"The Good Old Days Didn't Exist"

Excerpt: "So what was so great about the good old days? We had slavery, women couldn’t vote… heck until 10 years ago a husband could legally rape his wife!"

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Grandpa, tell us about “The Good Old Days.”

Oh, Grandpa will tell ya’ about the good old days, Sonny boy! First he would tell you to go fishing around in his pockets for hard candy. Old man never had any hard “candy” in there. Just a hole in his pockets and no underwear.

That pretty much sums up the good old days. It was great for a few people but horrible for the rest. When I hear people speak about how life was so much better “back in the day”, my blood pressure spikes. It’s simply ignorant! We don’t have a higher crime rate today then we did 20 years ago, and the economy isn’t as bad as it was during the Great Depression. Also, fewer people have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars then in Vietnam or World War 2.

So what was so great about the good old days? We had slavery, women couldn’t vote… heck until 10 years ago a husband could legally rape his wife!

Time seems to change everything except something inside us which is always surprised by change. And more often than not- resents it.

This resentment of change, this zeitgeist is exactly what fuels the Conservative Party. Republicans resent change and idolize a time where, in their mind, everything was better.

For a small demographic, perhaps  it was, but for the rest it wasn’t. The world has changed. And whether we agree or not it has changed for the better. Today, we are a more tolerant, diverse society. Or at least the majority of it is.

Conservatives need to stop being afraid of their daughters sexuality. They need to stop being afraid of different cultures. Progressive legislation has made this country what it is today. We still have a long way to go, and to keep moving forward we need unity.

How, I ask myself, can we state this country is based on freedom, and in the next breath chastise every religion that isn’t Christian. How can we call it freedom when we deny some the right to marry based solely on their gender.  Why do we go to other countries and kill innocent people and call ourselves saviors? Why do we deny people something as simple as healthcare when 45,000 Americans die each year because of lack of health insurance coverage?[1]

Why do we hunt down someone like Julian Assange[2] who published evidence of war crimes committed during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by the United States? The World needs more whistleblowers.

Gramps, do us all a favor and cut the “good old days” nonsense. We all know you love that federally subsidized Medicare, don’t you?