Wondered if we were any better of a quarter century ago and I wondered if

[Valerie5555]

back in 1979 we would imagine things would be the way they are now.

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Cold War

In 1979 I figured about 50-50 on full scale nuclear war before 2001. All things considered, I have hope that we'll be better off in 25 years.

[Valerie5555]

7. Though the nuke threat may remain

The more things change, the more they stay the same. <sigh>

[Arianrhod]

14. I have never feared nuclear war.

I thought the elementary school drills I was forced to endure, of hiding our sweet little heads under a flimsy particle board desk, were asinine, even as a child. As a matter of fact, the Cold War was the best preventative for such a thing. Two powerful "enemies" (who shared more technical knowledge and economic policies than any politician would like to admit, then or now) facing each other with enough weaponry to destroy the world--and neither wishing such an event. The best defense is a good offense.

With the loss of that "enemy", the world has been plunged into chaos. It's not just *; it was the vacuum created by the disappearance of the counterweight on the see-saw. Capitalism, like Communism, needs an opponent, a tacit resistance against its momentum, in order to thrive. After all, Capitalism is founded on the idea of competition; when there is no competitor, it consumes itself.

Hence Reaganomics. Hence both Bushes. Hence the mess we're in now.

So, to answer the original question: Yes. Except for Disco, we were better off in 1979.

[Valerie5555]

15. Believe it or not

,some may still have 1970's disco retro parties.

[Arianrhod]

17. Ouch. :) n/t

[No2W2004]

2. Well, in 1979,

I was convinced Ronnie was gonna blow us all up.

Like Slim Pickens, riding the bomb all the way down on the commies.

I was SURE it would happen.

Now, I'm waiting for the camps to open.

[Valerie5555]

5. Thought you were REALLY convinced of that a year later

when the Ratpooplicans went on to win the election supposedly by betraying a certain group of hostages who may have been far more patriotic than the whole lot of them, * in particular.


The hostages were by then held for a year.

[No2W2004]

9. Nope,

You could see it coming very clearly...with the lies and the "feel good ads" the republicans were spreading, Carter had no chance.

[Valerie5555]

10. Thought it was that accursed hostage issue in Tehran that really did in

Carter, and who knew what would have happened had a certain hostage rescue raid worked.

[Birthmark]

3. Nope.

I was pretty Pollyannish, I guess. I thought that we could continue to become more liberal and civilized. I never dreamed that I'd see the day when 1/3 of our population would approve of the US using torture...or approve a war of aggression...or allow their rights to be severely curtailed...or most of anything else that's status quo. :(

[Valerie5555]

8. As for the torture, you would think some country such as IRAN would have

done that. In speaking of Iran and torture, bet you never would have imagined you would witness the day when Iran of all countries would OUTLAW torture.

[taxidriver]

4. in 1979...

The biggest threat we were aware of was the scary soviets. Now, we have the scary Arabs...this, too, shall pass.

but it'll probably take a lot longer.

[Valerie5555]

6. Don't forget the Islamic "Looney Tune" fringe began that year with the

ascendancy to power of the :scared:y Ayatollah.

[DieboldMustDie]

11. Don't forget that we set the stage for the Islamist revolution in Iran...

when we overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and brought the Shah to power.

http://www.lightmillennium.org/2003_summer/kinzer_shahs_men.html

[Valerie5555]

12. Ah yes I did read "Daughter of Persia" and the author did say

the overthrow of Mossadegh left the Iranians with few other options.

[DBoon]

13. Never

in 1979 I was in college. I never in my wildest dreams thought it would be this bad.

In 1979 the Alliance for Survival and the Campaign for Economic Democracy were big. Tom Hayden had made a serious run against Alan Cranston a few years prior. There were angry demonstrations at Love Canal. Campus sit-ins against South African apartheid were big. You get the idea.

I never would have imagined that this country would become so conservative, that the left would be so marginalized, that our collective standard of living would stagnate for 20 years, that we would get used to the impoverished living in cardboard boxes.

[izzie]

16. Yes but think the govt was more as I think and not so far Right

I just do not think it is the way the world is going but I am really not sure how the Right got so powerful. We must have let it happen as they are in power (for a while)