There is a strong tendency for Americans to ignore the realities of the past and the present. Many Americans ignore how and why our country was founded, slavery, periods when the scales of justice were tipped in favor of the ultra-wealthy, and unwise foreign policies. Americans typically revere the totems and symbols of past glory, yet overlook the blood, sweat, and tears that made the past and present possible. Regardless of how much we think we venerate our ancestors and our past, in reality, almost all of us routinely ignore our past as we continually reinvent ourselves. Even in times of relative stability, we are a nation continually in turmoil. While many societies value stability, America’s national narrative is reinvention. Moreover, most Americans are so enamored with getting ahead that they cannot be bothered with the past, and about one-third of us are infatuated with today’s fantasy world.
There is a lot of evidence of America’s progressive nature. The USA was the first true, large-scale democracy. We were the first to have a Constitution that provided a blueprint for representative government and a guarantee of fundamental rights. The first human to walk on the moon was an American. The world’s first skyscraper was erected in Chicago in 1885. America pioneered the Global Positioning System. Jonas Salk created the world’s first polio vaccine. The world’s first transcontinental railroad, connecting the East and West of America, was completed in 1869. On and on…
Given the USA’s creative and inventive nature, it is not surprising that we do not study outdated ideas, events, and technologies. We collectively ignore the past and only look forward. We continually keep our foot on the accelerator. However, is it possible to accelerate too fast? Speed can be exhilarating, but can it also be dangerous? This can be said for any culture or society. Societies can accelerate too fast, much like an unprepared teenage boy who wrecks his father’s sports car after attempting to break the land speed record.
One of the most revealing things about the USA is that it has, at once, a conservative mindset but a psychological wild streak. We say we want stability, yet we continually create instability.
The central idea of Alvin Toffler’s 1970 book entitled Future Shock was that the accelerating pace of technological and social change overwhelms individuals and institutions, producing a condition of “future shock” characterized by disorientation, stress, and breakdown when people face too much change in too short a time.
The manifestation of America’s rush to the future is the messy world we now live in. The Internet and now artificial intelligence have fundamentally changed our lives. These shocks and others accelerate our extreme disorientation, stress, and cultural breakdown.
There have been many books and movies about how America has evolved to its present state of cultural turmoil. One of the best depictions of the effects of this turmoil was the 1993 movie Falling Down starring Michael Douglas. Many psychologically scarred Americans do not go on a violent shooting spree (although, far too many do…I will reflexively repeat the Republican mantra, “thoughts and prayers”). Still, the movie depicts the breakdown in the social contract caused by rapid societal change. The following is a link to the movie trailer for Falling Down.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
The Natural Reaction by the Losers Depicted in Falling Down
American life was a lot like a Norman Rockwell painting after World War II. Our country was not invaded and destroyed by war, and we were the world’s only true superpower. Our nominal competitor, Russia, eventually collapsed like the little piggy’s house made of straw. China, under Mao, sent urban workers to rural areas to work in rice fields. America recognized the folly of unyielding retribution and helped to rebuild our former adversaries, as well as our European allies. We created a new world order that lasted almost 80 years.
Despite our many advantages, American capitalism planted the seeds for its own destruction. The captains of industry developed tunnel vision. There is a visual phenomenon called “behind-the-wheel tunnel vision” or peripheral vision loss (PVL). A variety of medical conditions can cause PVL, but one common reason is excessive speed. While driving down a residential street at 20 miles per hour, a good driver can look around the neighborhood and can avoid potential dangers such as children running in the street to chase a ball. However, at 150 miles per hour, a driver has little time to appreciate the scenery. The driver’s vision must be focused on the immediate road ahead.
American capitalism became driven by short-term profits and operational speed. This focus led the captains of capitalism to
- develop monopolistic practices, wherever possible
- create planned product obsolescence
- place profits over innovation
- accumulate debt
- shift from manufacturing to financial services
- engage in lobbying and make political connections to shape governmental regulations
- move jobs overseas to cut costs
- remove or reduce retirement benefits to its once loyal employees
The book The Man Who Broke Capitalism is about Jack Welch, the famous CEO of General Electric (GE). His story epitomizes how Welch’s brand of capitalism killed places like the American Rust Belt. The company founded by Thomas Edison grew to be one of the most dominant corporations in world history. However, Jack Welch’s focus on “making his quarterly financial numbers” led GE to employ financial gimmicks to appease Wall Street and save face. After Welch left GE, the next CEO discovered $43 billion in unaccounted funds, thanks to some questionable accounting practices.
Although Jack Welch made his numbers every quarter, he left a lot of collateral damage. In the ruthless pursuit of profit and shareholder value, General Electric did the following by itself:
- eliminated 300,000 jobs,
- decimated entire cities like Schenectady, Louisville, and Fort Wayne,
- lost their investors $500 billion,
- retirees who worked at GE for 40 years saw their pensions cut and healthcare eliminated.
Numerous examples explain why the movie Falling Down resonates in America’s heartland. The dot.com bubble around 2000, the mortgage deregulation fiasco of 2008, and the impending economic downturn caused by Trump’s tariff war.
The Inevitable Result of the Economic Malaise in the Heartland of America
First, there was the TEA Party circa 2009
The MAGA movement arose during Trump’s first run for President in 2015
These movements arose from the ashes of the Southern states and the Rust Belt. Their pain is real. But what do these political movements want? What is their agenda? What kind of leaders do they desire? Why do they elect leaders who follow the orders of the very capitalists who continually move their jobs overseas?
They Want to Make America Great Again
We must take the new MAGA movement at its word. They want America to revert to a bygone era and restore America to its former perceived greatness. They are so fixated on returning to the past that their perception of 2025 is radically altered, and they exist in a different dimension from the rest of America.
Interestingly, the MAGA movements seem drawn to America’s Gilded Age, a period from 1865 to 1914. Trump’s tariff program is straight out of the playbook of William McKinley, who was the President from 1897 to his assassination in 1901. America also became anti-immigrant during this period. Christian Nationalism reached a crescendo with the eventual passing of the 18th Amendment, which all the church women wanted (the prohibition on the sale and manufacture of alcohol).
The following video summarizes America’s First Gilded Age. The hypothetical narrator of the video is Mark Twain’s older brother (his brother gave Twain his first job at his newspaper). Do we want another Gilded Age?