When "survival of the fittest" justified monopolies and the slow death of democracy

The first Gilded Age (1870–1914) featured an anti-democratic worship of business power that contrasted with the more democratic, egalitarian policies from the 1930s to 1980. Rapid technological and economic progress created many new businesses across sectors, aligning with an ideal of capitalism where firms compete, expand, and pursue equal opportunities. In that ideal, business freedom and individual freedom would coexist because no firm or individual would hold excessive power. The economy that developed instead showed open conflict between profit motives and public goods. Natural resources were destroyed on a tremendous scale, including the killing of over 40 million buffalo and widespread predator loss, along with unrestrained exploitation enabled by railroads. Congress later intervened, including protections against wanton destruction of fish and game for merchandise or profit in Yellowstone in 1872.

"Understanding the first Gilded Age (1870-1914) is essential for assessing the significant political impact of market power. This era featured a blatant anti-democratic worship of business power that contrasts starkly with the more democratic, egalitarian policies of the period from the 1930s to 1980. [It] was a time of extraordinary technological and economic progress when many 20th-century technologies were invented, spurring the creation of many new businesses in all sectors of the economy."

"According to the enlightened vision of capitalism, these firms would compete, expand, and pursue equal opportunities, leading to an expansion of output and widespread benefits shared by all. In such an economy, business freedom and individual freedom would be fully compatible because no firm or individual would have excessive power. However, this vision is not the economy that developed during the first Gilded Age."

"One symbol of the age was the open conflict between the profit motive and the demand for public goods, manifesting in the destruction of natural resources on a tremendous scale. In 55 years, from 1830 to 1885, soldiers, hunters, and settlers killed more than 40 million buffalo and a significant fraction of all predators in the United States. The railroads facilitated the destruction of invaluable old-growth forests and, more generally, the unrestrained exploitation of natural resources."

"Not until Congress stepped in belatedly did the destruction slow. For example, the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act recognized the conflict explicitly by requiring protections against the "wanton destruction of the fish and game found within said park ... or destruction for the purposes of merchandise or profit." The bill was signed by President Ulysses Grant in 1872."

Read at Big Think