What era does MAGA refer to? More 'socialist' times?
February 12, 2020
A few days ago the historian Heather Cox Richardson posted a 'letter' outlining some US economic history, from the early 1900's to now.
The rallying cry for Trump was to Make America Great Again, always a good slogan, because many, not all, have fond memories of "the good old days". And not a new slogan being used by Reagan and Clinton. This referral may be back to the 1920's, but it was never clear to me when he meant. Maybe they meant in the 1960's. Maybe in the pre-Colonial, pre-invasion of North America days.
The past was not an idyllic as we wish to see it, what with more poverty, disease, racism, and various and sundry inequalities. The bumper sticker now is to Keep America Great, implying that the past 4 years have been a success and improved the economy, social benefits, justice, and cultural features of the country, ensuring that is a place where you can afford to live and also want to live. I would debate that most of the growth is either via leftover effects of the Obama and previous administrations, and is slowing, or due to lower taxes/less income/higher annual deficit.
But I'll leave that aside. The events covered in this history lesson start with Hoover and Coolidge deciding to let businessmen run the country. There was a boom, then a crash, and the start of massive wealth redistribution. Then it's Roosevelt's New Deal, adding a social safety net and infrastructure stimulus. Fast forward to today, with the Republican "Movement Conservatives" aiming for lower taxes, fewer services, and fewer regulations. And, despite promises to the contrary more concentration of wealth and power at the top. Of course, socialism is a bad word, equated by many with communism. Do read her post, my summary doesn't do it justice.
Speaking of socialism, this CBC article, reacting to the growth of support for Sanders, is titled, "Did a 'socialist' win New Hampshire? Can anyone but an 'oligarch' catch him?". He's also been described as a social democrat. I think many would be more comfortable with that label.
Wikipedia - Social democracy is a political, social and economic philosophy that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and a capitalist-oriented economy.
MAGA is a slogan Trump used to flip Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. That's all he needed to do to win. If you've been to any of Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, Pittsburgh, or Milwaukee, you know that idea resonates with deindustrialized America. The activist film maker Michael Moore, born in Michigan, told you this months before Trump was elected.
To give any more significance to this successful election slogan is to distort reality. What era do Obama's slogans "Hope" and "Change we can believe in" refer to? Who cares? They did their job in that election campaign.
Posted by: Brad Godot | February 14, 2020 at 10:27 AM
Re: distorting reality
I read an interesting theory that throws some light on fake news and so-called fact checking. It suggests that, before the Internet, the big news media would "lie by omission", deliberately ignoring events that didn't fit their chosen narrative. Today, they "lie by transmission", deliberately focusing on endless unimportant but sensational stories in order to drown out coverage of significant events and ideas.
Posted by: James Bowie | February 14, 2020 at 05:43 PM
Here's an interesting take on how to generate blog traffic and engagement.
A blogger, Karlyn Borysenko, had written about 20 posts over the past four years on corporate HR topics. Those posts got an average of about 20 views, and none got more than one comment. But her latest post, in which she describes going to both a Democrat and a Trump rally in New Hampshire, and how they differed, has over 20,000 views and 700 responses so far. Check it out:
https://medium.com/@karlyn
Posted by: Glen Johnn | February 17, 2020 at 07:43 AM