Desperate Times

A grim poll and a paralyzed country.

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289
(Photo of Joe Biden by Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images. Photo of Donald Trump by Robert Perry/Getty Images.)

I don’t remember the 1970s, and for that I’m forever grateful.

No one who does remember remembers that decade fondly, it seems. So I pose this question to Dispatch readers of a certain age: Was our national malaise really worse then than it is now?

It was in some respects. I’ve never had to wait on a gas line, for instance. And not since I was a teenager have I worried about an expansionist superpower in Asia dragging us into conflict.

But that last part is changing. And some hallmarks of the 1970s, like inflation and losing long wars and corrupt Republican presidents narrowly avoiding being toppled by Congress, have already returned.

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  1. RGS

    During the Seventies there were disruptive events like Nixon's downfall and the Oil Shock. But Ford and Carter were both decent men. The continuing popularity of Trump is, from a political standpoint, the worst thing I've ever experienced. Did my fellow Americans go to grade school? Do they have no respect for democracy and its importance in our continued ability to thrive as a nation? I never thought of our democracy as fragile; now I do.

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  2. Walter.L.Appling

    The U.S. population is significantly older than the population of 1970 was. The (relative) standard of living for a chunk of the 1970 middle class has dropped. Pensions have disappeared from the private economy. Economic dislocation has become more widespread and prevalent. Previously unimaginable things - terrorist attacks, pandemics - have happened. Drinking and smoking have moderated but consumption of legal and illegal drugs has soared beyond anything I could have imagined 53 years ago. A drumbeat of negative propaganda - Fox News being just one example - has intensified as the channels to reach people have expanded into a digital multiverse that utterly swamps what existed in 1970. America itself is relatively smaller and poorer than it was then. A wide variety of institutions have been exposed as incompetent or self-dealing. What was a fairly confident, high-trust society (even if misplaced) has become a risk averse, low trust society.

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  3. Rdtomasello51

    I was a college student during the seventies and yes, there was some real turbulence between the last few years of the Vietnam War, Nixon investigation and his ultimate resignation. And finally the gas crisis. But there was still a belief in the institutions that bound our nation. Even among my family and friends, we had some real disagreements on many issues. But we could talk about it, sometimes with some degree of vehemence. But at the end of the day. I still loved and
    respected those I disagreed with. I had friends and acquaintances of all political persuasions. I never thought their viewpoints were the basis of our relationship. We had other commonalities that transcended any conflicts. Now it seems those opposed to our viewpoints are considered enemies. Or at the very least, unworthy of any consideration. The diminution of our institutions is a first step to the disintegration of our society. Just my opinion.

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  4. Joe

    Gun fetishizing is one thing, and the GOP cannot win without these people, but gun ownership should never be "rare". Private gun ownership is our constitutional bulwark against tyranny, and we are living through a time of authoritarianism on the GOP side and totalitarianism on the Democrat side.

    "Safe, legal and rare" would be a nice place to return to on abortion, which is now among the holiest of leftist sacraments alongside same sex "marriage" and sex change cosmetic butchery.

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    Ajax81613

    I hate to say this and I do not want this to be true, but nothing will happen on guns until someone walks into the House of Representatives and shoots a bunch of GOP cowards with an AR-15.

    Again, I am NOT advocating this but that’s what it’s going to take.

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    1. Jgwadman

      That has already been tried. Only it was on a ball field in DC, done by a crazed Bernie supporter. To use a cliche/quote; "when guns are outlawed only the outlaws will have guns." ― Louis L'Amour. If you think that is not true or over stated you need to look at the UK (an island that outlawed guns decades ago) which is having a problem with gun violence. perhaps not on the scale of say Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, etc but it is an increasing not decreasing issue for their cities, especially London.

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        Jeff Walden

        And it's further worth noting that in response to the baseball shooting, Rep. Steve Scalise in fact reiterated and strengthened his support of the Second Amendment. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/12/steve-scalise-shooting-gun-rights-interview https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/rep-steve-scalise-democrats-dont-want-you-to-hear-what-i-have-to-say-about-guns-and-the-second-amendment

        But with all of that said, there's no inherent contradiction between recognizing "the right to keep and bear arms", and recognizing that that right can exist in a system with oversight measures (accompanied by appropriate due process protections) that reduce availability to demonstrably dangerous people.

