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I kind of believed that the powers that be in the US got really scared around 2009-2010 that a populist revolution was going to rise up and slit their throats. People were out in the streets demonstrating against corruption on Wall Street, the post-9/11 police state, and the Iraq War. You had these sentiments generally take the shape up of Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. 

Now, in their early days, OWS and the Tea Party were very different than what they'd be remembered for, but broadly speaking, I'm going to identify them as the precursors to the Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump movements. Both were populist, highly suspicious of elites / institutions, and both seemed genuinely grassroots. Early Occupy Wall Street was very much a mean, blue-collar "fuck bankers" movement (and not the soy hippie commune it later became), and the Tea Party was originally a huge fan of Ron Paul and highly skeptical of state and corporate power (and not the front for state and corporate power it later became). Both movements were opposed to the War on Terror, too. 

The PTB got nervous here and set about to sabotage both movements. They destroyed Occupy Wall Street with woke crap (by getting most of corporate America on board, because after all, corporate corruption is fine as long as Blackstone has a gay pride flag and says black lives matter), and it became a disorganized mess of lunatics and drug addicts. They convinced people that their real enemy wasn't the corrupt state-corporate power nexus, but conservative, working-class white people. 

Meanwhile, the Tea Party quickly became the Tea Party™ and any semblance of Ron Paul libertarianism and anti-government sentiment was quietly purged and replaced with what might as well have been a redressed neoconservative hoodwink. Opposition to immigration was suppressed because it was "bad for business". Non-interventionism was suppressed because they had a bloodlust for Iran and keeping the money flowing to Israel. Being suspicious of corporate power turned into corporate bootlicking where people excused the obviously shitty and illegal behavior of various conglomerates because to do anything about it would be "socialist".

Now that said, I think the decline goes back much further than 2008-2010, but I think that's when the shift became more noticeable. Things definitely became more unhinged right around that time.

"Work ethic, work ethic" - Vince Vaughn
 

Funny how you worship blue collar/white working class Americans and vote for Ron Paul.  That means no Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, workplace safety, health insurance, and of course the braindead gold standard.  Those very same people would be dying on the street.

 

Not sure where you derived I voted for Ron Paul from. You are bad at reading.

Ron Paul libertarianism was just one manifestation of populism in response to the financial crisis.

Also, I don't worship anyone. However, unlike you, I actually respect the working class of this country and don't have a bloodthirsty death wish for them like you do.

"Work ethic, work ethic" - Vince Vaughn
 

...you both missed the point and proved it. 

You're 100% correct - the antagonism towards Iran was entirely because it was a regional enemy of Israel. And because of Israel's incredibly disproportionate influence on American foreign policy through groups like AIPAC which are well funded by every other billionaire around. 

(that's also why we invade Iraq)

 

Nothing seems to have changed materially in favor of the movement.  To me, it seems to have gotten a lot worse with continuing consolidation of corporations and financial institutions as well as wealth in general.  I think we should make as much as we can while we can before there's no chance for people to become wealthy without being born into it, as I strongly believe that's where our country is headed.  It's both sad and upsetting, and I don't think there's much that can be done to stop it.  

 

Corporate America realized that instead of actually working towards improving the lives of working class people, they could disarm their harshest critics (the left, at the time) by going all-in on wokeism. It allowed neoliberal Professional Managerial Class types to satiate their liberal sensibilities ("i'm a good person, I support good things") without actually costing anyone any money. So you can go to work in BigLaw and defend a multinational corporation from a lawsuit claiming that they dumped toxic waste on Brazillian kids during the day, and go home at night and feel like a great person because you support LGBTQ+ or you made a #BLM post. Or you can work at a PE firm that just laid off hundreds of people after an acquisition (synergies!) and feel great anyway because you've signaled your support for your firm's Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. 

We need a more diverse, more inclusive set of people holding the whip.

 

Why is "populism in all flavors" filth? Should American politics be two classes of elites jockeying for power? Elitism in all flavors is filth, and its supporters are always decades (or years) away from destruction by populists from the left or right. Tucker Carlson has praised Elizabeth Warren's earlier work on the "two income trap" (well before she became a joke). Bernie's 2016 campaign was overwhelmingly focused on working class Americans. I won't defend AOC.  

Don't be a brainlet Boomer-Con. That bought us nothing. 

 

Should American politics be two classes of elites jockeying for power? Elitism in all flavors is filth

This is a really good point. To me, it's inconceivable to think that a country as big, developed, and diverse as the US only has 2 political parties to represent the whole electorate, both of which are super entrenched. It limits debate significantly and just becomes a match of soundbites, instead of the nuanced views that individuals and groups have.

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

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