Capitalism is all about creative destruction, so American history is full of victims as well as winners. You never hear about them; in the past, they just moved on and found other jobs. This time is different, however; the losers in the change to a globalized knowledge-based economy present a serious threat to liberal democracy in America, as well as many European countries. Why the difference?
Several reasons:
- In previous destructive episodes, there was no welfare state, and it was generally accepted that the government had little or no role in redistributing wealth. Not now.
- The economic blow to the white working class took place at the same time that it was being attacked by the woke left for being misogynist and racist. The culture war blows thus piled on the economic problems to create a perfect storm of lost status and resentment.
- Previous victims of economic change were relatively powerless and had little sense of social and political entitlement. That is certainly not the case today. White Christian workers have plenty of electoral clout and believe history entitles them to run the country, whether they have a majority of votes or not.