Because of America’s greatest fear, that if we do something that benefits people, we might accidently help the wrong people. People who aren’t even white.
You just explained how unions fell apart, pensions stopped being a thing, schools lost funding, college education went up, and social safety nets disappeared.
I constantly come back to this quote from LBJ
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”