All change is led. So yes, it's not true an entire generation conspired to do this, no groups act in that…

All change is led. So yes, it's not true an entire generation conspired to do this, no groups act in that way. But they have consistently, for 50 years, voted for the people who did. To pretend there's no culpability here is disingenuous. /1 https://t.co/7rADC7ajVB https://t.co/cYiUY8dIS8

"But there is a theme that threads through and ties together all the strands: many of the most talented, driven Americans used what makes America great–the First Amendment, due process, financial and legal ingenuity, free markets and free trade, meritocracy, even democracy.../2

...itself–to chase the American Dream. And they won it, for themselves. Then, in a way unprecedented in history, they were able to consolidate their winnings, outsmart and co-opt the forces that might have reined them in, and pull up the ladder so more could not share in.../3

...their success or challenge their primacy." Boomers *consistently* voted for political libertarians in the past 50 years, in much of the world. It appealed to their worldview. For Reagan, and Thatcher, and John Howard here at home. With minor flirtations with the 'Left'. /4

Bob Hawke may seem the exception in Oz, though the Hawke/Keating government was also heavily modelled on what some call the centre-Right. So more libertarian-lite. There's something in those beliefs that appealed to this generation, and they won't come to terms with it. /5

It's one thing to note, as I often do, that the people who lead change in the world are tiny in number and should carry most of the weight of responsibility for the outcomes. The world is networked. /6

But even though their true colours have been visible multiple times in the past 50 years, that same massive voting bloc kept returning to them, like a dog to its own vomit. Something in those beliefs appealed. This generation began with strong anti-establishment beliefs. /7 https://t.co/F5Zpo4exIj

To me that was the origin of this 50-year record of consistent support for political libertarian causes. What began as legitimate criticism of the way existing mechanisms were operating in the 1960s, became an all-out assault on *all* establishment mechanisms. /8

And I don't think even today people realise how deep that instinct still is. That level of distrust in institutions. Even an innocuous-looking thing like freedom of information, everybody lines up to cheer it on. It's that same anti-establishment distrust. /9

Covid made clear that it was even worse than this, that many had no idea these institutions existed at all, never mind what function they performed. They've been erased from the collective memory. Huge numbers of people think societies are run by politicians. /10

Facing off against an amorphous 'public', that doesn't even exist. The public is made, continuously, by public institutions. It's an act of analysis and ongoing action. This erasure from collective memory left societies wide-open to the seductive con of social media. /11

Seen as a great tool to mobilise populations, democracy in action! As if democracy ever operated in that way. Social media is a massive accelerant in the destruction of what's left of our public institutions. Trump took the US Presidency and sacked the Capitol with it, ffs. /12

Just because beliefs have unintended outcomes doesn't make them innocent. Adolescent rebellion became an adult culture. We're still living the consequences. /end