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.
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?