How the Mighty Have Fallen
The Bible and the Plot to Destroy American Democracy, Part 12
By the 1960s, more and more Americans rejected the notion that society was ordered like a pyramid, with a few on top and different classes filling in layers below, as they came to embrace an America where “all men were created equal” and promise “liberty and justice for all.”
This general consensus that liberalism was good, caused the old pyramid to flatten as people who were once on the bottom, moved to the middle. The expansion of the middle meant that a lot of people found themselves on the same plane as those who had once been beneath them.
There was also one group that almost entirely disappeared.
Despite the policies of the Progressive Era which had forced businesses to make some concessions to workers and the passage of the 16th Amendment, which made the income tax permanent, the titans of industry still functioned like an oligarchy until the stock market crash in 1929.
They didn’t all lose their money in the stock market, however. In 1932, the tax rate for the wealthiest earners rose from 25% to 63% and then, in 1935, it rose to 79%.
Prior to World War II only about 5% of the population paid any income tax, but war is expensive, so the Victory Tax of 1942 broadened the tax base.
From 1932 until 1981, high taxes prevented the accumulation of the kind of wealth that allowed some people to live above the law (with some notable exceptions).
The government was no longer directed by wealthy individuals and industries, rather it was managed by bureaucrats, the new middle class.
Meanwhile…
After World War II, there was a push to bring democracy to the South. While racism existed in all parts of the country, what I failed to understand until recently, was the extent to which the Southern states had established and perfected the dual state.
The dual state is where some people live in a “normative state,” and enjoy equal protection under the law, while others are subjected to the “prerogative state,” where the law is applied arbitrarily and often through violence.
Those living the normal state only see the normal system at work, so they are often blind to the prerogative state - until they’re not. The atrocities of the holocaust, and Germany’s dual state that preceded it (which was emboldened by the American South - see Revision History, “Hitler’s Olympics, Part 8: Vater, It’s to be Fayetteville.), awakened people to what was happening in their own country.
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional, which marked the beginning of the dismantling of Jim Crow laws and the end of the dual state that defined the American South.
By the late 1960s, liberalism had seemingly crushed white supremacy.
Meanwhile…
In the 1920s and 30s, Christian fundamentalists separated themselves from the mainline churches, which emphasized social justice over strict interpretations of Christianity, including male headship.
If your family attended church in the 1950s and 60s, they probably went to a mainline church (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, American Baptist, Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ) or Catholic. Even Southern Baptists were moving toward more liberal interpretations of Christian teachings.
During this time, mainline denominations began requiring their clergy to earn a Masters of Divinity degree from an accredited seminary for ordination. These seminaries provided a broad education in theology, biblical studies, church history, pastoral care, ancient biblical languages, and doctrine. Prior to entering seminary, these clergy also had a Bachelors Degree from an accredited college or university, often in a liberal arts field (philosophy, psychology, English, history, etc.).
Believing that true Christianity had been corrupted by liberalism, fundamentalists separated and developed a relatively small subculture within American society. They created their own publishing houses and Bible colleges, which placed stronger emphasis on biblical studies and interpreting the world through the lens of Scripture.
The mainliners and the fundamentalists began to evolve into two different species. The former interpreted the Bible through the lens of reason and evidence (the world), while the latter interpreted the world through the lens of Scripture.
In 1956, both the Methodists and the Presbyterians began officially ordaining women. Liberalism was challenging the authority of men in their own homes, which brings us to our final meanwhile…
Women have always worked. They began working in factories in the early days of the industrial revolution, they also worked as secretaries, telephone operators, wetnurses, seamstresses, maids, cooks, etc., but during World War II, more women took jobs that had previously been held by men.
When the war ended, women were supposed to go back to their menial jobs or stay home, but they didn’t. They went to college and they started to demand equal pay, but there was always something that gave men the edge - pregnancy.
In 1960, the FDA approved the first oral contraceptive and in 1965 the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot restrict married women’s access to birth control (this was expanded to single women in 1972 and minors in 1977).
Then, in 1973, the Court ruled that the decision to end a pregnancy resided with the individual, not the government. This was preceded by Congressional passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, which was sent to the states for ratification.
Liberalism, the rights of the individual over the State, dealt a crushing blow to the patriarchy.
The forces of oppression - greed, racial supremacy, religious fundamentalism, and patriarchy - had been exposed and were eroding, but they did not disappear.
Next week: The Empire Strikes Back
Photo by Dave Meckler on Unsplash
Follow me on Substack to get content delivered to your inbox.