Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not an appropriate comparison. You are talking about bad policies and political decisions, while Haidt is focusing on internal division and institutional erosion. The issue here is whether you will be free to see and declare the next war as a mistake, or whether the public space and political arena will be dominated by authoritarianism, fueled by the processes described in the article.
I think OP does bring up an important subject. The 00's set the stage for the 10's. The events they mentioned caused a huge lack of trust in our institutions - government, private, and media. The average American was a loser in the wars and in the economic crisis of 2008. The patriot act and related 9/11 fallout also set Americans up to accept authoritarianism in the name of security. We could not have been more ripe…
Re: Why the past 10 years of American life have been uniquely stupid
#471But what about the rest of the world? Brazil was growing economically and lowering poverty in that decade, and still saw a far right wing government emerge through social media. France opposed the wars, didn't bailout anyone, and now there's almost a 50% chance they will vote for an extremist. I also grew up with this fact-based way of analyzing politics, but we ought to start thinking of it as a less rational and more emotional phenomenon if we want to stop it. Most of these movements, like Qanon or whatever, are completely delusional, like a cult. Whether the US had made good or bad decisions 15 years before it is irrelevant.