I.
There’s an article in The Atlantic, “How Progressives Froze the American Dream,” by Yoni Appelbaum. Beyond the point that there’s much to criticize about the article in terms of fact (such as physical mobility being uniquely American – tell that to, say, medieval Mongols or ancient Greeks,) but I want to focus on Appelbaum’s critique of progressiveness. To Appelbaum, somehow, the problem is that those darn progressives value equality! Not the generations during which fundamentalists have gutted American education, particularly in poor states. Nope. Not THAT. Not that! Not the deindustrialization of the US that gutted the middle class through the Rust Belt. Not that, either. Not greedy capitalist land developers or the lack of political will to make affordable housing in urban areas. Nope. Not them.