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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026

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So you deliberately destroy the economy so that nobody gets anything above bare survival?

No. I said that I am against degrowth.

either have absolutely nothing available to fight over, or so many resources that everyone can have everything they want and still have enough left

I am aiming for the latter. I apologise if that wasn't clear.

Integration sort of worked in the 1960s because it was part of the American golden age in which everyone could reasonably expect that a modicum of effort would allow them to own a house and a car and their kids could go to an affordable college and land a white collar job. In 2026, that’s no longer the case, homes are out of reach for most people, secure jobs are hard to get even as college becomes virtually unaffordable for most people.

That's the problem we need to solve.

The thesis of the linked monograph is, roughly paraphrased, is "Don't smash the machine, take it over!"; the machine being large-scale industrial production, which Mr Phillips desires be managed via the ballot box.

You can aim for it, but the planet is finite, so im not convinced you can just make large amounts of everything available. Take housing. If you’re going to ensure everyone has access to a nice home of 3-4 bedrooms and maybe 1/8 an acre of land you are limited to the inhabitable land in the USA and even then you need to be near places with jobs. You basically cannot do this. You can maybe give everyone a car, or maybe cheap consumer goods.