No, not since 2009.

Nah, that was true from 1986 through 2009, but it went back to him being born on Krypton in “Secret Origin.” The standard born-on-dying-Krypton story has persisted through New 52 and Rebirth.

Turkmenistan has barely been totalitarian for a single generation; the Soviet Union broke up in my lifetime. And yes, North Korea has persisted through a little over two generations of Kim family control that seems to show no signs of stopping anytime soon from the outside, but that’s not too far outside of “a couple” of generations. I’d say that the jury is still out on them, too, but even if the DPRK lasts for a century or more, they become an extreme outlier in the face of every other fascist regime in the history of the world.

You’re not wrong, though the US has gone through this sort of thing before in the past. Once the Great Depression wiped away the excesses that came from the post-WWI economic boom, it led directly to Roosevelt’s New Deal; “perhaps the greatest achievement [of which] was to restore faith in American democracy at a time when many people believed that the only choice left was between communism and fascism.”

Sound familiar?

That’s the most visible example of our previous experience with this, but it’s far from the only one: Rapidly increasing economic inequalities, coupled with the fight over slavery, led to the election of Lincoln; he of course issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but he also signed into law social programs such as the Homestead Act and a land grant program which resulted in the establishment of many lower-income colleges and universities around the country, including several HBCUs. When the extreme disparities of the Gilded Age reached a tipping point in the late 1800s, the Progressive Era began, bringing things like women’s suffrage, environmental protections, and “muckraking” journalism that rooted out corruption. The attempts at state-level fascism in the midst of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s led to the election of Kennedy and to Johnson’s “Great Society,” which brought with it food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid, and consumer protections, among many other things.

Buchanan led to Lincoln. Hoover led to Roosevelt. Nixon led to Carter. Bush led to Obama. It’s a pendulum of extremes: rapid progressive change is birthed from times of economic inequality, there’s a steady-state era in which progressive policies lead to rapid growth, but then the rich start to get frustrated with regulation and taxation, and corruption begins to increase once more, leading to increasing inequality; the people get mad, control of the government is wrested back, and the cycle begins anew. The pendulum has been swinging since before the Magna Carta even.

Still, you are right about the big question here: whether or not the country will survive the next swing of the pendulum in its current form, or if a different society will have to be birthed from its ashes.

Then they’re big enough to fight back.

When I was a high school student, the New Deal was a topic that was covered with great fanfare. It was as a part of the Early 20th-century unit that led up to the second World War. I partially remember because I was a deluded right-winger at the time and thought it was ridiculous that they were making such a big deal out of a government handout program.

Or “hm. Well, I know based on the pole over there that there is a traffic light at this intersection, but it’s behind a tree so it’s technically not in the image.”

Take your upvote and go.

You misunderstand me, as the other comment notes. I’m talking about actual change: “The New Deal,” capitalized: the relief, reform, and recovery of the 1930s, not “the new deal,” lowercase, that they just passed.

Indeed. Yikes, our history education is in rough shape.

Historically, humans don’t just suffer in silence for more than a couple of generations.

My wife and I theorize that babies start smiling at around 2-3 months because that’s about the time that new parent adrenaline wears off, and if they didn’t start smiling the human race would’ve been collectively dropped off at the nearest bear’s den.

This is such a bizarre phenomenon. Not “micro-retirement,” but business news outlets learning about something that’s incredibly normal but might have a new name or angle, and then writing it up as if it’s this insane and reckless overreach (occasionally throwing the bone of “…though there might also be good reasons for this”).

How do the writers behind a “micro-retirement” not get halfway through the research for this and then go “oh wait, I guess this is just normal PTO”?

Same with all of the “millennials are destroying X industry” articles. Literally just “oh, this generation doesn’t like that product.” Or “people are house-hacking” articles (literally just having roommates). Or “Quiet quitting” (literally just doing your job).

Probably this has a lot to do with people who are old, or who were born rich (or both) not remembering what it’s like to be young and poor, I guess. Or having corporate pressure to write an article lambasting young people for not working hard enough. Or just feeling the pressure to write something every day.

I can’t believe it’s clickbait. That hasn’t worked in a decade or more, right?

Well, it’s either that or American Revolution II: Electric Boogaloo, so I hope so too.

Millennial here. The true answer is None Of The Above. The actual download button is just a blue link somewhere on the page, probably among all of the torrent info.

This can be good: I don’t go out of my way to recommend mediocre things just because they’re the first good (or even just acceptable) version of a thing that I’ve encountered.

Perspective is a gift.

it’s never getting back to port

In the event of an actual crash, a lot of these “nevers” will get re-evaluated. The New Deal consisted of a lot of “nevers” that all got passed because people didn’t want a repeat of the first Great Depression; I’d expect a similar snap-back after the second Gilded Age finally burns itself out.

When I say “can’t,” I don’t mean “he won’t try” or even “he won’t be allowed to do it.” I mean it in the same sense as “you can’t run a red light when no police officers are watching.” This is a rule we’ve agreed upon and even set down as law for everyone’s protection. Sure, you’ll make it through, and no one will stop you; but if you’re driving a big enough truck you’re going to hurt and kill a lot of people in the process. And the guy coming up behind you might well do the same thing and hit you with the next truck.

Yet another victory for federation.

Interesting. I knew about “bear” but I did not know about “medved” as another minced-taboo. Thanks for that.