November 6, 2020 

Well, I finished The Upswing by Robert D. Putnam. Very interesting and revealing concerning our countries changes since the Gilded Age 1870-1900 to present. The Gilded Age was characterized by rapid industrial growth, exploitation of working class and newly arrived immigrants, child labor, little if none interest in safe working conditions, pollution, and greater community cooperation to provide for our population. The Robber Baron era with monopolies, not regulation, and corruption. Yet during that time there was individuals joining with others to presage the changes to come in the early 1900s. Woman did not have the vote and were left much less educated. Jim Crow era after Reformation was gripping the south stifling human rights with terror, Klu Klux Klan, pole taxes, lynchings, and laws stifling voting, movement and employment. So there was a great migration north to ghettoized enclaves in bigger cities. The Progressive party and advocates including Teddy Roosevelt attempted many different approaches to change this stifling environment but excluded the blacks. High school education was not a top down innovation but supported through cities and townships tax dollars so gradually our population became educated. With the exodus of blacks to the more liberal and economically promising north more education and vocational training opportunities became available down in the south due a shortage of labor. The Gilded era was characterized more by the I individual making his way rather than we are in this together. In this time early 1900 women's suffrage movement was developing. Union organizing began in earnest. Child labor laws and some workers protections began. People began joining organizations of mutual interest and benefit. Laws restricting monopoly power were enacted. The Great War and the Pandemic of 1918 caused much suffering but helped give the country more impetus towards improving the common good. The roaring twenties put a pause to this but then the Great Depression improved our sense of community and shared responsibility. F.D.R. gathered many progressive and there was a burgeoning of innovative projects, new government agencies, and social security and other innovations. WWII improved our common bonds and interest in community, service, and sacrifice. Women were now employed in industry and fields formerly closed to them. Though the right to vote was passed in 1920 many barriers in employment were still present and reinstituted once the WWII was won. The Cold War was upon us with fears of nuclear war. Through the fifties the middle class mushroomed and flourished. A high point for the we ness  in the 1960's was enhanced through landmark legislations. The Civil Rights Act was signed. There were demonstrations and groups traveling to our formerly segregated south confronting discriminatory rules, customs, and laws. Martin Luther King was active and advocating for a war on poverty and discrimination. Kennedy was in office with his brother attorney general being pulled along by events. The Cuban missile crisis was resolved while our citizens were living through the cold war period of the fifties into the sixties. McCarthyism was at the forefront of our governments hounding of dissident voices. Kennedy declared that we should consider what we should do to improve our country rather than just pursue our own parochial interests. His administration started the Peace Corp and therefore highlighted a more noble charge for our nation to work for the betterment of other countries. Then suddenly he was assassinated, his brother assassinated, and Martin Luther King assassinated. The civil protests in Detroit (12th Street riots) and other places occurred. The Vietnam war was fought with the presidents Johnson and Nixon pursuing our defeat without taxation leading to great debt and stagflation of the 1970's. In the 1960's mores changed. A movement to turn yourself on to psychedelic experiences and drop out occurred. Our great folk singers create many classics extolling anti war sentiments and our individual rights. Women agitated for more equality while becoming more free in their sexuality with birth control. Within a short period of time from an enthusiastic time of progressive group political achievements we had protests, riots, repressive reactions from authorities, and economic stagflation with the development of rich oligarchy. The Weathermen bombings, the Symbionese Liberation Army (Patty Hearst), and other anarchists caused concern. The Chicago police riots against the Vietnam protesters and then the fiasco of a trial of the Chicago 7. Yes the black Panther leader was allegedly murdered in his home by our government. We did get to the moon before but now chaos and finally Nixon resigned. Less we more I was the result. 

Putnam shows in graphs interesting changes over these last 125 years. For example, in the fifties and sixties there was much more collaboration between parties with included jointly sponsored bills that were pass between parties. Not now. People named their children with more common names during the we ness phase but more individual and unusual names later. Group participation in clubs, unions, settlement houses, mutual aid groups, and social groups flourished in the we times but has fallen off considerably. Even our parenting principles and outlook has changed with these changes. Whether our more digital age and media changes have contributed Putnam is not certain. He makes no mention of the NRA and Second Amendment issues dividing our groups. From the 1950 to 1965 times more people shared in the country's wealth. There was more mobility between jobs and less deaths of despair. This all changed in reverse as we approached our present time. 

The reason I like this book also is related to how I lived through the fifties and sixties coming of age but also my beginnings at the time of WWII. I recall as a child being trained to hide under my desk in our school room for an atomic bomb drill. I remember my father was an air raid warden and we had to have our blinds closed with low light at night during WWII. I had a victory garden of carrots which someone had uprooted near harvest. In the 1960-1970s Ann was very involved with N.O.W. (National Association of Women). We both went to EST (Erhard Seminar Training). We learned to meditate, went to talks and sessions with Buddhist practitioners, participated in the events unfolding with riots in our streets over racial injustices and the Vietnam War.  9/11 , the Iraq War of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Afghan war and distrust of government and authority was highlighted in these events. Conspiracy theories were more believed again. 

So here we are today. We ness and individual autonomy we need both while we address the concerns and problems of  our disaffected and marginalized. Racism and sexual discriminations continues but must be confronted with compassion but strength. Our economic class problems and income distribution needs addressing. The climate changes and our negative impact on our environment requires redress. Health care issues needs much work with a right of all people to adequate medical care and basic needs met. The pandemic continues out of control.  But trust in government is at an all time low. We do have a long road to travel and my hopes on on the younger generations.

Leonard