The "Good Old Days" are Today!

Some politicians and others have decided to distort the facts, re-write history, and claim that we are now a socialist country, getting more socialist all the time, and that everything would be better if we would just return to our capitalist roots, you know, the way it was in the "Good Old Days," and eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Public Schools, Interstate Highways, Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, US Department of Education...you get the idea. (A few people who support this rollback plan tell the truth, they know things were much worse in the "Good Old Days" but still think we should return to those days for some unfathomable reason). These people talk about "taking our country back." It is a little unclear who they want to take it back from, but I can only assume they want to take it back from our democratically elected representatives.

I thought I would let you know what things were like in the US in 1930, you know, before Social Security, Medicare, and most of the programs that define who we are in the year 2009 were created, before the systems and programs we have inplace in 2009 that make us the greatest country in history were implemented. I picked 1930 to be fair, since the Great Depression had not taken hold, and, in fact, the economic boom of the "Roaring 1920's" when there was little or no regulation had peaked.

Trust me, those "Good Old Days" were not all that good. Just a few facts:

Per Capita Income (IN 2009 DOLLARS, in other words, CORRECTED FOR INFLATION)

1930 $11,338 2009 $46,381

Life Expectancy

1930 54.2 years 2009 78.1 years

Miles of Paved Highway in the US

1930 387,000 miles (it took 13 days to drive from New York to LA)

2009 2,734,102 miles; including the Interstate Highway System (you can now drive from New York to LA in 2 days (42 hours total))

Did You Know That:

In 1952 there were 58,000 cases of polio in the US (I went to elementary school with a polio victim, so it wasn't that long ago, or I am getting old, or both).

Due to Public Health and Government sponsored vaccinations, there hasn't been a case of polio in the US since 1979.

From 1958-1961 there were tens of thousands of babies born with severe birth defects around the world due to mothers taking a drug called thalidomide.

There were virtually no thalidomide victims in the US because the FDA wouldn't approve its use without further testing.

In summary, there is a small, but very noisy, group of people and political candidates in the US today who are championing a false history and promoting a false vision for the US. They talk about "Good Old Days" that never existed. The "Good Old Days" are now. Sure we have some problems to be solved that will require serious, even painful, solutions. But the solution is not to go back to a time when personal income was 1/4 of what it is today, when our life expectancy was 24 years less than it is today, when it took longer to drive from New York to Los Angeles than it does for an astronaut today to fly to the moon and back. Somehow, the "Socialist/Marxist" fiction that these people claim our country has become since 1935 when Social Security was passed and 1965 when Medicare was passed, that country, not the distortion they have invented, has managed to grow unimaginable wealth, invent unbelievable things, cure many diseases, and create a nation that is the envy of the world. We don't have walled cities guarded by soldiers surrounded by seas of poverty and despair. We have a land where you can drive from Key West, Florida to Eastport, Maine; from Norfolk, Virginia to Arcata, California and know every minute you are in the greatest country in history. Just remember, while all these wonderful accomplishments have taken place, Social Security, Medicare, and all the agencies regulating finance, safety, and health in this country were firmly established. The false timeline being promoted by the Far Right, is just that...false. Use your brain, don't give in to their cliches', don't be manipulated by their repetitive slogans or their tens of millions of dollars in media advertising, think for yourself! The facts in this Note took me two hours to gather and compute. I challenge each of you to put two hours into thinking about our future.


I don't think you will decide to return to the "Bad Old Days!"