The mess we’re in started more than seventy years ago

In Sunday’s letter, Heather Cox Richardson provides a cogent history of how we got to the mess we’re now in. It’s the logical outcome of two generations who have been sold and bought into the peculiar myth of U.S. cowboy individualism.

The myth rose following the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. The idea of white men acting for freedom and justice on their own, unhampered by government, became the guiding image for the rising right wing. Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan championed it, blaming government support of undeserving minorities and women for the economic woes of hardworking Americans. Cowboy individualism spread into foreign affairs as well, enabling George W. Bush to embark on the disastrous Iraq war with the support of the American people. This laid the groundwork for Trump’s ill-timed and ill-advised war with Iran.

We recommend that you take time to read Richardson’s piece. Remember this quote from George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

https://substack.com/home/post/p-190360928