Thread by @LarryGlickman

Terrific article by ⁦@jimtankersley⁩ and ⁦@JasonDeParle⁩ on the transformational nature of the Biden relief plan. I continue, however, to question the framing of backlashes as a reflexive response “generated” by, in their example, the 2009 Obama stimulus. 1/

I disagree with this framing at least for 2 reasons. First, The claim that the “law could provoke a backlash” denies agency to those who participate in backlashes and attributes the causal factor to be demands for equal rights or progressive legislation. /2

Second, the history of backlashes shows them to often be pre-emptive rather than reactive. To take one example, the so-called “white backlash” to the Civil Rights Movement got its name In 1963, a year before the passage of the Civil Rights Act. /3

I am researching a book about backlashes since the Civil War and have become interested in how often we focus on movements for equality or progressive legislation as the “cause” of backlashes. I discussed this a bit in @TheAtlantic last year. /4

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Backlashes are not inevitable. My mantra as I research the book is that backlashes are part of our history but they do not need to be our fate. /5