Great book & would be worth it for the David Horsey cartoons alone! Anyway, the authors presented the idea that we traded our citizenship to become consumers & that's exactly how the powers that be view us & want us. More people pay attention to who got voted off the island than our elections.
I don't think there's any one thing that got us where we're at, but when I look back it feels like we used to at least try to hold our leaders & people in higher positions in our communities accountable, but not anymore. In fact, exactly the opposite. If you're rich or hold in an influential position, you get more slack cut for you, which has built up this HUGE resentment in the middle/lower/working classes, that we are held to account but those in charge are not. Sure, we've never been perfect at this accountability thing, but we at least tried. I think Nixon was a turning point. When the highest office in the land walked away from an obviously premeditated crime, those at the top figured why not see how far they could push it? How much more could they get away with? Shipping good American jobs overseas to increase their profits? Getting SCOTUS to steal an election? An illegal war? A well-financed Rush Limbaugh was a big help in directing the anger & blame to the uppity women & minorities taking white men's jobs & a whole bunch of angry white men fell for it cuz they didn't want to admit they'd been played. I think a whole bunch still cannot admit they got played. They were dupes. Marks. It's a common trait among all trumpers, & I think maybe most republicans, too or maybe just conservatives in general.
= new reply since forum marked as read