The Return of the 19th Century
A friend once told me that the wealthy elite didn't want to just "roll back" the New Deal, they wanted to roll back the entire 20th Century. His point was that all the social gains of the 20th Century were granted to us in order to combat global communism, and that with the collapse of communism the wealthy elite are going it take it all back. I didn't fully appreciate his sentiments until recently.
■ Big Labor ■ Second Gilded Age ■ The New Asylums ■ Worse than Slavery ■ Return of Debtor Prisons ■ The Return of Preventable Diseases ■ The Return of Monopolies ■ Return of Gilded Age Politics
RJ Eskow: 7 signs America has regressed — to the 19th century ■ Of course they shut the Federal government down. Tea Party Republicans long for the days when there were no government authorities to enforce laws and restrain the power of unchecked wealth, the days when there was no Justice Department, no SEC, no other agencies protecting Americans from the misdeeds of bankers and corporate titans. But it already seems as if our entire country has secretly been transported back in time. We may think we’re living in the 21st century, but all the signs suggest we’re living in an earlier and harsher era.