Some think the 1950s was America’s best of times…but was it?

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OPINION

When I hear someone who remembers fondly…“the good ol’ days”…I’m certain of a couple facts. One, the person is over 50 years old. Two, no matter what decade is remembered…the good ol' days weren’t always all that good.

For example, those of us who remember the 1950s might recall dinner unfailingly at 6 P.M. with the entire family present…a slower, less complicated life…gathering around a Monopoly board on family game night or watching “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet” or “I Love Lucy” or “Gunsmoke” on television.

What we forget all to easily is that it was the decade of polio and Scarlet Fever, the Cold War and a constant threat of nuclear conflict. War raged in Korea…racial discrimination happened ever day.

As Marcel Proust - French novelist, essayist and literary critic - wrote so eloquently more than a century ago: “Remembrance of things past is not necessarily remembrance of things as they were.”

(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

We like to trust our memories…but they’re not always accurate. Also, it’s selective…remember the good…not so much the bad. Still, the good ol’ days of the past are often conjured up to make real the possibilities of the future. Thus, Donald Trump was able to sell “Make America Great Again” to Americans…and why it still resonates with so many people.

In 1950, 89.5 percent of Americans were white…today, 58 percent of Americans are white. Make America Great Again harkens back to those days…when white men ruled. Black people were drinking from “Colored” water fountains and riding in the backs of buses. Mexicans - even in official U.S. documents - unbelievably were referred to as “wetbacks”…and Asians lived exclusively in “Chinatowns” and “Little Tokyos” across America.

Nostalgia - appealing to the selective good in past eras - is a common ploy among politicians…Republicans and Democrats. Nearly a century ago, Franklin D. Roosevelt rallied support of Americans living through “The Great Depression” with his official theme song played at every campaign stop…“Happy Days are Here Again”.

That theme song lasted through 60 years of Democrat Party presidential candidates…hoping for the future by looking at the past. It was Bill Clinton - a Fleetwood Mac fan - who chose “Don’t Stop” (thinking about tomorrow) to look forward rather than backward for the promise of the years ahead.

Trump’s Make America Great Again mantra might sound good on the surface…but it relies on fear and hate more than any positive or optimistic appeal to a diminishing audience of voters. The clear message: white folks have lost their grip on America…and only I - Donald Trump - can return the good ol’ days when you ruled.

Rules - by the way - need not be handcuffs. Rules exist to establish order…and they can be good or evil. Evenly and judiciously applied, rules establish boundaries that allow us to live fairly and peacefully.

The U.S. Constitution - for nearly 240 years - has been America’s rulebook…through world wars, civil war and every crisis. It worked…until now. That rulebook is being shredded by Trump and Republicans…destroyed in plain sight…all so that America can be great again. It is - at once - the biggest lie and nearest certainty in America.

Fear undermines rules…and fairness…and ultimately freedoms and democracy. It is an insidious path…fear becomes anxiety…then resentment…and then outright hatred. Hatred allows the powerful to look at some people as less than human. When that happens - and it has in America - the rulebook becomes trash…fuel for the tomorrow’s dumpster fires.

One thing about the good ol’ days that is true…leaders used to lead. Republicans and Democrats were guided by strongly held values, a sense of decency and an unflinching respect for the rule of law.

Look at America’s so-called political leaders today. Trump, Vance, Johnson, Rubio, Hegseth, Bondi…they inflame…incite…rather than lead. Bygone eras that featured trusted social and cultural leaders like Walter Cronkite and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr…have given way to media charlatans who inflame and incite people to act on hatred.

Many people today who claim to be patriotic Americans are quite the opposite. They are busy dismantling the foundation that defines America…undermining freedoms, institutions…ending rules.

America’s best hope is whether those with integrity…character…stand up against tyranny. This is an epic battle of good and decency versus evil and fascism. Rules - fair and just - were never more important.

Everyone’s future good ol’ days…depend on choosing to fight fear with truths.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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