Standard forensic analysis of this would ask three basic questions:
1. What were/are the conditions that caused this?
2. How were those conditions created?
3. What, if anything, can change those conditions?
I have my own theories, but I'd love to see some outside perspectives. Historians, I guess. We're still in the middle of this. We still have to make it to the other side, somewhat intact.
Well, with the typical disclaimer that it's still early, history-wise, and there may be forces we don't yet have the perspective to see, my professional assessment is that it is a latticework of causes and effects—as is everything, I suppose.
- Reagan-era anti-regulation allowed corporate power to blossom, if not explode, leading to ...
- The shrinking middle class causing a greater divide between haves and have-nots;
- The abolition of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, and the rise in partisan, 24-hour media polarized the public;
- The rise of social media increased global exposure and cross-culturalism but also caused users to withdraw from personal contact and emboldened extremists.
- Karl Rove's utterly ruthless, win-at-all-costs electoral strategies;
- The recent filibuster arms race within Congress, meaning neither "side" could get anything done, resulting in the constituency (us) feeling increasingly powerless;
- 9/11, and our responses to it both domestic and international, leading to a significant distrust in the government; and
- Trump. Everything else may have supplied the kindling, but I truly believe that no one but Trump could have lit the match. He is just the right combination of utterly shameless and masterful on the mic, and powered by an astronomical ego, to turn an otherwise fringe right-wing ultra-nationalist movement into the mainstream.
I'm sure there are others that I'll think about on the way into work in the morning, or something, but those will do as a rough list.
www.rawstory.com
