Connecting the Old to the New is Duck Soup.

“It is a time when one’s spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death. It is a time when one is filled with vague longings; when one dreams of flight to peaceful islands in the remote solitudes of the sea, or folds his hands and says, What is the use of struggling, and toiling and worrying any more? let us give it all up" -Mark Twain

 

Students continue to want to talk about the 2016 election and its aftermath more so than any other topic. My Spanish-speaking students have voiced their worries over possible deportation of themselves or family members. Do Muslim students feel safe? Recently there have been attacks at Jewish cemeteries and bomb threats called in at Jewish Community Centers in most states. Membership in the Klan is rising. Hate speech is getting louder and more pronounced. Racists, sexists and bigots are feeling the sun on their faces for the first time in a long time. We live in nervous times.

The optimist in me knows this country will survive. The pessimist in me is wonders if my son will grown up in a country inherently different than the one I grew up in. And the historian in me notes contemporary signs with numerous historical similarities such as the central tenet of William Graham Sumner's What Social Classes Owe to Each Other?, to xenophobic organizations such as the American Protection Association and both the mentality behind and the actions of HUAC. 

Students want to talk about what is going on now. There are plenty of examples in recent US history to draw parallels starting with the major themes and ideologies of the Gilded Age. A new Americanization movement, a desire by some politicians to dismantle the social safety net, a return to laissez-faire economics, and embracing the old belief that government should play no role in your lives (except maybe to deliver the mail). That government is the antithesis of American liberties. Are we entering a new Gilded Age?