Social scientist and author #Bob #Putnam has pointed out that
the Gilded Age ended only when a spirit of progressive reform
“began in ordinary small towns in the middle of America and then spread from there.”
Simply put, we cannot wait for someone else to bring Trump, Musk, Zuckerberg, and their ilk to heel.
Putnam reminded us:
“What we learned from [the Gilded Age] is that history is not determined by something outside.
We think that the critical factor is really citizen agency
—that the choices that individual people make will, in fact, determine whether we end up on one path or another.”
He urged:
️“Don’t be cynical. Don’t think that this is all determined by somebody else.
Working with others, you can make a difference because people exactly like you, people of the same age as you, changed things the last time.”
Our task to recapture democracy begins in earnest today.
-- @JenRubin
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-new-progressive-era-a-conversation-with-robert-putnam-and-shaylyn-romney-garrett/