Uh...I think my parents, both of which who were born in 1950's in small towns in Alabama and Georgia would totally disagree with the lying nonsense you just said. The far right klan terrorized them and they were denied their civil rights by racist laws that made them 2nd class citizens.
and now that area is an unlivable 3rd word craphole.
Went to Alabama for the first time for Runninglane a month and a half ago. Honestly, it was nicer than I was expecting. Even with the rain, the drive from Nashville was pretty, lush and hilly. It was pretty cool to have a course dedicated to XC running. I’m sure it’s hotter than heck from May until October.
Yes, I'm sure the locals in Rehoboth Beach just hate all the extra tourist dollars flowing into town, and the older folks in Henlopen Acres and North Shores are irate at high prices they're getting for their houses.
Biden is just an ancillary detail which points out the deep divides which occur at crossroads of these retirement communities where the "locals" are being pushed out or alienated by the massive changes the liberal rich folks bring to their home towns. But this cultural collision is occurring all over the country and when the interlopers arrive with their fat wallets the DNA of the town is forever altered mostly for the worst.
When my dad retired, he moved to a small town in Vermont that should meet the OP's standard for an idyllic 1950s small town where everyone is happy. Instead, the town is highly segregated by class. The local "townies" are generally working class/low income earners who just try to get by and drive beat up diesel trucks with a straight pipe to blow black smoke and live in a double wide in the middle of the woods. Then, there are the wealthy retirees and second home/weekend-vacation home folks from the big eastern metro areas. They pretend like they fit in with the locals and will go to the church dinners, summer county fairs, etc. But underneath the pleasantries is a lot of tension. There are dust ups over hunting, with locals wanting to roam freely and wealthy owners not wanting to be woken up at 5 am to the sound of ducks getting blown out of the sky or a deer getting dropped. There is a lot of meth, which then causes locals to break into rich people's property. My dad got broken into a couple of times and had to buy a big tool box that could be bolted to the floor to keep the meth heads from stealing tools out of the garage. People who try to keep their family in town with little kids and commute into the big cities for a couple of days a week invariably end up putting their kids either into boarding school or just give up and move back to the coast because the local kids are pretty rough and even though VT public schools are very good, they are not turning out national merit scholars like the east coast suburban schools and private schools. And that is the big difference between today in the 1950s for these towns. Back in the 1950s, the middle class was the vast majority of the population and there were a small bunch of rich people and a small bunch of people down on their luck. Now, people in these towns are either somewhere between comfortably affluent and independently wealth or barely getting by.
Uh...I think my parents, both of which who were born in 1950's in small towns in Alabama and Georgia would totally disagree with the lying nonsense you just said. The far right klan terrorized them and they were denied their civil rights by racist laws that made them 2nd class citizens.
They were almost certainly Democrats.
Yes they were, and Democrats used to win the southern states. Then LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights act, and all those people became Republicans and that's their party of choice today.
1950’s…..low family breakdown/divorce rates/dysfunction……
Oh you sweet summer child.
That’s specious reasoning, like a rock that keeps tigers away. Just because women were incapable of speaking out against dysfunction and statistically it wasn’t recorded, doesn’t mean the 1950’s era had the effect of causing that.
Your functional alcoholic abusive child molesting grampa (or great grampa) would probably suggest the opposite.
So basically what you’re saying is things were mostly ok for straight white men who didn’t serve in the war. Good for them, but the women’s rights, civil rights, and gay rights movements of the 1960’s showed that many people were unhappy with the status quo.
No, I am not saying that. Of course people are always looking to improve their lot in life. But if we are looking at society in general, life is not entirely "good" or "bad" for any of the groups you mentioned. It is a mix.
For the majority of the population, the economic and social changes that came in the 1960s and 70s were a "net gain" but they weren't without problems of their own.
I am agreeing with you that the era was far from perfect, I am only pointing out that changes since that era come with heavy, heavy costs that need to be factored in: rise in drug use, divorce, suicide, anxiety, sense of isolation, income-inequality, stress of raising children as a single parent (lack of father in the home), hook-up culture, addiction, incarceration rates, gun violence, social break-down, inability to live on a single income, etc.
As all of those things were knock-on effects of social and economic choices, it is easy to see why some people might be nostalgic. It wasn't perfect but it isn't perfect now, so you have to make a value judgement about how you would like your society to look. People are allowed to disagree about that.
Well said. I did not imply that the "1950s" were better than today. However there are clearly good aspects of the 1950s that are now difficult to find in urban or rural America.
1950’s…..low family breakdown/divorce rates/dysfunction……
Oh you sweet summer child.
That’s specious reasoning, like a rock that keeps tigers away. Just because women were incapable of speaking out against dysfunction and statistically it wasn’t recorded, doesn’t mean the 1950’s era had the effect of causing that.
Your functional alcoholic abusive child molesting grampa (or great grampa) would probably suggest the opposite.
I don't have an "alcoholic child molesting grandpa." Sounds like you have some personal cope.
Crested butte was the first and only town that came to mind when I read OP. Thanks for posting this. I've only been back there once in the past 9-10 years but I remember when the worst crime that happened in CB was someone drunk might take your bike and ride two blocks elsewhere.
Yes they were, and Democrats used to win the southern states. Then LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights act, and all those people became Republicans and that's their party of choice today.
Imagine believing that stupidity. Democrats have no use for blacks unless they do exactly what they're told.
in 1964 after the civil rights act was passed, LBJ was re-elected, but Republicans won the deep south for the first time since the 1870s.
In 1968 Nixon won the presidency, most of the deep south actually voted for 3rd party candidate George Wallace who ran on a Segregationist platform.
1972 Nixon wins 49 states
1976 Jimmy Carter, a deeply religious democrat from Georgia sweeps the deep south. The national GOP was super unpopular in the aftermath of Watergate and an economic recession. This is the last time the democrats won a majority of the deep south.
Aside from 76 which was an extremely odd election year, the south has voted reliably Republican ever since. Dems can occasionally pick off a state or 2, but usually only when their candidate is a former Governor, or they get massive minority and youth support in a state like Georgia and squeak out a close one.
You can learn all of this in 5min just by looking at the electoral maps, or putting any in any intellectual effort at all...
Proximity to Diversity makes one much more conservative....
Can be as liberal as can be when'teens' aren't doing what 'teens' do..
Disagree. Proximity and exposure to diversity makes one much more liberal.
The people that tend to be conservative these days have not been exposed to diversity. Think rural USA, including small towns in those locations. The population is overwhelmingly lily white and tends to be more religious. They tend to only know and accept the people and values they grew up with, and tend to want to ostracize those that are different (minorities, LGBQT, foreigners).
The small towns that tend to be more liberal became that way because some of their residents were exposed to diversity in other areas/places and moved to those towns making them more liberal. They moved to those towns because they were attracted to desirable amenities in/near those towns (skiing and outdoor recreation opportunities that attract tourism).
There are still many small towns that lack those desirable amenities and are still very conservative.
Or they live in a sh!thole governed by democrats with out of control crime and don't want to vote for the party that causes it.