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...you mean the age that propelled a backwater colony to riches and turned it into a global super power?

• pron 11y ago
  Yes, that one, and in the process turned large portions of the population into serfs to the point where they cried for help. No one will deny the great progress the US made in the gilded age, but no one would say it is an age one we'd like to repeat (as its name suggests, it is not generally regarded as a good period in American history; important? certainly; interesting? absolutely; but good? not really). The USSR made tremendous progress during Stalin's various five-year plans, but that, too, is something no one wishes to repeat. Both cases prove that it is possible to make great leaps by enslaving your populace. Of course, we've known that since the Romans. The trick is not to make progress. The trick is to preserve your values while still making progress. Communism and Libertarianism are two ideas that had their chance. They both yielded quick leaps forward but also ruined the lives of millions. Their proponents would claim that neither was really tried in its true form -- and both camps would be absolutely right -- but I think most people have the good sense to trust that any further experiment (of either) would turn out similar enough to previous ones.
  • vezzy-fnord 11y ago
    Communism and Libertarianism are two ideas that had their chance. [citation needed] I don't know about communism. Where libertarianism is concerned, there is no evidence for it being tried beyond a post facto shoehorning of the Gilded Age as "libertarian" for what was just economic liberalism. Sounds like people who criticize it don't have any idea of what it entails.