I'm sorry, everyone, for my privilege.

[MineralMan]

I grew up in a time when college was essentially free for a couple of decades or so. I grew up in a time when Congress actually tried to do good things while working together. I grew up white and middle class. I grew up in a time when social change was actively happening, and got to participate in that. I grew up in a world without HIV, and was able to take advantage of the "sexual revolution."

I got to campaign for JFK while still in High School. I got to watch as we first explored space, developed computers that would end up in our pockets during my lifetime, and saw smog disappear from Los Angeles.

I had great privilege. Now I'm old. I've watched many of those things slow down, diminish, and wither. I'm watching as people don't have the same benefits I enjoyed. That saddens me. What seemed to be a promise of a better future seems to be deteriorating into something a lot less promising.

So, I'm sorry. Truly. We tried, but apparently failed to keep things going in the right direction.

[snooper2]

1. Um, it is better now even with Drumpf winning an election than it was 30, 40, 50 years ago

I thought this meme was destroyed a long time ago?

[MineralMan]

2. I remember very clearly what it was like.

The difference is that we were on a path toward improvement in all of those areas, and made improvements. I do not think we are on such a path now. It's a matter of direction, and not static. I could write a long list of things that were wrong with those times, too, and have done so multiple times on DU.

Yes, in many ways it is better now, but because there were people pushing then to make it better. It appears to me that we are on the verge of sliding backwards at this time. If you do not agree, that's fine, but that's what I'm seeing.

[Yonnie3]

5. We stumbled in the past, but we got up dusted ourselves off

and set off in a better direction. It is amazing what has happened in the 60 plus years that I can recall. Many things could be happening for good now, but there seems to me a lack of direction. Our country's infrastructure is falling apart. Many young people cannot read or cipher at a functional level. I could go on, but it would serve no purpose.

I am worried.

[Bradshaw3]

8. I'm 64 and I agree with you

It truly seemed like things were getting better in the 70s as far as integration, tolerance, peace - not perfect but, as you write, headed in the right direction. dump's enabling of the worst impulses in our country's reactionary politics and bigotry has revealed an aspect of America I never thought went away but at least was pushed to the margins. Now I meet people I would have thought were decent but know they can't be because of the views they espouse and I also see the power of the oligarchs rising daily, threatening democracy worldwide.

I will work in 2018 to reverse these trends but I'm worried about the future.

[malchickiwick]

3. But the weed is WAAYYYY better now; LOL!

I am actually too old and have too much gray in my beard to talk like a young whippersnapper these days. I was born between Nixon's first election and first inaugural -- 50 in about a year; a child of the 70s and 80s, and I must say my fellow Gen Xers were never too politically active, although I always took it upon myself to help campaign for local progressives (an uphill battle most of the time). My kids are millennials, they are very politically aware but too burdened by the demands of paying for and attending college and all that goes with it to get very involved.

Anyway...here's hoping that maybe in response to what we are all going through lately that we are returning to an era of social activism and holding our elected officials accountable!

[MineralMan]

4. Yes, that's no doubt true. I stopped smoking it in 1974,

while making many other changes in my life.

I hope we do see a resurgence of political activism. I'm about to step out of political activity, so I hope there are people who will step in.

[pwb]

6. Agree. So few people with so much money.

Not sharing with those who made it for them. Everything is backwards now. People want to hurt other people now and when they do they celebrate it. Fake Fox News, fake religion, fake patriotism, lies and disinformation now the norm. To many feel helpless. A great country collapsing.