The reactionary narrative on recent American history runs like this:
- Life was good in the fifties. The white patriarchy was firmly in charge, and manufacturers were making good money and paying high wages.
- The Civil Rights Movement and the culture wars of the sixties were a disaster for the moral fiber of the country.
- The country was falling apart at the seams by 1980.
- Reagan changed everything. By cutting taxes and siding openly with white social conservatives, he turned the country around. It was morning in America.
- His GOP successors believed in tax cuts, too, but they didn’t fight the culture wars with enough gusto. Traditional values collapsed, and real Americans were no longer respected.
- But Trump won in 2016, and America is great again!
Elizabeth Warren’s version of the narrative, on the other hand, would run something like this:
- Culturally, the fifties left a lot to be desired, but they were, in fact, a golden age for American workers. Corporations were subject to very high taxes, and were forced to be good citizens. White workers were better off as a result.
- The Civil Rights Movement and the culture wars of the sixties were a necessary response to the tyranny of the white patriarchy.
- The problems of the late seventies were overblown, and were largely the result of bad luck.
- Reagan made corporate greed fashionable. The massive increase in inequality, and the growing indifference of large corporations to anything other than profit, are attributable to his administration. Workers have been suffering ever since.
- Elect me, and make capitalism great again!
If Warren is the nominee, the election will largely be a battle between these two competing narratives. Will the electorate agree that Reagan was a disaster? I have my doubts.