> The US was a reasonable approximation to libertarian up until perhaps FDR or so.
Wouldn't it be great if somehow the titans of Silicon Valley could figure out a way to bring back sweatshops, company towns, employment sharks, Pinkertons, and child labor? Oh, wait.
I'm not going to claim the US then was a paradise.
But when you're complaining about conditions in the US in those times, the fair thing to do would be to compare with conditions before 1800, not after 1930.
The fact remains that 1800s US raised several scores of millions of people from poverty in the middle class, and achievement that occurred nowhere else in that time. You can also see it in the statistics - average height improved dramatically throughout that time period, as did longevity.
The immigrants to the US had barely enough for a ship ticket. The wealthy did not immigrate here, the poor did to escape the miserable poverty in Europe.
You can see for yourself if you take a tour of Fort Henry. They have an exhibit of clothing from the Revolutionary War period. They look sized for children. Then visit a museum in Gettysburg where they have uniforms on display. They look like uniforms for boys.
That'll give you some idea of how live improved in the US.
Expecting the US to go from 0 to 60 in a month is absurd.
Wouldn't it be great if somehow the titans of Silicon Valley could figure out a way to bring back sweatshops, company towns, employment sharks, Pinkertons, and child labor? Oh, wait.