Zinn’s chapter on “The Unreported Resistance” presents an American societal conflict that is uniquely dire in a time of heightened risk of violent division. Post-Cold War foreign policy is held by the grips of capitalism and nuclear armament, and while public support for increased military spending may have been present, it was contested in disproportionately large amounts. Student and university movements were large and widespread against budget allocations towards nuclear armament and corporate defense spending, especially when multiple presidential administrations moved to cut spending on social welfare programs at the same time. Foreign policy decisions, specifically those made in the Global South, were fought against for their destructive and hypocritical policies. From South Africa to El Salvador, the support given by the United States did anything but protect democracy. Even though Post-Cold War American protest movements are relatively overlooked compared to those of the 60s and 70s, they were forcible and often created real change from the grassroots upwards: consider the congressional popularity overthrowing Reagan’s veto of South African economic sanctions.
This is what I believe to be the essence of Zinn’s work: to tell a history of resistance that subverts the popular narrative, opening a conversation on the underlying problems that impede American progress. The issue of true societal popularity is worth noting here. Zinn uses some pretty shocking statistics when describing the amount of discontent versus non involvement with the American people. One could argue that while only 29% of eligible adults voted for Reagan’s re-election, thousands of protest movements reminiscent of the counterculture marked an era of constant dissent from a nation gripped by the momentum of late-stage capitalism. Public opinion surveys regularly found that the majority of Americans did not look favorably upon the current paradigm of military spending (Zinn 611,612). When he explains the “permanent adversarial culture”, he points to a potential crack in the present system, one that will require hefty reform to overcome if any progress forwards is to be made.
I think what you said about the prevalence of non-involved Americans disagreeing with the government is important to recognize. When Reagan was re-elected, the vast majority of Americans did not vote, yet thousands (if not millions) disapproved of his military spending. The fact that many Americans would protest a President rather than vote him out would cast a dark shadow on American democracy as it shows a loss in trust of the system. In this way, the year 2020 has been good for democracy as people who protested the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd actually invested their trust in the democratic system by voting. The fact that Donald Trump was voted out rather than simply protested against shows a heightened trust in our institutions.