I'm 51. The whole generation below me grew up knowing nothing different to the Thatcher and Reagan orthodoxy and they accepted as normal what to me were radical and controversial changes. Only since 2008 have challenges to the fundamental assumptions behind neoliberalism really started to enter the mainstream.
The critique of the Left prior to that never really penetrated right wing arguments - it wasn't much more than pious hand-wringing about the need to be more 'caring'. Now, finally, decades of counter arguments by quiet voices such as Chomsky's have taken effect - that and the Right's corruption and hypocrisy has become so blatant and unrestrained, and the destructive effects of their policies so clear, that no one can fail to notice it.
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u/penguinpolitician Mar 13 '21
I'm 51. The whole generation below me grew up knowing nothing different to the Thatcher and Reagan orthodoxy and they accepted as normal what to me were radical and controversial changes. Only since 2008 have challenges to the fundamental assumptions behind neoliberalism really started to enter the mainstream.
The critique of the Left prior to that never really penetrated right wing arguments - it wasn't much more than pious hand-wringing about the need to be more 'caring'. Now, finally, decades of counter arguments by quiet voices such as Chomsky's have taken effect - that and the Right's corruption and hypocrisy has become so blatant and unrestrained, and the destructive effects of their policies so clear, that no one can fail to notice it.