Have the Past 10 Years Been the Worst in U.S. History?
SodaHead News
2011/07/18 15:00:00
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Sure, the past decade has brought us two intractable wars that have killed thousands of Americans and tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis, the deadly 9/11 attacks and the worst economic meltdown in modern history.
But don't tell that to Fox News columnist Martin Sieff, the former Managing Editor of International Affairs, who took issue with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's recent speech to a "worshipful audience" on that subject at the annual Aspen Festival of Ideas in June.
Yes, the past decade was not, according to Sieff, "no great shakes," what with the wars, 9/11, and a "very bad but least not terminal Wall Street meltdown in September 2008," but the WORST decade in American history.
C'mon, wrote Sieff. Worse than the 1860s, when 650,000 Americans were killed on both sides in the Civil War – "the proportional equivalent of 6.5 million dying in war in five years?"
Worse than the 1950s, when "millions of terrified American children were drilled in hiding under their school desks as a supposed protection against thermonuclear war?"
Keep in mind, as terrible as the death tolls in Iraq and Afghanistan are, they're 10 times under the number of Americans killed in Vietnam. And we haven't had race riots like we did under liberal Democrats Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Lyndon Johnson in 1968, have we? No one tried to turn back the "admirable" civil rights achievements of the 1960s and there haven't been mass graves dug in New York's Central Park to house the corpses of cholera victims like there were in the 1850s.
Do you think the past 10 years have been the worst in U.S. history?
But don't tell that to Fox News columnist Martin Sieff, the former Managing Editor of International Affairs, who took issue with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's recent speech to a "worshipful audience" on that subject at the annual Aspen Festival of Ideas in June.
Yes, the past decade was not, according to Sieff, "no great shakes," what with the wars, 9/11, and a "very bad but least not terminal Wall Street meltdown in September 2008," but the WORST decade in American history.
C'mon, wrote Sieff. Worse than the 1860s, when 650,000 Americans were killed on both sides in the Civil War – "the proportional equivalent of 6.5 million dying in war in five years?"
Worse than the 1950s, when "millions of terrified American children were drilled in hiding under their school desks as a supposed protection against thermonuclear war?"
Keep in mind, as terrible as the death tolls in Iraq and Afghanistan are, they're 10 times under the number of Americans killed in Vietnam. And we haven't had race riots like we did under liberal Democrats Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Lyndon Johnson in 1968, have we? No one tried to turn back the "admirable" civil rights achievements of the 1960s and there haven't been mass graves dug in New York's Central Park to house the corpses of cholera victims like there were in the 1850s.
Do you think the past 10 years have been the worst in U.S. history?
First, saying that things aren't as bad as they used to be answers the damn question - was this the worst decade. No.
Second, if your arrgument is "Humans just can't play nice" then everything will always suck. Its defeatist.
I'm not that cynical. Not that cynical at all. I recognize the bad of the past, while still understanding that we've done a lot to improve. In America today, no I don't see a lot of slavery. I see some economic inconsistencies that don't begin to rise to the level of slavery. Worldwide? Maybe, but thats a fault of the westernized world failing to act. Depression? What are we at, 9 percent unemployment? The real depression was at what, 20%? No, we're not close to that either. The US Govt as a modern Nazi party? You must be joking at this point right? And again, we may still be working on salary equality but thats a whole hell of a lot different than having the right to vote and being treated as property. There are plenty of rich and powerful women in the world today.
So don't give me your hyperbole and cynicism. That sort of whining doesn't fix anything.
I'm not arguing that there isn't a problem still to be sought out and fixed. I'm only pointing out that its not nearly on the scale that it once was and its not legal in the US.
Not too bad and not too good either thanks to Bush, 9/11, and other crap that happened.
no longer are we the healthiest country in the world ( falling behind in life expectancy and child welfare), the smartest with the most new patents, the best public education
( crushed by caps on revenue and destroying teacher morale), huge deficits produced by unpaid for wars and the lowest tax rates for the wealthy and the wealthy corporations in the world
We need to total reverse the IBG-YBG( I Be Gone- You Be Gone therefore maximize short term profits and on and on0 mentality of our leaders
It is not right.
We ALL have heard of the rough times during the depression and the dustbowl 30s.. I would say that they still qualify as the worst times ever..
TODAY you’re poverty stricken if you ONLY own ONE 53” LCD TV.. The Spas and the Gyms are operating at full capacity and the Gambling Casinoes are FILLED with lever pulling Grandmas and Grandads ALL bitching about how they can’t afford their Presciption Drugs..
My parents talked about people starving in the streets and it wasn’t FEARMONGERING like it is today..
It’s NOT hard to understand why some people might get the impression that we’re going through such tough times though.. You HEAR about every day on TV.. If I had a dime for every time some Politician claimed that the world was going to end if he or she didn’t get his/her way,, if they didn’t get to spend THIS Trillion Dollars here and there or pass THAT Trillion Dollar package I’d NEVER have to worry about hard times..
During those years we had FDR pushing HIS agenda.. TODAY we have Obama.. In BOTH cases te economic crises was considered disastrous..
THEY had WWII.. WE have Iraq/Afghanistan..
ONE of the major differences between THEN and NOW is that THEN,, even in GOOD times,, they weren't far from being on the street living in rags and THEY didn't have the support institutions
( welfare,, housing support,, food stamps etc.. ) available to them that we have today....
I would SAY that comparing the Lifestyles of the Average American THEN as opposed to NOW would lead to only ONE conclusion..
THEY had a much harder time odf it THEN then WE do now..
YOU name it and we're "close to wiping out our entire race" these days..
Doesn't matter WHAT you're talking about..Eat a damn hamburger and you're destroying the planet..
I agree that we have a technological revolution to get under control ( it USED to be the Industrial revolution ) and our ethics aren't what they used to be but hey.. THAT goes in cycles too..
It's like a pendulum that swings from one extreme to the other.. WE happen to be at the one extreme to the left.... The GOOD news is that the Pendulum spends more time IN between then it does at either extreme..
I get the sense that it's NOW beginning to head towards the center
I think the worst, however, is yet to come.
Your answer is as good as the next...