I'm no fan of Woodrow Wilson. But he had no aspiration to create a personal and heritable dictatorship (aka an absolute monarchy), as Trump clearly does, and as the majority of the Republican party would support, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The US is in more peril than at any time since the Civil War.
Without devolving into a Wilson v. Trump debate, I respectfully disagree. The Hochschild book details an array of unconstitutional, illiberal behavior by all three branches of the federal government. Most of Wilson's administration was even more illiberal than he was and they abused their power in myriad ways. The societal shocks of that period equal or exceed what the country has faced in recent years.
I'm far from sanguine about a second Trump term and will be spending much of this year arguing why it's a horrific idea. But the years after U.S. entry into World War I were appalling.
Australia had a somewhat similar experience, since opponents of the war included both the IWW and supporters of Sinn Fein. Both were crushed pretty effectively.e The Labor party split over conscription and was out of office for most of the interwar years (splitting again over the response ot the Depression) There was also a farcical element, following a rally at which two Sinn Fein supporters threw an egg at the Prime Minister, knocking his hat off. The result was the establishment of the Australian Federal Police, which hasn't covered itself in glory since.
But as with the US, this episode is almost entirely forgotten.
No, I'm 1) aware that a 2024 Trump win is possible but hardly pre-ordained; and 2) Optimistic that even if he does win, it's not the end of America because the country has survived previous bouts of illiberalism and emerged stronger as a country.
Don’t you feel this is different than previous bouts of illiberalism? And if we are to survive, how would that happen? What would survival look like? How long would it take to rid us of the illiberalism? With climate change and many other potential catastrophes looming can we really assume all will be fine because “this is America”
A LOT of American history classes never or barely go through the 20th century. Which is why my HS sophomore American Studies teacher started with the end of WWII and went from there (though I suspect it's also partially because he grew up in the hippie '60's).
Philip Roth's "the indigenous American berserk" was a perfectly good phrase in 2016 and remains so now.
Part of having recovered from that moment was going to the opposite extreme as far as electing presidents who disavowed all of Wilson's ambitions and giving the country and the Democratic Party time to remember Wilson's actual accomplishments.
In terms of optimism, I feel really, really good about Twitter being a dirty brand. I think a lot of people didn't realize that everything that they dislike about Twitter now was in a way always true in terms of having a centralized platform for marketing, crowning thought leaders, and everything else that's part of reactionary centrism (which is sort of definable as the enemy common people have to do the 'we go high' Zen master path with).
I'm no fan of Woodrow Wilson. But he had no aspiration to create a personal and heritable dictatorship (aka an absolute monarchy), as Trump clearly does, and as the majority of the Republican party would support, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The US is in more peril than at any time since the Civil War.
Without devolving into a Wilson v. Trump debate, I respectfully disagree. The Hochschild book details an array of unconstitutional, illiberal behavior by all three branches of the federal government. Most of Wilson's administration was even more illiberal than he was and they abused their power in myriad ways. The societal shocks of that period equal or exceed what the country has faced in recent years.
I'm far from sanguine about a second Trump term and will be spending much of this year arguing why it's a horrific idea. But the years after U.S. entry into World War I were appalling.
Australia had a somewhat similar experience, since opponents of the war included both the IWW and supporters of Sinn Fein. Both were crushed pretty effectively.e The Labor party split over conscription and was out of office for most of the interwar years (splitting again over the response ot the Depression) There was also a farcical element, following a rally at which two Sinn Fein supporters threw an egg at the Prime Minister, knocking his hat off. The result was the establishment of the Australian Federal Police, which hasn't covered itself in glory since.
But as with the US, this episode is almost entirely forgotten.
So you seem to be 1. resigned to a 2024 Trump win and 2. Somehow optimistic that all will nevertheless be ok because....what?
No, I'm 1) aware that a 2024 Trump win is possible but hardly pre-ordained; and 2) Optimistic that even if he does win, it's not the end of America because the country has survived previous bouts of illiberalism and emerged stronger as a country.
Don’t you feel this is different than previous bouts of illiberalism? And if we are to survive, how would that happen? What would survival look like? How long would it take to rid us of the illiberalism? With climate change and many other potential catastrophes looming can we really assume all will be fine because “this is America”
My high school history class (Langley High School in McLean Va, class of 83) didn’t get past Reconstruction.
A LOT of American history classes never or barely go through the 20th century. Which is why my HS sophomore American Studies teacher started with the end of WWII and went from there (though I suspect it's also partially because he grew up in the hippie '60's).
Philip Roth's "the indigenous American berserk" was a perfectly good phrase in 2016 and remains so now.
Part of having recovered from that moment was going to the opposite extreme as far as electing presidents who disavowed all of Wilson's ambitions and giving the country and the Democratic Party time to remember Wilson's actual accomplishments.
* and to elect leaders who could build on them with less racism and more ability to manage one's way out of a paper bag
https://clarkridune.substack.com/p/woodrow-wilson-the-very-bottom-of
In terms of optimism, I feel really, really good about Twitter being a dirty brand. I think a lot of people didn't realize that everything that they dislike about Twitter now was in a way always true in terms of having a centralized platform for marketing, crowning thought leaders, and everything else that's part of reactionary centrism (which is sort of definable as the enemy common people have to do the 'we go high' Zen master path with).