colonialism of the western hemisphere is not somehow uniquely rooted in DC. It isn't even unique to the west, as Japan proved.
FDR literally said The New Deal was meant to save capitalism.
FDR said a lot of things. But the New Deal saved America from itself and positioned it as the only unmolested industrial economy to survive WW2. The country would not be what it is today without these policies.
Not to mention there are real arguments to be made that all of the policies you point to were ultimately only made because of pressure from the USSR existing
The USSR was not the singular source of leftist thought on the planet. And while it was routinely used as a pretext for implementing policies (Sputnik driving the formation of NASA, for instance) the industrialization of education, housing, health care, science, and medicine predates the October Revolution by generations. The New Deal, the Great Society, and the EPA all had their roots in programs implemented in states and municipalities - many founded through domestic leftist theory and action - and were popular before they were national.
What would have happened to a United States that did not fear the spectre of Leninism? A country absent Palmer Raids and the 20s-era Red Scare? A country that never rushed into WW1 following the collapse of the Russian Eastern Front or went to war with Japan in defense of the KMT? It's impossible to say. But "we never would have taught high school physics in the 70s" seems like a stretch to conclude.
My point is not that reform is impossible, it's incredibly to difficult to pass and in the cases which it does, it's achievements are rolled back. I'm not "underselling" them by stating the simple fact that these institutions have either been completely neutered if not put on life support.
With power increasingly concentrated in a handful of political actors, reforms have rarely been so easy to implement. It just happens that the intensions of current leadership is bad, so the policy we get sucks.
"Just so happens" lol. So again, incredibly hard to pass.
Social Security and Medicare are as robust as they’ve ever been.
The New Deal massively overhauled the American economy and produced a sharp reversal in quality of life that lasted generations.
The Great Society stamped out elder poverty and misery on a national scale, dramatically improved public education, and invigorated the WASP middle class as it was faltering in the wake of the 1950s. Similarly, the Civil Rights agenda transformed race relations at the petite bourgeois level.
The EPA put an end to leaded paint and gasoline, saving countless lives and cutting the "crime wave" off at the knees before the US ripped itself apart.
Without these reforms, the US would have collapsed decades ago.
Our increasingly paralyzed and polarized administration is undoing two generations of accumulated prosperity. The US absolutely can be "fixed". It can be transformed in a dozen different ways, depending on the right combination of conditions and successful movements. Don't undersell the impact prior generations of policy have had on this country. These decisions - or the absence of them - will have real and profound consequences for ourselves later in life and for our progeny.
:haram: :gulag: :amerikkka:
And maybe the entire world (especially the global south) wouldn't be completely fucked if the US had fallen back then?
Maybe the USSR would still exist?
FDR literally said The New Deal was meant to save capitalism.
Not to mention there are real arguments to be made that all of the policies you point to were ultimately only made because of pressure from the USSR existing and revealing what the alternative could be, forcing the ruling class into concessions to avoid a full revolution.
Maybe. Or maybe it would be a different kind of fucked. The settler colonialism of the western hemisphere is not somehow uniquely rooted in DC. It isn't even unique to the west, as Japan proved.
FDR said a lot of things. But the New Deal saved America from itself and positioned it as the only unmolested industrial economy to survive WW2. The country would not be what it is today without these policies.
The USSR was not the singular source of leftist thought on the planet. And while it was routinely used as a pretext for implementing policies (Sputnik driving the formation of NASA, for instance) the industrialization of education, housing, health care, science, and medicine predates the October Revolution by generations. The New Deal, the Great Society, and the EPA all had their roots in programs implemented in states and municipalities - many founded through domestic leftist theory and action - and were popular before they were national.
What would have happened to a United States that did not fear the spectre of Leninism? A country absent Palmer Raids and the 20s-era Red Scare? A country that never rushed into WW1 following the collapse of the Russian Eastern Front or went to war with Japan in defense of the KMT? It's impossible to say. But "we never would have taught high school physics in the 70s" seems like a stretch to conclude.
Good thing that's not what I said.
I don't know why you're framing the US emerging from WW2 as "the only unmolested industrial economy" as a positive thing on a leftist forum.
I also don't understand why you think any of the points you're making equate to the ability for reform in 2021.
:yes-honey-left: healthcare please
P.S. :amerikkka: :amerikkka:
So?
My point is not that reform is impossible, it's incredibly to difficult to pass and in the cases which it does, it's achievements are rolled back. I'm not "underselling" them by stating the simple fact that these institutions have either been completely neutered if not put on life support.
With power increasingly concentrated in a handful of political actors, reforms have rarely been so easy to implement.
It just happens that the intensions of current leadership is bad, so the policy we get sucks.
Social Security and Medicare are as robust as they've ever been. Not coincidentally, they're zealously guarded by seniors.
:LIB:
:xi-lib-tears:
"Just so happens" lol. So again, incredibly hard to pass.
:agony-consuming:
Go home, Dan Crenshaw, you're drunk.
What do you mean? That black members of the petite bourgeois are no longer isolated materially from their white counterparts?
That's the nut of it