The recent election of 2012 brought into focus an almost mythical characterization og the 1950's. The nmedia likes to characterize the c omposition of the republican/ tea-party/ right-wing base as the white man who longs for the 1950's.
Well who is the people who long for the 1950's. Most likely not those lived them as adults. Think about that - 18 in 1950 would make one 80 today so its mostly those who were children are the majority that make up the group that romanitize the 1950's
But what are the social/ economic eleements the characterized the 1950's?
1) jobs / empolyment\
2) level / state of education
3) characteristics of the population then vs. 2012.
4) taxiation
5) transportation - auto / air / rr.
6) make-up of work.
7) only country left standing
8) WWII - political/economic-mass production / labor force.
9) the incentives to relocate between states and cities.
10) myth of free market
11) right to work [anti-union]
12) emerging from WWII as the only power
13) the mercantilist empire
14) the white world vision thing
15) gthe 1950's last vestige of the regional economy that came to be as the USA developed in the USA as it grew and evloved.
16) the agricultural transformation -
The
other thing about the agricultural-industrial complex is that it has gutted the
populace of the ag states, turning them from the self-reliant small
farmer-citizens into financially disenfranchised farm laborers. This is a key
driver for the anger. They distrust the federal government for good reason- ag
policy has destroyed their way of life. And as a consequence, the nation as a
whole has lost an important part of what made us great- small farmers and the
small local industry of tinkerers that they foster was traditionally one of the
engines that fuel manufacturing innovation- and serve as a stabilizing political
force.
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