The war in Vietnam and end of the great postwar economic expansion undermined
Johnson’s program, while the social base of the Second Reconstruction had expanded to
encompass not the issue of race, but of gender, sexuality, and social class. The democratic forces
had pressed too far; the nation had reached the limits of democracy, which caused a dramatic
turn away from the social democratic compromise. The struggle for racial justice that had been
central to the spread of the democratic forces within the United States was said to have ended
racism in the United States, and that henceforth the quest would be for a color-blind society. This
universalism was then the basis for the construction of a neoliberal project designed to not only
eliminate the social democratic welfare state but also the very processes by which such a system
could be envisioned.
While during several decades post-1945, U.S. nationalism was shaped by the New Deal
framework
—
one which was essentially egalitarian, pro-labor, and so on, Ronald Reagan’s
policies and practices in the 1980s mark a significant shift away from that conceptualization of
the U.S. nation and toward the neoconservative/neoliberal orientation that had characterized the
decades up to then.
This period is also characterized by the significant increase in numbers of immigrants
coming to the United States, partially as a result of the earlier legislative opening but also as a
consequence of the economic and political destabilization of Central and Latin America and
parts of Asia. People coming into the United States have been both documented and
undocumented largely seeking employment and a means to economically support themselves and
their families. The numbers parallel those at the beginning of the 20th century. This reality has
led to significant controversy within the U.S. population about immigration policy and just how
inclusive the nation should be. This issue calls into question the portrait of the United States as a
1/16/2008
15 of 30
DRAFT
Convention