Link: “The Failure of Reconstruction Is to Blame for the Weakness of American Democracy” 06.01.2023

Good article about the failure of Reconstruction in the US in the 1870s, which it argues (in contrast to the book it’s reviewing) was motivated by the hostility of the ruling class (industrialists, largescale landowners, etc.) to the economic justice being demanded by formerly enslaved people. It also made this comment about the class composition of January 6th rioters that I found enlightening:

[T]he University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats obtained employment data for 501 of the 716 people arrested or charged for their role in January 6. The vast majority were either business owners, self-employed, or white-collar professionals, including doctors, lawyers, bankers, architects, and accountants. Only 22 percent of the sample held what the compilers described as “blue collar” jobs, as either wage-earning or salaried workers. Only 7 percent were unemployed.