As an American, since I was a teenager, I always thought Canada or the Scandinavian countries would be better places to live (mostly due to cannabis laws and healthcare). I grew up in rural US, so was aware of high levels of bigotry and poverty, but yeah, it seems to be getting worse. Rights have been getting eroded since W (except LGBT rights, until MAGA). The economy, for the working class, has been in decline since I’ve been alive. We seem to be going through a corpo-fascist self-coup now, so it’s definitely worse. In terms of foreign meddling, I don’t think much has changed since I’ve been alive until this Trump term. Disregarding LBGT acceptance, I think the late 90s were peak. Regarding WASP men, I think the 50s may have been the peak. The country was built on genocide and slavery in many uniquely brutal ways, so don’t think it was really “great” until the mid 1900s, but not even sure it was comparatively great to other peer countries back then, in anything other than having a large economy and plentiful resources to be exploited.
As an American, since I was a teenager, I always thought Canada or the Scandinavian countries would be better places to live (mostly due to cannabis laws and healthcare). I grew up in rural US, so was aware of high levels of bigotry and poverty, but yeah, it seems to be getting worse. Rights have been getting eroded since W (except LGBT rights, until MAGA). The economy, for the working class, has been in decline since I’ve been alive. We seem to be going through a corpo-fascist self-coup now, so it’s definitely worse. In terms of foreign meddling, I don’t think much has changed since I’ve been alive until this Trump term. Disregarding LBGT acceptance, I think the late 90s were peak. Regarding WASP men, I think the 50s may have been the peak. The country was built on genocide and slavery in many uniquely brutal ways, so don’t think it was really “great” until the mid 1900s, but not even sure it was comparatively great to other peer countries back then, in anything other than having a large economy and plentiful resources to be exploited.