You're going way back in time here, and maybe you're trying to make a larger historical statement about the US.
But, I think the comp in most Americans' minds (even if very subconsciously in the younger generation) is the WWII (and post-WWII) period of governance, which was pretty good (certainly compared to now).
You're going way back in time here, and maybe you're trying to make a larger historical statement about the US.
But, I think the comp in most Americans' minds (even if very subconsciously in the younger generation) is the WWII (and post-WWII) period of governance, which was pretty good (certainly compared to now).
I think that's fair. I still think that the WWII/Cold War era is actually the exception rather than the rule, historically, but for the purposes of what an average citizen experiences today, it's much more relevant than the Gilded Age and western expansion. While I will again raise that many Americans (such as my grandfather) did not experience what they'd call institutional excellence during the WWII era, it's pretty inarguably true that, at worst, we experienced effective partnership between public and private institutions as measured by output.
You're going way back in time here, and maybe you're trying to make a larger historical statement about the US.
But, I think the comp in most Americans' minds (even if very subconsciously in the younger generation) is the WWII (and post-WWII) period of governance, which was pretty good (certainly compared to now).
I think that's fair. I still think that the WWII/Cold War era is actually the exception rather than the rule, historically, but for the purposes of what an average citizen experiences today, it's much more relevant than the Gilded Age and western expansion. While I will again raise that many Americans (such as my grandfather) did not experience what they'd call institutional excellence during the WWII era, it's pretty inarguably true that, at worst, we experienced effective partnership between public and private institutions as measured by output.
This is a great point, that many americans have a sense of “normal” which is calibrated by one of the most unusual periods in human history.