What Year was America Great?

Probably The Regan years or the WW2 years

xser88 said:

Make America Great Again is an political slogan used by many conservatives over the last 7 years. I have yet to hear someone say what year or years they're talking about.
The history of this country is at it's birth Europeans created Laws making them white with privileges and people from the larger continent of Africa black with disadvantages. Laws giving whites the right to own another human as property. They enforced these Laws with extreme violence and white society's acceptance.
Many of these discrimination Laws lasted till the late 1960s. The bible teaches kidnapping a person to sell them is a sin worthy of death to the seller and buyer. We as Christians know most of our forefathers weren't true men of God by owning theses kidnapped humans. The secular world standards holds Abraham Lincoln as the greatest American, but biblical standards would view Lincoln different. From his writings we clearly see Abraham Lincoln didn't want to free the slaves for some godly moral reason, he was a white racist. Racism/hate is the opposite of love and God is love. Our forefathers and society practiced the opposite of loving your neighbors and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. We did have a few true God believing and decent people back then that spoke up, but as a whole we failed miserably.

In our country conservatives have been on the wrong side of our moral history, slavery, Civil War, reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation, lynching laws, Civil Rights, women suffrage, child labor laws, Voters Rights, Hitler and his white supremacy policies, the list goes on. So conservatives have been on the wrong side of our moral history almost 100% of the time.

I love this country, I see it's gotten better and believe it can be great.

But can anyone who believes America was great tell us what year that was?

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1946. America was the greatest nation on earth. Was the undisputed victor of World War II. That led to a lenghty period of economic growth and society placed an extremely high value on the nuclear family.

HTacianas said:

1946. America was the greatest nation on earth. Was the undisputed victor of World War II. That led to a lenghty period of economic growth and society placed an extremely high value on the nuclear family.

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Jim Crow ruled in the South, not sure who wants to go back to “glory days” such as those.

How about 1999? We had a balanced budget, and we were partying like it was... 1999.

Pommer said:

Jim Crow ruled in the South, not sure who wants to go back to “glory days” such as those.

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Just because there were things wrong doesn't change it. The entire world had been destroyed by WWII but the US was relatively untouched. That led to the US becoming manufacturer to the world. Now let's take a look at today. No more Jim Crow but we've shipped our manufacturing to China and elsewhere where consumer products are made with slave labor, the nuclear family has been destroyed, illegitimate and fatherless children are murdering each other in the streets, we've had nearly 100 million abortions, millions have died from venereal diseases and millions more are suffering from venereal diseases, children are raised without fathers, our courts are bogged down adjudicating paternity and child support matters, and it's now trendy for teenaged girls to go on the internet and act like harlots. But hey, no more Jim Crow.

HTacianas said:

Just because there were things wrong doesn't change it. The entire world had been destroyed by WWII but the US was relatively untouched. That led to the US becoming manufacturer to the world. Now let's take a look at today. No more Jim Crow but we've shipped our manufacturing to China and elsewhere where consumer products are made with slave labor, the nuclear family has been destroyed, illegitimate and fatherless children are murdering each other in the streets, we've had nearly 100 million abortions, millions have died from venereal diseases and millions more are suffering from venereal diseases, children are raised without fathers, our courts are bogged down adjudicating paternity and child support matters, and it's now trendy for teenaged girls to go on the internet and act like harlots. But hey, no more Jim Crow.

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My mother showed me her old “meat ration” coupons (she had leftover) from “the War”.
My uncle had a half a book of gas ration coupons.
(Imagine if, in 2020, we had had to ration food items to get through the Pandemic.)
1946 was no picnic for huge swaths of our society. But things were looking up as we endeavored to get into that post-war boom, fueled largely by the “GI Bill”, that sent thousands to college on Uncle Sam’s dime.

HTacianas said:

1946. America was the greatest nation on earth. Was the undisputed victor of World War II. That led to a lenghty period of economic growth and society placed an extremely high value on the nuclear family.

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What are your thoughts on taxes? Because that's how that lengthy period of economic growth was fueled - high taxes, especially on the rich. For reference, the current maximum tax bracket is 37% on income over $540,000/year (for an individual). That's the equivalent of ~$35,000 in 1946 dollars, which would have put you into a 65% tax bracket at the time. The maximum tax rate was 91% on income above $200,000 (the equivalent of about $3,000,000 today).

Corporate taxes were also significantly higher - we currently have a flat corporate tax rate of 21%. In 1946, that was the lowest corporate tax bracket, on the first $5,000 of corporate income. That ramped up to a maximum of 56% on income between $25,000 and $50,000, with all additional income above $50,000 (~$780,000 today) taxed at 38%.

Compared to the last three years, about any previous year in our history was a better year (and there were some bad ones). That is because despite how bad anything was, it was always on a corrective course. Now… it’s a cesspool. Corrective course vs. cesspool society. So yes, Make America Great Again!

HTacianas said:

1946. America was the greatest nation on earth. Was the undisputed victor of World War II. That led to a lenghty period of economic growth and society placed an extremely high value on the nuclear family.

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Though I agree I think it was also a bit naïve. We won the war and had a more unified American identity. But racial and other injustices where off the radar. When people say Make America Great Again it could be they want to return to that naivete and be oblivious of those disparities, even fight to erase them from our awareness.

