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Ah the good 'ole days where only a certain segment of people were allowed to participate in American society depending on how they looked. Have to say that I'm glad that part of our history is over and done with. For all the problems and issues we have today, I'd wager that a larger percentage of Americans are happier with their lives than back then where you had entire groups born into desolate, hopeless lifestyles.
Ah the good 'ole days where only a certain segment of people were allowed to participate in American society depending on how they looked. Have to say that I'm glad that part of our history is over and done with. For all the problems and issues we have today, I'd wager that a larger percentage of Americans are happier with their lives than back then where you had entire groups born into desolate, hopeless lifestyles.
If you have a good job, maintain your finances and stay away from news/internet fear then I concur.
I really don't understand the rampant pessimism of people concerning the present and future of the U.S. While manufacturing jobs may not be anywhere as prevalent as before, jobs in technology, finance, energy, and other services have rapidly developed.
Heck, we live in the age of information via the internet where we can communicate and obtain knowledge almost instantly. Also, when has higher education been more accessible than today?
On a social level, gay couples can marry, women and minorities have far more opportunities, religion is no longer forced on people to the same extent, and environmental conservation is gradually becoming a priority.
While things may not be perfect politically or economically, I'm truly baffled as to why people don't take the negatives in-stride and further embrace the positives.
I really don't understand the rampant pessimism of people concerning the present and future of the U.S. While manufacturing jobs may not be anywhere as prevalent as before, jobs in technology, finance, energy, and other services have rapidly developed.
Heck, we live in the age of information via the internet where we can communicate and obtain knowledge almost instantly. Also, when has higher education been more accessible than today?
On a social level, gay couples can marry, women and minorities have far more opportunities, religion is no longer forced on people to the same extent, and environmental conservation is gradually becoming a priority.
While things may not be perfect politically or economically, I'm truly baffled as to why people don't take the negatives in-stride and further embrace the positives.
I think the internet and technology is part of the issue. With the advent of smartphones and tablets and how much social media has taken off over the past 7-8 years, those who are upset or dissatisfied have a much louder voice than before. America is definitely better off overall than it was back then.
I really don't understand the rampant pessimism of people concerning the present and future of the U.S.
It isn't difficult to explain.
We've had 25 years of hate radio preaching anger, fear, doom and gloom to an audience that is incapable of even the most elementary analysis, so they swallow it whole. Those followers are in clear evidence in this forum. Their angry irrational rants probably account for the majority of posts here.
Their party of choice holds debates where the three top candidates whine incessantly about how America is going to hell in a handbasket. This in spite of their party holding both houses of congress, a majority of governors and a big majority of state legislatures.
They're peddlers of negativity. They have no positive outlook for our country's future.
That's because for a lot of people, that's all there was!!!
Do you think that blacks liked going to segregated schools that were often little more than shacks while white went to fancy new ones? To being barred from playgrounds, public parks, public swimming pools? To being barred from voting? To being always under the threat from racists for "stepping out of line"?
Do you think that women liked being paid less and having no chance at promotions because "they had a husband to support them" even when they didn't??? Do you think women enjoyed being beaten up by their husbands and being told by the police that they should take better care of their husbands and they wouldn't get beaten up so often?
Do you think that gays liked being "in the closet" and always living under the threat of losing their jobs or being thrown in jail if it was found out that they were gay?
Effect on Black Voting
Unrelenting efforts by Democrats to suppress black voting were successful. Eventually, in Selma, Alabama, the voting rolls were 99 percent white and 1 percent black even though there were more black residents than whites in that city; and in Birmingham – a city with 18,000 blacks – only 30 of them were eligible to vote. Black voters in Alabama and Florida were reduced by nearly 90 percent, and in Texas from 100,000 to only 5,000. By the 1940s, only 5 percent of blacks in the south were registered to vote.
