George Mason University professor Sam Lebovic taught a class about U.S. politics and economics of the early Cold War period of the late-1940s and 1950s. He argued that with extreme ideologies such as fascism and communism completely discredited or out of favor, a consensus formed in the U.S. around centrist political views to the point where the political parties were barely distinguishable. On the economic front, a belief in a “mixed economy” ruled, meaning a broad acceptance of some government involvement in the market.

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