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Great again...WHEN? 10/25/2025 12:50:40 PM
My last two book releases were time travels and I totally get it. The urge to go back to the past. The naive belief that things were better in an earlier time.
“Make America Great Again.” The question no one seems to be able (or willing) to answer is: “When you say ‘great again’, which decade are you referring to?”
By the way, I did my research, comparing sources, so I’m not blowing smoke here. And yes, this is long but I’m saving people hours of looking stuff up before attempting to converse with their MAGA friends and family! 🙂
I kind of assume that “again” refers to a decade within a MAGA voter’s lifetime. My own sneaky suspicion is that they desire to return to the idealized Leave it To Beaver 1950s America where “everyone” was white, upper middle-class, and safe from crime. So…let’s climb into the time machine and take a look starting with that decade. Again, focusing only on issues that would have impacted folks who voted MAGA (which apparently had a racial make-up of 77% white). I’m deliberately ignoring issues of civil rights and segregation because, let’s face it, “great again” means those majority white voters don’t want to consider the struggles of anyone other than themselves to be pertinent to their lives. This post is already long, so I just hit the highlights (or lowlights) of these decades.
1950s:
Approximately 25% of Americans lived in poverty; the majority of these people were rural whites.
James Dean might have been cool, but in reality, juvenile delinquency was on the rise. Crimes included violent acts including armed assaults, robbery and home invasions.
There were no interstate highways until the latter part of the decade.
There were numerous pandemics, including polio, flu, and tuberculosis before vaccines became readily available.
America was becoming dependent on immigrant labor (primarily from Mexico) for the source of produce.
Americans who could afford it were building fall-out shelters in case of a nuclear war.
Air and water pollution were not regulated. If toxins were poured into your fish pond or the river running through your farm…you were out of luck.
Costs of healthcare rose, with the majority of Americans paying “out of pocket.” Most rural communities had no access to hospitals.
The infant mortality rate in 1950 was 29.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. For comparison, in 2019 the rate was 4.1 deaths per 1,000 live births primarily due to better pre-natal care.
Political scandals in the 1950s including the McCarthy purges of alleged communists and Nixon’s slush fund scandal of 1952 (accused of misusing a slush fund.)
Let’s move to the 60s.
Vietnam War: 85.5 % of casualties were white service members. MAGA voters, your granddads and your fathers (and some grandmoms and moms as well) were the ones dying in a hellhole.
The overall crime rate rose by an estimated 126% from 1960 to 1970. Youth crime rates skyrocketed by an estimated 70%.
There was a growing awareness of environmental pollution, but in the 1960s, still no regulation.
The good news was that food prices were low.
Thanks to the introduction of Medicare and Medicaid, more elderly and people in poverty were able to receive aid. (Note: Providing greater medical assistance is a good “again”! At least in my opinion!)
Possibly the coolest things to happen (again…ignoring the rise of civil rights) were John Glenn’s orbit of the earth in 1962 and of course, the first landing on the moon in 1969. Which appears to be the last time Americans were truly united in spirit until September 11, 2001…and that unity lasted until about 2003 when war was declared on Iraq.
1970s:
This is the decade that Americans began losing jobs to overseas companies, primarily in the manufacturing industry.
Trust in government fell, partly because of the Watergate scandal but also due to economic issues, including the energy crisis. The continuation of the Vietnam War aided the lack of trust in the government.
Poverty continued its rise, along with inflation and a slow economy.
Violent crime nearly doubled from the 1960s, including numerous incidences of serial killings. Gangs became more involved in drug trafficking, not only in large cities but suburbs and rural communities.
The price of healthcare continued to rise and medical access was still unavailable to many rural communities.
Gas and oil prices rose dramatically in the mid-to-late 70s.
Good news: The EPA was created in 1970 so some important environment regulations began to be enforced.
1980s
Poverty rose from an estimated 11% to 16% during this decade, finishing with a “decline” back to 13 %.
Jobs continued to head overseas, in manufacturing, electronics, textile and apparel production, and “service” jobs such as telemarketing.
Healthcare shifted to market-based (i.e. insurance company controlled) and deregulation, forcing uninsured Americans to go without medical care.
Even Medicare focused on urban areas, leaving rural communities without hospitals.