In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, a few Democratic leaders began to oppose their own party’s policies against blacks. Democratic President Harry S. Truman from Missouri was perhaps the first and most vocal national Democratic leader to advocate strong civil rights protections, yet his party rejected his efforts. Reformers such as Truman learned that it was a difficult task for rank-and-file Democrats to reshape their long-held views on race. In fact, in 1924 when Texas Democratic candidate for Governor, Ma Ferguson, ran against the Democratic Ku Klux Klan candidate in the primary, it cost her the widespread support of the Texas Democratic Party. Democrat Franklin Roosevelt understood his Party, however, and in his 1932 race he made subtle overtures to blacks but avoided making any overt civil rights promises. FDR was so unsuccessful in this approach that his Republican opponent, Herbert Hoover, received over 75 percent of the black vote in that election.
“The Republican Party is the ship, all else is the sea.” ~ Frederick Douglass
Quote:
Originally Posted by Felix C
Everyday adults I experienced as a kid seemed so easygoing in the 1970s. Maybe it was the widespread use of cigarettes and popular recreational drinking.
Now, everyone is hopped up on caffeine. And edgy.
It's just something about being a teenager in the 70's this was the best!
Effect on Black Voting
Unrelenting efforts by Democrats to suppress black voting were successful. Eventually, in Selma, Alabama, the voting rolls were 99 percent white and 1 percent black even though there were more black residents than whites in that city; and in Birmingham – a city with 18,000 blacks – only 30 of them were eligible to vote. Black voters in Alabama and Florida were reduced by nearly 90 percent, and in Texas from 100,000 to only 5,000. By the 1940s, only 5 percent of blacks in the south were registered to vote.
In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, a few Democratic leaders began to oppose their own party’s policies against blacks. Democratic President Harry S. Truman from Missouri was perhaps the first and most vocal national Democratic leader to advocate strong civil rights protections, yet his party rejected his efforts. Reformers such as Truman learned that it was a difficult task for rank-and-file Democrats to reshape their long-held views on race. In fact, in 1924 when Texas Democratic candidate for Governor, Ma Ferguson, ran against the Democratic Ku Klux Klan candidate in the primary, it cost her the widespread support of the Texas Democratic Party. Democrat Franklin Roosevelt understood his Party, however, and in his 1932 race he made subtle overtures to blacks but avoided making any overt civil rights promises. FDR was so unsuccessful in this approach that his Republican opponent, Herbert Hoover, received over 75 percent of the black vote in that election.
“The Republican Party is the ship, all else is the sea.” ~ Frederick Douglass
It's just something about being a teenager in the 70's this was the best!
Do you realize how many people in the 70s never saw Saturday Night Live?
and don't forget you got beaten in school if you put did anything majorly wrong (and no one cared). My elementary school principle was a nasty old guy who had a huge wooden paddle hanging over his desk. Neighborhood parents thought nothing of disciplining other people's kids. Black kids from segregated neighborhoods were bused to my school 15 minutes late every day. Those kids always had lost looks on their faces.
Fun was going and standing in front of the street sweeper so I got sprayed with water, or waiting for the ice cream truck, or even pretending I was hurt so cars would stop to investigate. Clothes were still made in America, the South voted solidly Democratic and many things cost too much but paid for US instead of foreign jobs.
Of course Vietnam and the 60's upheavals was to change most of that.
Oh, yeah! The paddle! And our shop teacher had holes in his! The coach had a paddle too.
Oh, and when we lived in the city, the girls drew squares on the sidewalk for hop-scotch, and played Jacks on the porch. We also played "cowboys and Indians" in those days. My wife says she always had to be the captured Indian princess, and they'd tie her to a tree!!! LOL
I remember the ice cream truck. And we used to sell lemonade on hot summer days.
When we moved out to the country, it was horses (though I didn't ride), swimming out back in our 'lake' (pond), mowing with a Ford 9N with a five foot Mott mower on the back, watching the horse show across the road (we lived right across from part of the Metro Park), climbing trees (yes, kids did that back then), hiking in our woods ...
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