> Compare the amount of classical liberalism in 1800 and 2000. Whether that can continue past the middle and into full-blown totalitarianism is untested.
You mean in 1800 when the Alien and Sedition Acts were in force and the government didn't even have to come up with some pretense and prosecuted and convicted people directly for what they said in the press? I don't think the U.S. circa 2000 suffers for that comparison! If you want to talk about which is a more free society, the U.S. in 1800 or the U.S. in 2000, you also can't leave women and blacks (combined more than 50% of the population!) out of the equation...
It's ahistorical to pretend that the U.S. has only gotten less free over time. Vis-a-vis "classical liberalism" the government claimed the power to regulate all interstate commerce in 1824--the only difference today is that you can't even buy a candy bar at a vending machine without engaging in an interstate commercial transaction. If you live today the way the vast majority of the population lived in 1800 (on a farm growing food for your own consumption and sewing your own clothes, etc), you'd probably find that government doesn't reach your activities appreciably more today than it did 200 years ago.
It's also ahistorical to pretend that our rights are universally weaker than they were in 1800. Remember, at that time, the Bill of Rights did not apply to the states. The liberal Supreme Courts of the 1960's and 1970's dramatically strengthened due process rights and habeas rights relative to what they were before. First Amendment rights are dramatically stronger than they were in 1800 (the "obscenity" exception to the 1st amendment has been whittled down to pretty much just child porn).
Now, I won't say the U.S. is the freest its ever been. When you take into account the experience of all Americans (not just rich white males), the freest the U.S. has ever been was probably the mid 1990's. But, it's been worse before. It was worse under the Alien and Sedition Acts. It was worse under Lincoln who governed under borderline martial law. It was worse under McCarthy. From an economic rights point of view--the country was far more regulated in 1935-1970 (vast swaths of the economy, everything from transportation to telecommunication, was deregulated from 1970-1990).
The idea that the trajectory of the U.S. has inexorably been in the direction of less freedom is nothing more than looking at the past with rose-colored glasses. It's not a perspective rooted in historical truth.
You mean in 1800 when the Alien and Sedition Acts were in force and the government didn't even have to come up with some pretense and prosecuted and convicted people directly for what they said in the press? I don't think the U.S. circa 2000 suffers for that comparison! If you want to talk about which is a more free society, the U.S. in 1800 or the U.S. in 2000, you also can't leave women and blacks (combined more than 50% of the population!) out of the equation...
It's ahistorical to pretend that the U.S. has only gotten less free over time. Vis-a-vis "classical liberalism" the government claimed the power to regulate all interstate commerce in 1824--the only difference today is that you can't even buy a candy bar at a vending machine without engaging in an interstate commercial transaction. If you live today the way the vast majority of the population lived in 1800 (on a farm growing food for your own consumption and sewing your own clothes, etc), you'd probably find that government doesn't reach your activities appreciably more today than it did 200 years ago.
It's also ahistorical to pretend that our rights are universally weaker than they were in 1800. Remember, at that time, the Bill of Rights did not apply to the states. The liberal Supreme Courts of the 1960's and 1970's dramatically strengthened due process rights and habeas rights relative to what they were before. First Amendment rights are dramatically stronger than they were in 1800 (the "obscenity" exception to the 1st amendment has been whittled down to pretty much just child porn).
Now, I won't say the U.S. is the freest its ever been. When you take into account the experience of all Americans (not just rich white males), the freest the U.S. has ever been was probably the mid 1990's. But, it's been worse before. It was worse under the Alien and Sedition Acts. It was worse under Lincoln who governed under borderline martial law. It was worse under McCarthy. From an economic rights point of view--the country was far more regulated in 1935-1970 (vast swaths of the economy, everything from transportation to telecommunication, was deregulated from 1970-1990).
The idea that the trajectory of the U.S. has inexorably been in the direction of less freedom is nothing more than looking at the past with rose-colored glasses. It's not a perspective rooted in historical truth.