tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9087565.post7709678076048662801..comments2023-10-24T07:06:36.815-07:00Comments on Small Precautions: The collapse of the Soviet Union and the crisis of the Western welfare stateNilshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04220861634503974376noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9087565.post-62160515152130255132012-11-29T15:38:17.187-08:002012-11-29T15:38:17.187-08:00Couldn't an equally valid argument for the rec...Couldn't an equally valid argument for the recent rightward paradigmatic shift in this nation be the result of an accumulation of over 60 years of anti-Communist, anti-intellectual fist pounding, and pro-mass consumerism, pro-Christianization of the United States that started to materialize in the post-War epoch, gained significant momentum after the "failed" liberal policies of the Johnson administration (with the assistance of the United States' very own "Mandarins") and emboldening of Nixon's "Silent Majority," then metastasized after a nadir period called the '70s and supposed triumph of right-wing ideologies (economic, foreign, and domestic) in the Reagan era (even though many of Reagan's policies were outdated liberal ones, such as his economic policies, which Reagan is now regaled for were, in fact, Keynesian policies--though manipulated and bastardized), and then finally permeated the country after the fall of the USSR.<br /><br />Then look at the rise of Newt Gingrich. Look at the Republican control of House and Senate from 1994 to 2006. Etc. etc.<br /><br />Of course, this all still falls into a Cold War context, and isn't to suggest the Fall didn’t negatively affect Western welfare states. But conversely to this article's point: without the Soviet Union (or more precisely Stalin's Soviet Union) from the very start, the far right-wing policies would have never bled into the mainstream of American ethos. <br /><br />Thoughts?<br />Iaiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9087565.post-41095568230418647712012-06-12T17:36:45.382-07:002012-06-12T17:36:45.382-07:00You should read this article, which I'm sure I...You should read this article, which I'm sure I've recommended previously: <br /><br />"Communism and Capitalism are both pillars of the high-modernist control project. The signature of modernity is not markets, but technocratic control projects. Capitalism has simply done it in a manner that is more easily and more regularly subverted..."<br /><br />http://www.macroresilience.com/2012/02/21/the-control-revolution-and-its-discontents-the-uncanny-valley/Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06518261098501289814noreply@blogger.com