The past was simply not “better” by any objective standard. Economically, we were all a lot poorer. “In 1960, there were roughly 400 vehicles per 1,000 Americans, about half of today’s car ownership rate. In other words, a family in 1960 could afford a car on one income, but today they would have two cars,” Matthew Yglesias wrote. Tom Nichols has written extensively on the politics of false memory. (“Times are always bad. Nothing gets better. And the past 50 years have not been a temporary economic purgatory but a permanent hell, if only the elites would be brave enough to peer through the gloom and see it all for what it is,” he wrote. “This obsession with decline is one of the myths surrounding postindustrial democracy that will not die.”)
Crime was higher by a lot in the 1970s. Poverty, child mortality, deaths from virtually any major disease, workplace injuries, high school dropout rates, etc., were all much worse in the 1950s. Also, kids got polio, Jim Crow was in full swing, gays had to be in the closet and no one had cellphones, home computers or microwave ovens. Very few people had air conditioning or could afford to fly.
You might rightly decry income inequality today. However, since 2007, income inequality has been on the decline. The 1930s? The Great Depression. You prefer the 1940s? World war. Then came McCarthyism and the Cold War. The 1960s? Riots, assassinations, the Vietnam War. You get the point. Though those who rail against modernity, urbanity, pluralism, tolerance and personal freedom in service of an authoritarian perch would like to turn back the clock, a perusal of history suggests now is the best time to be alive.
And that brings us to the myth of bipartisanship, unity and frictionless politics. From the get-go, politics in America was vicious. The Post’s review of H.W. Brands’s latest book, “Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics,” reminded us that “they all hastened to assume the worst of one another: Jefferson, watching the government amass power and assume state debt, concluded that Hamilton’s Federalists were royalists and corrupt financiers who had been plotting ‘to betray the people’ since independence.” In turn, “Federalists, conversely, thought Republicans ideologically deranged to the point of near-treason. Blind infatuation with a hostile (and anarchic) France, faith in state sovereignty, Luddite opinions on public debt — all of these seemed like symptoms of a deeper mania among Jefferson’s followers.” Consider whether this sounds familiar:
And so the knives came out quick and often. The parties established mouthpieces in the media to lambaste one another. Gossip about the personal lives of leaders was a favorite topic, with Hamilton and Jefferson providing good grist for the rumor mill. Come Independence Day, 1788, celebratory toasts by one party included wishes of “never-dying remorse, pain, poverty and contempt” for their opponents.
Fast forward to the mid-19th century: The country is torn asunder by slavery, a bloody civil war follows, military occupation (Reconstruction) of the South provides a brief interlude and then strict racial segregation returns.
You can flip through the history of presidential insults, devastating feuds and congressional violence. None of this suggests we ever enjoyed a sustained halcyon period of unity. To be certain, we had brief interludes when World War II united the country and when the ideological gaps between the parties were not as vast. However, we “got things done” mostly when one party (in modern times, usually Republicans) got wiped out in elections, leaving Democrats to construct the New Deal and the Great Society. Republicans vilified Democrats every step of the way (even testing out a coup against Franklin D. Roosevelt).
What we have not had before is a president who rejected democracy, attempted to retain power by force and wound up indicted on 91 criminal counts. So yes, four-times-indicted Donald Trump was worse than every president who preceded him. The resulting venom, violence and loss of faith in elections have taken a heavy toll on our democracy.
Where does that leave us? The past (especially the immediate past president!) was infinitely worse in myriad ways. (This is not to say that we don’t have our problems, from climate change to homelessness to suicide; we do, however, have more resources and knowledge to address these.) Conflict and even violence have been a constant presence in American life. But so, too, has been progress, albeit halting at times, toward greater freedom and prosperity. We generally are living healthier, longer lives. If nothing else, the 21st century is evidence that we are a resilient people.
So, as we look forward to 2024 be wary: Nostalgia, especially nostalgia for a time of less freedom, less opportunity and fewer rights for many of us, is the stuff of snake-oil salesmen. Instead, bet on American progress.
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