The Future is Another Country
As one of the two viable political parties in a system designed to allow only a duopoly, the Democratic Party’s embrace of neoliberalism has been devastating long term. No longer the party of the working class, Democrats have embraced privatization, and taken steps to severely limit the rights of workers.
The social safety-net afforded white, middle class boomers access to relative comfort. However, by middle and old age, boomers began supporting hard right-wing politicians such as Ronald Reagan, who made it their goal to destroy the welfare system that had bolstered them to middle-class status.
The American Vision falls short of many important historiographical trends. Political history, or more accurately Presidential history, is important for students to learn—our democratic government operates (or is at least supposed to) on a legalistic basis. But history is a discipline that at its best seeks to understand the human experience. It studies human beings doing things. A more comprehensive textbook would necessitate more space be given to history “from the bottom up.”
The Activist History Review