Also the years following the revolution, such dreaming, such optimism, such hope.

inquiring mind said:

Compared to the last three years, about any previous year in our history was a better year (and there were some bad ones). That is because despite how bad anything was, it was always on a corrective course. Now… it’s a cesspool. Corrective course vs. cesspool society. So yes, Make America Great Again!

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Trump was President three years ago.

Arcangl86 said:

Trump was President three years ago.

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He wasn't perfect either but beat a cesspool.

inquiring mind said:

He wasn't perfect either but beat a cesspool.

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But according to you the United States has been a cesspool for three years, including a year when Trump was president.

Arcangl86 said:

But according to you the United States has been a cesspool for three years, including a year when Trump was president.

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Well, it's getting close. You know what I meant, I'm sure. I should have said 2 1/2 years. Thanks for pointing that out.

inquiring mind said:

Well, it's getting close. You know what I meant, I'm sure. I should have said 2 1/2 years. Thanks for pointing that out.

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It hasn't even been a full two years yet, so no, it's not getting close. I did know what you meant though, before Biden was President. I just wanted you to explicitly say that. It's also interesting that you think that the last year and a half was the worst in American history, even more so then the two World Wars, the Civil War, Great Depression or Spanish Flu. Somehow Biden's pretty uneventful year and a half in office is worst then any of that.

Arcangl86 said:

It hasn't even been a full two years yet, so no, it's not getting close. I did know what you meant though, before Biden was President. I just wanted you to explicitly say that.

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You Biden supporters kill me... they even have you confused about what year it is. Let's see, January 20, 2021 to January 20, 2022 that's one year. Then January 20, 2022 to January 20, 2023 that's two years. Then January 20, 2023 to July 20, 2023 will be 6 months. That's 2 1/2 years even on planet Biden. Please don't make it longer to go than it is; I even feel like that's on a big rubberband... it just won't pass.

Arcangl86 said:

It's also interesting that you think that the last year and a half (???) was the worst in American history, even more so then the two World Wars, the Civil War, Great Depression or Spanish Flu. Somehow Biden's pretty uneventful year and a half in office is worst then any of that.

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I said there were bad years. My point was we were always in a corrective mode... now we're in a cesspool and getting worse with a year and a half to go. 2 1/2 plus 1 1/2 is 4... right?

inquiring mind said:

now we're in a cesspool

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And we weren't with the Trump administration?




But I know trying to reason with a Trump supporter is futile.

Bless you anyway.

Akita Suggagaki said:

And we weren't with the Trump administration?

A Guide to Trump Allies Who've Pleaded Guilty or Been Convicted of Crimes

Longtime Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg is the latest, pleading guilty on Thursday to 15 felonies.

www.newsweek.com

Trump pleads the Fifth 400 times on Fraud questioning.

And obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct. That was because she lied to the FBI. That's why you decline to answer anything. She broke no law.

www.christianforums.com

But I know trying to reason with a Trump supporter is futile.

Bless you anyway.

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I know that makes you feel better about your vote... so I'll let it go at that, and bless you too.

inquiring mind said:

I know that makes you feel better about your vote... so I'll let it go at that, and bless you too.

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You do not know how I voted.

HTacianas said:

1946. America was the greatest nation on earth. Was the undisputed victor of World War II. That led to a lenghty period of economic growth and society placed an extremely high value on the nuclear family.

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Yes, many in the MAGA movement want to go back to the period immediately after WWII. Let's be clear. The time after WWII was NOT better than now for American women, blacks, for Hispanics, Jews or Catholics.

Ask the black war heroes who came back from the war. Ask the women who worked in the war factories who no longer had jobs that were set apart for men.

I believe that the country was in better and better shape AFTER WWII, each decade as we moved from WWII. From Truman through the end of the century, when we had a budget surplus (from Eisenhower's surplus to Clinton's surplus). Republicans were in power. Democrats were in power. The differences were relatively small. The country moved ahead again and again.

And then came 2001 and the world changed forever. However, for 16 years, Bush and Obama did not change the arc of the history of social gain in the US. Bush brought seniors prescription coverage, Obama brought the poor Obamacare. We all marveled, or should have marveled, at the easy transition from Bush to Obama. They met and had a friendly handover of power. Their transition teams worked together on many issues, most importantly the Great Recession. The team was basically one team from 6 months before to at least 6 months after the election. They saved the world economy from a major depression.

MY BOTTOM LINE
is that for all but white Protestant men, the good old days are today, or before 2016. If Trump is defeated, the good old day will again be "now".
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Yes, the country did start to change in 1994 with Gingritch, and then we had the Tea Party. But the Republican Party was ready to move toward the center in 2016. I recall a SC rally where on the stage were a black senator and an Indian American governor supporting a REPUBLICAN Hispanic for president. Having studied politics for over 50 years at the time, I thought that Republicans would easily win. After all, the country wanted a change after 8 years of Democratic rule. The Democrats had almost no one in the wings.

It appeared that Republicans would rule for at least 8 years, more probably 12, as with Reagan and Bush. Hillary was a terrible candidate. Sanders was a terrible candidate. Surely, the Republicans would win easily, and big.
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AND THEN CAM TRUMP
and the rest is history, a brave new world for the US, a drastic turn from the country of the post-war era from 1946-2000.

It remains to be seen how Trump's 35% will continue to change the world for the rest of us. They are very dedicated to their leader and they may very well win the White House and control of Congress.
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LET'S BE VERY CLEAR
Americans would not rather live in 1946.