Political scandals, including the Iran-Contra affair and the FBI’s ABSCAM operation continued to erode the trust in government.
There was a rise in violent crime, specfically pushed by the drug trade and gang activity. Gun deaths from 1980-1989 are estimated at 330,000, with suicides making up nearly half of those deaths. More than half the accidental gun deaths in the years 1988-1989 involved children under the age of 14.
The good news was that the economy rebounded from the high inflation of the 70s and the recession of the early 80s. The bad news was that the rise in monetary gains were primarily felt by the wealthiest Americans as the disparity between rich and poor grew larger.
1990s
The good news in the 90s was that violent and property crimes fell between 1991 and 2000.
More good news - jobs in tech occupations experienced a significant growth. The decade was considered “good” in terms of full employment.
Jobs. Not such good news. More manufacturing and even service-based employment continued to move overseas. Unemployment was the highest it had been since The Great Depression (also not so “great”).
Good news - anti-pollution laws were introduced in 1990.
The Brady Bill, which mandated background checks and waiting periods for firearms was signed into law in 1993. Thanks to the Assault Weapons ban (1994) mass shootings fell with estimates noting that deaths from mass shooting dropped by 70% between 1994 and 2004.
Oklahoma City bombing (1995) 168 people dead
More political scandals on both sides of the aisle, including the Keating Five savings and loan operation (which reportedly cost taxpayers billions of lost dollars), the “House” bank scandal, involving overdrawing of checking accounts by members of Congress, and the Clinton sex scandal continued to erode public trust. The FBI came under scrutiny for its involvement in “sieges” that included Ruby Ridge and Waco.
2000-2010
Poverty levels…initially reaching a 7 year low in 2000 by 2007, two recession saw poverty rise to 12.5% in 2007.
Crime: Downward trend, but with a rise in new criminal activities including cybercrime.
Mass shootings. Unlike overall violent or property crimes, mass shootings rose dramatically. An estimated 309 people died in mass shootings from 2000-2010. This does not include Columbine, which happened in 1999 and adds 16 more deaths. This also does not include the number of wounded, estimated at another nearly 500 people.
September 11, 2001 - 2,977 people dead. Continued trauma, injuries, and chronic illness stemming from the attack.
4,431 soldiers killed in the Iraq war between 2003 and 2010. According to several sources, the racial make-up in the military during those years was majority white.
Healthcare costs continued to skyrocket thanks to insurance costs, out-of-pocket expenses and a large population of Americans who could not afford insurance.
Good news - The Affordable Care Act (2010) provided numerous benefits for the previously uninsured, including access to coverage for pre-existing conditions and no copays or deductibles for preventive care.
Continuance of the shift of manufacturing and service jobs to overseas markets.
2010-2024 (All over the map depending upon who was in office during this time period)
Following the recession that began in 2007, the good news was that inflation was low, unemployment low, and there was a gradual increase in the GDP.
Crime: Homicide rates declined from 2010 to2015 (Under Obama), with an increase from 2015 to 2020 (under Trump). 2024 (under Biden) is considered the safest year for Americans, with both violent and property crimes at their lowest rates in decades.
Mass shootings rose starting in 2015.
Poverty: Statistics are all over the map but the official rate fell from 14 % to 10% then got a bit skewed thanks to Covid in 2020 and 2021.
Speaking of Covid: To date, an estimated 1.2 million Americans died due to Covid. The plans to follow guidelines set out by the CDC in case of a pandemic were ignored by the first Trump administration.
Healthcare: Thanks to Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA the number of uninsured Americans is significantly lower but healthcare costs are still rising and cuts beginning in 2026 will kick millions off of access to healthcare. (Not undocumented immigrants. They don’t get benefits.) Rural hospitals are already affected and rapidly fading from sight.
Grocery inflation was low in the early 2010s. Prices have risen significantly since 2019. Economists predict at least a 3 percent rise in 2025. For those of us who don’t live our lives in percentage, we just know that our grocery carts are shrinking, along with our balance.
I’m skipping scandals and investigations and trust in government for the last two decades. That’s another VERY long post and at this point, our MAGA friends don’t seem to want to hear about Epstein or Russia or 34 felony convictions for the man they voted for the destruction of property belonging to the American people…like the White House.
So…voters…which decade have you decided is so “great” you want to see it come around again?
