Arthur Ekirch's The Decline of American Liberalism
by Sheldon Richman
While Ekirch writes glowingly of the rise of liberalism in colonial America (without ignoring the contradictions of chattel slavery and the oppression of Indians), he underscores a "shift in emphasis" that occurred during the Revolution with its "encroachment of a new spirit of nationalism and Americanism upon the older, local frontiers of colonial days. He quotes historian Vernon L. Parrington, who wrote that the Revolution "marked the turning point in American development; the checking of the long movement of decentralization and the beginning of a counter movement of centralization.... The history of the rise of the coercive state in America, with the ultimate arrest of all centrifugal tendencies, was implicit in that momentous counter movement."
I've heard people complain that American Consumer Culture is the natural outgrowth of The Founders' glorification of Property, but I never thought that hit the mark. Of course I think the rights of property are more important than any concept of equality and I am, apparently, uniquely untempted by the sin of envy. [Hubris, on the other hand...]
I've also heard "liberals" decry the birth of this nation in bloodshed (like that's unique), explaining our crime rates and gun-ownship by it. Missing the mark again.
No, I can see this development in history and I also lament it. Nice to have an idea where it came from.
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