We can at least agree on this. But you are probably right that this ideal is not within reach now.

I have an article somewhere which traces how tenure was gradually phased out in the CSU system, which is where I taught as an adjunct for 20 years. What happened was that retiring teachers were replaced with adjuncts, because the latter could be easily fired when there were budget cuts. When the money came back, they hired new administrators instead of reestablishing tenure positions.

I was voted a tenure track position by my department, but the Provost overturned it because he didn't like my politics. He denied that this was the reason, but my union filed a grievance over it, and everybody knew this was why. I kept my adjunct position, but they made it clear that I'd better shut up if I wanted to keep it. I could never have been threatened this way if I had been tenured already.