Lyle Jeremy Rubin is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Rochester and is writing his dissertation on the reception of the political economist Adam Smith’s thought in the United States.
Ronald Reagan’s hyper-nationalist worldview grew out of the paranoid jingoism of postwar America. It led him to support fascists in Central America and see moderate liberals like JFK as dangerous radicals.
Progressive politicians like Ilhan Omar aren’t being attacked because they’re antisemitic. They’re being attacked because they threaten the bipartisan consensus on Israel and US empire.
Critiques of capitalism from the Right aren’t always completely wrong. But they can’t help pulling back far short of liberation.
Why do conservatives like capitalism? Because it keeps in place the hierarchies they cherish.
Free-market thinkers are increasingly embracing radical-sounding ideas to shore up capitalism.