youngstown

A Little Light for the Clouded Enlightenment

Image: On Jeopardy facts win; The Paragraph

The United States is the world's first liberal democracy, a product of the The Enlightenment. As such, the founders built it on the principles of unity, liberty, tolerance and equal rights. And they designed it to make policy based on factual knowledge and bathed in the light of reason. But, today, in the time of Trump, factual knowledge is getting clouded over in several ways.

Youngstown Steel Strike

Youngstown was one of the hubs of the steel industry in 1916.
The mills hummed with activity as they tried to meet the demand from the war in Europe.
The steel unions had been crushed in the 1890's. The shantytown slums on the town outskirts were filled with recent immigrants from eastern Europe who were willing to work in those dangerous jobs with long hours and little pay.

It was a good time to be a capitalist.