Past As Prologue with Michael Phillips

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This is a 1983 restored archival program. Santayana said, “Those who do not understand history are condemned to repeat it “ A paraphrase on this famous aphorism for today's program might be, ”Those who do understand history are empowered to predict the future.” Michael Phillips argues that historical patterns, particularly baby booms, shape major legislative and social change. Phillips presents a striking theory: the WWII baby boom, like the nearly identical Civil War baby boom before it, produced a distinct generational cluster of political values whose eventual legislative impact can be predicted with real accuracy. Drawing on U.S. census data and a chance research trip to Japan, Phillips traces uncanny parallels between the 1890s and the 1960s–70s: the health food craze (Post, Kellogg's, peanut butter), a wave of new religious and mystical movements (Christian Science, Theosophony, Zen Buddhism), utopian communes, and the women's suffrage movement's slow path from social consensus to constitutional law. He examines Teddy Roosevelt's conservationist legacy, the Populist "People's Party," and Tammany Hall-style political machines as templates for understanding late-20th-century politics. The conversation turns to concrete forecasts — a strengthened EPA, expanded protected wilderness, national recycling policy, and reform of IRS, FBI, and CIA secrecy (via the Freedom of Information Act) — all tied to Phillips's prediction that baby boomers would control Congress by the 1990s. He closes with cautious optimism about the military-industrial complex and America's evolving role in multilateral defense. (hosted by Michael Toms)

Bio

Michael Phillips, now retired, was the creator of the modern universal multi-bank creditcard (Mastercard), founder of the Briarpatch Network the first voluntary business network. He is retired as a business consultant to over 1,500 businesses worldwide of all sizes. Expert witness in marketing, finance, management, business ethics, environment and executive compensation. He was producer of public radio program Social Thought and was a frequent contributor to Co-Evolution Quarterly.

Michael Phillips’ books include:

• The Seven Laws of Money (Shambhala 1996)
• Honest Business (co-author, Salli Rasberry) (Shambhala 1996)
• Marketing Without Advertising: Easy Ways to Build a Business Your Customers Will Love and Recommend (co-author Salli Rasberry (Nolo Press 2008)

To learn more about the work of Michael Phillips go to www.well.com/user/mp

Topics explored in this dialogue include:

• What is the cyclical baby-boom theory of history
• How the 1890s can be a template for the 1990s regarding health food, women’s rights, and communal living
•  What is the origin of Phillips’ identifying a baby-boom pattern
• What is the historical parallel of Teddy Roosevelt and Reagan-era Central American policy
•  What was the lag between social acceptance of the women’s suffrage movement
•  When did the health food boom begin and what stimulated it
• What were the populist political movements and the breaking down of the modern political lobbying “machine”
• What was the Freedom of Information Act and how it has been used to spy on people
• How President Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex and defense policy

Host: Michael Toms    Interview Date: 12/01/1983   Program Number: 1829