I don't think this is particularly nutty, but I don't see it as a root cause. LTG pointed out some real problems. If we were in the 50s-60s can-do mindset we'd

I don't think this is particularly nutty, but I don't see it as a root cause. LTG pointed out some real problems. If we were in the 50s-60s can-do mindset we'd have reacted with "well let's roll up our sleeves and fix it then!" But that wasn't the reaction at all. The reaction was doom and gloom and futility with a hefty helping of thinly veiled racism and classism. Gotta stop those poor and brown people from overrunning the country club! I think LTG was an example of something that hit at just the right time to capture a dominant zeitgeist that was already shifting toward conservatism and pessimism. It was a lightning rod.