        Red flag laws, with the reporter class narrowly limited so they're not vulnerable to cynical abuse, would be consistent both with the Second Amendment and with due process concerns. We just need an adult to judiciously advocate for them, rather than a bomb-thrower who postures in the most reckless manner. (I'm still waiting for the politician whose Christmas picture is of his family in separate chutes at a range, each looking backwards at the camera -- demonstrating both a perfectly responsible way of enjoying firearms *while also* being a perfectly natural position for them, rather than a bunch of long guns brandished in the foyer with Christmas tree in the background -- something no one ever does but for a photo shoot.)

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    Theirnscott

    I turned 21 in 1972 and voted for Nixon. To answer your question, no, the malaise was not as bad as it is now. What's the difference? Politics. They were relatively normal then.

    The Congress took care of Nixon's transgressions in a bipartisan fashion. Gerald Ford did the right thing and pardoned Nixon. Many of us were pissed off and voted for Carter. We corrected our mistake in 1980. Politics worked.

    And if things continue as they are now and 2024 becomes a redux of 2020, I'm out, unless none of the above is choice. A decision not to vote can be a political decision.

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    BloggerBarbie

    I was a child in the 70s, and, while the adult world was a mess, there was also a kind of hippy-dippy optimism going on the ground. That's the era of John Denver and Free to Be You and Me and everyone has the power to save the earth (Woodsy Owl Club: No scoldy finger wagging, just "Give a hoot, don't pollute"). Things were bad, but there was an idea, at least projected to us littluns, that the world was good, if we could just get our people-act together. And that getting the people-act together was doable, if we'd all just stand around on a hill for awhile, wanting to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. And having a Coke, of course.

    That is not happening now, even on a sub-rosa level with little kids listening to dippy folk songs. So yeah... this is worse.

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    Rccater

    I remember the Sixties and Seventies quite well, I was a teenager in the late Sixties and came of age in the Seventies. Objectively, now is better, as I often tell my daughter who is 42.

    Things I find dismaying about the present include: A loss of faith in institutions. The news media actively lies to us. The public schools (and I say this as a veteran of 25 years of teaching) can't be trusted to actually educate children in reading, math, or civics. Instead, they indoctrinate kids with progressive racialist ideology and confuse them about sex and gender while lying about it to parents. (I've been assisting in homeschooling my twin granddaughters for the last three years.) I'd have a hard time at present recommending a kid go to one of our overpriced universities where they'll be subject to more progressive indoctrination. Go to a trade or technical school instead. American churches are falling apart or succumbing to populist ideology. Our two political parties are both in shambles; I'm used to the "lesser of two evils" choice when voting in national elections, but the current situation is ridiculous; Biden vs Trump again... really?

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  9. Val Xavier

    "If they wanted, they could undertake a cultural program to discourage gun fetishism while defending the right to bear arms, arguing—to borrow a phrase—that gun ownership should be safe, legal, and rare. Instead they choose to wear AR-15 pins on their lapels."

    I want to call out this point. This point is so very important, and usually slips past notice. I would reframe the ownership statement - "...that gun ownership should be *responsible,* safe, and legal." Pinning an AR-15 to your lapel is the perfect manifestation of *irresponsible,* disrespects an obviously *real* problem, and further supports notions that in spite of the 2nd Amendment, which was intended for a populace that was WAY more serious and literate than we are, we're approaching a point in history where, as a People, we're not responsible or serious enough to own firearms.

    I'm as serious a defender of the 2nd Amendment as there is. But I am also a serious defender of the other 26 as well as the Constitution's Preamble and all the Articles and Sections therein. Rights acknowledged. Responsibilities? That's up to Us. Should a 34th Amendment (there are 6 others that remain unratified) emerge that addresses the problem of an irresponsible people having broad access to deadly weapons, although I am not quite there yet, I'm closer to supporting such now as I've ever been. And that's mainly the result of this MAGA driven stupidity. These "leaders" don't understand such ostentatious and provacative bluster does way more damage than good.

    So calling out our "leaders" for their collective unseriousness is right, proper, and can not be overstated.

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    1. J. Everett Schubert

      " which was intended for a populace that was WAY more serious and literate than we are, we're approaching a point in history where, as a People, we're not responsible or serious enough to own firearms."

      I've had that same thought, too, as one who also believes in the 2A. The phrase, "This is why we can't have nice things" comes to mind...

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  10. Paul in NC

    I would prefer the Democrats run someone younger for president, but I will unapologetically vote for Joe Biden again if I need to. On the other hand, you could not pay me to vote for Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, or any other phony-patriot MAGA-clown.

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      Bryson DeAwesome

      funny because i will never vote for Biden
      if it is Trump v Biden - Trump gets my vote

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