Inside the collapse of 'American optimism'

12 January

man hugging woman near trees

During the final hours of 1999, many preppers feared that a global disaster they called "Y2K" would bring widespread power outages along with violence, chaos and unrest. Computerized systems used by utility companies and governments, preppers claimed, had not been properly updated for the arrival of the 21st Century and a new millennium.

The Y2K doomsday scenario that those preppers were predicting never materialized, and all hell didn't break loose on January 1, 2000. But the 21st Century has turned out be highly tumultuous, from the September 11, 2021 terrorist attacks to the economic meltdown of September 2008 and the Great Recession.

In a think piece published by The New Republic on January 10, historian/author Paul M. Renfro (a professor at Florida State University) analyzes the mental state of Americans — who, he argues, greeted the 21st Century with great optimism but have since sunk into a dark, pessimistic mood.

"At the dawn of the Y2K era," Renfro recalls, "the possibilities seemed endless. The fall of the Soviet Union had consecrated a global economic and political order that paired capitalism and liberal democracy. 'Free markets' and 'free societies' went hand in hand, the thinking went, and accordingly, 'globalization' became the watchword of the period. The free flow of capital, goods, and ideas across borders and continents would open up closed societies and create a more peaceful, more stable, and more prosperous world."

But in the 21st Century, Renfro stresses, many Americans were left behind economically. And he cites the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the economic meltdown of September 2008 as two major contributors to the collapse of "American optimism."

"The dot-com crash of 2000 put a damper on some of this wild-eyed optimism," Renfro explains, "but for many observers in the United States, the dream of peace and prosperity at the end of history endured until 2008. With the onset of the Great Recession, the hope that so many felt during the Y2K era turned to despair….. In the years since, we’ve tried desperately to keep the dream alive."

The historian continues, "(President Barack) Obama bailed out and sought to rehabilitate the very financial institutions that had immiserated millions of Americans, much to the chagrin of those who occupied Zuccotti Park during his first term. Donald Trump, whose electoral base is the 'American gentry,' has often promised to deliver prosperity to those left behind by globalization and neoliberalization. But it's unclear who truly believes in the viability of the American Dream or the American Project, more broadly."

Paul M. Renfro's full article for The New Republic is available at this link.

From Your Site Articles