Reply #21: Yes, I remember very clearly. I also disagree it's comparable.

[TahitiNut]

"bigger and more entrenched" is a vast understatement. The two biggest differences are in economic justice (and the corresponding tax policies) and the unleashed and unrestrained global corporatism that now drives 100% of our military adventurism (rather than maybe 60%). Roe v. Wade was probably coincident with liberalism's high-water mark. It's been downhill since then,

For those symptoms that're actually measurable, I regard the Gini Index, the Federal Minimu Wage, and the top marginal FIT brackets on earned and unearned income to be the most obviously telling. Each and every one reached a zenith in the 70s and has declined ever since, as seen in the charts below. Other measurables like per capita prison population would also bear this out, but I've not charted this.

I don't believe you've made a case for anything but the increasing realization among a minority of Americans about how "we're not in Kansas anymore." That realization has neither reached a majority nor has it precipitated a reversal of direction. Not even close, yet.











One further metric perhaps deserves note. It's entirely possible, imho, that when the ratio of corporate profits to employee compensation exceeds 15%, we're flirting with economic collapse. Most assuredly, it's an indication of vast inequities in our system.