It was a different time: Mom stayed at home to raise the kids, Dad did whatever was necessary to feed the family. Grandma and Grandpa lived right down the street. Your neighbors looked out for you and yours. You never had to lock the doors. Do you remember drinking lemonade at the kitchen table? or fishing in the river?
There are many stereotypes that describe a more peaceful time, a more wholesome time. The question is can we go back?
Can we go back to a simpler time, a time of fewer rules and regulations; More church-going; More family meals together; More demure attitudes; Lower-costs? It seems like today's longing for that time by the Right, is a feeling that things have gotten out of control, that somehow we've lost our way in the world. Have we? Yes and No.
We've lost our way from a small period of time in American history from just after the depression to the build up to the Vietnam War. I imagine it was a glorious time. The US had proven itself in war and in industry. Workers had found a way out of crowded apartment buildings into single family homes. Unions provided a definite work week with actual time off. And white people had the right to vote in every state in the union. So what went wrong? Even if you were in the north and had accepted your black neighbors as good friends, how did we lose our way?
Mass production brought down the prices of luxury items like homes. Now with the Vietnam war heating up everyone's home was becoming affected by loss. Was the US no longer superior? No, we were still extremely powerful. It's just that a country had found a way to get the better of us. I image our ideals of victory over tyranny took a blow. Because of Korea, this was the second time since WWII that we had not won a decisive victory. People began to ask "why were we there anyway?" I wonder if people would have asked that question had we won outright?
There was a movement competing with small business. Woolworths, among others, showed how formerly small business could become big business--They would eventually be squeezed out by even bigger stores. The economic engine of the United States rolled on. There were more people, more cars on the road, more houses being built. Your quiet street might get a little less quiet. If you could afford it , you might move just out of town, where things were quiet again.
Companies stockholders demand profits. We want more money. Prices increase to satisfy the need. When enough businesses increase their prices, the price of doing business goes up. People ask for more wages to afford the higher prices. More services more retail items, everyone likes to have the newest gadgets.
Eventually, money becomes a huge issue for families, who can no longer make it on one salary. Families get stressed , no longer able to set easy schedules. Families become looser, less insular, lots of opportunity means juggling one's time. . . .
Sound familiar? We can't go back . It was tough before, probably during, and definitely after Camelot.
We can't go back. We are a nation made strong by ideals, but we've chosen our path. Economically, we have benefited, but it is that very engine that has led us to where we are. There is no back, only forward.