PULLING UP THE LADDER | FROM OUR GENERATION #72

AI companies lobbying for regulation aren’t protecting the public. They’re pulling up the ladder. Anthropic just settled a $1.5 billion copyright lawsuit with publishers and is now cutting deals with teachers’ unions. Facebook paid millions after admitting its algorithms knowingly harmed children. These same authority figures now claim AI is an existential threat, echoing the same credibility gap that produced false vaccine promises and COVID policy whiplash. Nvidia’s CEO offered the simplest framework: builders know when they’re building something harmful, and they should stop doing that. But Bernie Sanders wants prison for AI engineers, positioning himself as champion of the little guy while functionally shielding the very oligarchs he claims to despise.

The deeper current is the rising appeal of socialism, and the question is why it’s gaining traction now when it couldn’t get off the runway in the 1960s. The Port Huron Statement, the Students for a Democratic Society manifesto, went nowhere politically. Today, over 50% of registered Democrats say socialism beats the free market, and Democrat Socialists of America candidates are winning primaries for Congress.

The math tells the story. Real median household income rose from $56,000 to $87,000 since 1967, a $31,000 gain. Health care costs went from $1,200 per family to $27,000 in the same period, swallowing most of that increase. Federal spending exploded from $146 billion to $7.4 trillion. Harvard tuition went from $1,500 to $57,000, triple the inflation-adjusted price. Federal debt ballooned from $286 billion to $40 trillion. Interest payments alone now exceed $1.3 trillion annually, a wet blanket across the entire economy that hits median earners hardest.

People doing everything right still can’t get ahead, and the costs they can’t opt out of (health insurance, car insurance, homeowners insurance) keep climbing. The frustration is real, but the proposed solution is the source of the problem. Bigger government created the squeeze; more of it won’t relieve it.

Meanwhile, a Michigan congressional nominee wants to abolish marriage as a religious construct. Canada’s assisted suicide program is now the third leading cause of death. One-third of House Democrats voted against a bill to prosecute Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The pattern is consistent: institutions that once restrained power are being dismantled by people who assume they’ll be the ones holding it.

For more episodes and resources, visit fromourgeneration.com.

Dive deeper with Giants of Political Thought at giantsofpoliticalthought.com.