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What a remarkable document! I’ve long been puzzled by the establishment reaction to the social ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Powell isn’t wrong abo

What a remarkable document! I’ve long been puzzled by the establishment reaction to the social ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Powell isn’t wrong about there being a strong anti-US element to it, nor that a great deal of that sentiment originated with left wing academics, but instead of recommending reforms to the system that would make it harder to attack, he proposes that the chamber of commerce appoint a board of textbook censors! This is a full on declaration of intellectual bankruptcy, an admission that they are unable to argue against Marxists. Which seems insane to me given how terribly Marxism was working out at that very moment, compared to capitalism, in basically any axis of human well being you might choose to measure.

Animats 2y ago
That plan was put into effect, and remains very influential today. - The Heritage Foundation was part of the implementation.[1] - Far more businesses hired lobbyists in Washington.[2] Business lobbying used to be a minor activity. - Academic support was obtained. First, from Milton Friedman. See his famous article announcing that the social purpose of corporations is to increase profits.[3] This gave academic respectability to "Greed is good, greed works". Entire academic centers were purpose-built to push this position. The Mercatus Center at George Washington University is one such.[4] Other academic institutions were repurposed, through funding, to support this effort. The Hoover Institution is one of them.[5] None of this is a secret, but it's not that well known. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation [2] https://academic.oup.com/book/9937/chapter-abstract/157272640 https://academic.oup.com/book/9937/chapter-abstract/15727264... [3] https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctrine-the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to.html https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctr... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercatus_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercatus_Center [5] https://www.hoover.org/about/hoover-story/timeline https://www.hoover.org/about/hoover-story/timeline
- sevensor 2y ago
  Thank you so much for providing context; this answers a lot of questions I had about how we got to where we are today in the U.S.

Animats 2y ago

That plan was put into effect, and remains very influential today. - The Heritage Foundation was part of the implementation.[1] - Far more businesses hired lobbyists in Washington.[2] Business lobbying used to be a minor activity. - Academic support was obtained. First, from Milton Friedman. See his famous article announcing that the social purpose of corporations is to increase profits.[3] This gave academic respectability to "Greed is good, greed works". Entire academic centers were purpose-built to push this position. The Mercatus Center at George Washington University is one such.[4] Other academic institutions were repurposed, through funding, to support this effort. The Hoover Institution is one of them.[5] None of this is a secret, but it's not that well known. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation [2] https://academic.oup.com/book/9937/chapter-abstract/157272640 https://academic.oup.com/book/9937/chapter-abstract/15727264... [3] https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctrine-the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to.html https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctr... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercatus_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercatus_Center [5] https://www.hoover.org/about/hoover-story/timeline https://www.hoover.org/about/hoover-story/timeline

sevensor 2y ago
Thank you so much for providing context; this answers a lot of questions I had about how we got to where we are today in the U.S.