Over all - was life better 50 years go today - or was it worse? [View all]

[Douglas Carpenter]

Sorry, I have to admit that I was inspired by another thread posted by Brigid:

Does anyone else ever wonder what the history books will say about this era 50 years from now?

If this country is still around, and if there are any history books and people able to read them, that is?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024066794

So I had to ask myself, "what would we say about the era of 50 years ago?"


50 years ago was 1963 - The President was going to be shot - the Beatles had not yet appeared on Ed Sullivan - The Vietnam War was starting to escalate with almost no opposition in the United States, The whole "hippie, 60's thing had not really started yet. 30% of the labor force was unionized and factories were expanding, nobody had yet started talking about gay liberation and it was relatively liberal to consider homosexuality a sickness rather than a crime, help wanted sections were carefully divided between "help wanted men" and "help wanted women" - almost no one in America questioned the righteousness of the cold war, the civil rights movement was taking a hold but lot of people didn't believe in it and segregation was a still very much alive, most Americans went to church and believed in God,- any small town in America would have at least one train station and a bus station where you could catch a train or a bus to anywhere in North America - Every small town in America had its own lively downtown with locally owned stores, shops and diners, lots of people had their milk and even their bread delivered. there was always a neighborhood grocery store and the owner of that little store earned a middle class living and was a respected member of the community like the minister, the doctor or the school principle, the family farm and the locally owned factory was still very much alive

Was it the good old days? or Was it the dark ages?

32 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Over all life was worse then and we have made a lot of progress
	4 (13%)
	Over al life was better then and we have over all gone backwards
	8 (25%)
	We have gone forward in some ways and backwards in other ways
	20 (63%)
	I miss the snacks they used to have at county fairs and circuses
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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