From Aspeers, a special issue on American anxieties. Kathleen Geier on inequality, the flavor of the month. David Atkins on the four basic American reactions to record inequality. Eduardo Porter on why voters aren’t angrier about economic inequality. Another dubious first for America: We now employ as many private security guards as high school teachers — over one million of them, or nearly double their number in 1980 — and that’s just a small fraction of what we call “guard labor”. The Leader of the Unfree World: Mass incarceration, perhaps the greatest social crisis in modern American history, is without parallel on a global scale. The over-policing of America: Chase Madar on how police overkill has entered the DNA of social policy. Have we all turned into a bunch of wusses? Kevin Michael Klipfel wonders. From The American Interest, John Allen Gay on the crumbling cultural foundations of American democracy: Democracy rests on a complex set of values — and many of those values are fading. Lynn Stuart Parramore on why death-obsessed pop siren Lana Del Rey is perfect for late-stage capitalist America. Is modern culture making us crazier? Martha Stout on the science behind America's deepening disturbance. Have we hit Peak America? Elbridge Colby on the sources of U.S. power and the path to national renaissance. America in warp speed decline: If America needed a reminder that it is fast becoming a second-rate nation, and that every economic policy of the Republican Party is wrongheaded, it got one with the release of the Social Progress Index (SPI). The American Century is over: Michael Lind on how our country went down in a blaze of shame. Why the doom and gloom, America? Today’s crises are no worse than many in U.S. history. Jonathan Chait writes in defense of American optimism.
