sive corporations, government, and culturalrninstitutions in education and thernmass media swallowed this independentrnmiddle class and converted it into therndependent, passive, well-fed, and wellentertainedrnmiddle-income proletariatrnof the 1950’s. The major cultural themernof that decade was the new dependencernof Middle American life on the structuresrnand mechanisms of the mass organizationsrnand on the elites that governedrnand manipulated these organizations.rnTelevision, Hollywood, and advertisingrnwere the most obvious instrumentsrnof mass cultural manipulation inrnthe 1950’s, but they were cut from thernsame cloth as “The Organization Man”rnin the mass economy and what MurrayrnRothbard calls the “Welfare-WarfarernState” constructed by Cold War liberalism.rnThe economic, political, and culturalrncollapse that gapes before us in thern1990’s is indeed the work of the elitesrnof the managerial system, and ProfessorsrnQuirk and Bridwell are right to documentrnthe failings of those elites and torncall for their expulsion. But the problemrnis that the middle-class proletariat ofrnthe 1950’s and afterwards that they celebraternis simply not capable of taking thernaction necessary to expel them fromrnpower. Having become dependent onrnthe mass structure of the system in thern1950’s and having lost its economic, political,rnpsychic, and cultural autonomy,rnthe Middle American proletariat nornlonger retains the ability to participaternin and lead public life except as a massrnof spectators. Its level of political participationrnhas been reduced to watchingrnwhatever portions of the national conventionsrnof the two major parties arernshown on television every four years andrnto voting for one of the two candidatesrnthat emerges from the shadow play.rnTo be sure, there are systemic discontents,rndislocations, and actual threats tornthe Middle American proletariat in thernpresent system, and an analysis of thosernfrustrations is what the authors of Abandonedrnoffer. But let us not deceive ourselvesrnthat this passive proletariat by itselfrnwill take any action to retrieverncontrol of the regime that oppresses it.rnIf there is to be any serious change inrnthe leadership and structure of thernregime, the Middle American proletariatrncan provide the army, but there is nornreason to think it can still produce thernPattons and MacArthurs who will bernnecessary to win its war for survival.