It was better in almost every aspect that mattered to a middle-income family. It may be hard for people under age 50 to appreciate how much inviting and less crowded this nation was by the mid-sixties than it is now. By every environmental and infrastructure resource measure the US is grossly over-populated.
There's no escaping the "crowd." Places in the '60's in which a citizen could enter - sans reservations - such as Yellowstone and Glacier which I simply showed and stayed now require a year ahead booking. And so it goes across our country. The idea that we have to fill every nook and corner of the nation with people is absurd. It is self-defeating. Less people mean fewer people fighting over housing, water, energy, and really important - places to get lost. Trust me - better - much better.
@R3publicanRhinoDemocrat2wks2W
Well there was no escaping the crowd in New York City or San Francisco in the 1960s. What is different now is that more of the crowd can afford to escape...to national parks and the like. In fact, for most of the American landmass (rural areas and small towns) depopulation is the issue. In fact, popular myths like the 'western' aside, the US has always been dominated by its great cities, although over time which cities are the great ones has morphed a bit.
@ToucanJohnnyGreen2wks2W
No. The US population has near doubled - and it has expanded greatly to the West - and now the South even as the Midwest has depleted to some degree. Phoenix and Salt Lake City, for example were still largely open desert and prairie. Now, Phoenix is a megapolis. And SLC's boundary now runs 50 miles north to Ogden.
For a giant humongous change see San Diego and even Seattle. My employment sent me across all these towns and many more thru the '60's. Brother, we are crowded!
Where I live my favorite fishing lake and streams are over run. There is a lake that is a 15 mile hike to get to. Some hiking app turned it into a challenge to post a picture to say you have been there and now it is ruined.
The old days are gone. IT is sad but something new is coming. Perhaps it will be better somehow. I hope that for the next generations. Whatever is coming is coming. Today is a good day, enjoy it the best you can.
@Freedom762wks2W
Thomas Jefferson said that the "mobs of the cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body." They are inflated tumours growing on an otherwise beautiful nation. Flee to the country.
@CuriousVoter_900Green2wks2W
Spot on, and not to mention there are cities in areas that will run out of water in the not too distant future such as Phoenix
@Freedom762wks2W
The reason America was better "in almost every aspect" for the middle-income family was that we had a relatively stable dollar, far less government regulation, far more balanced budgets, far less spending, and far less debt, and we had intact, nuclear families. More than half of the United States is completely devoid of human population and half of the world at large is the same way. If the government would sell off the lands it unconstitutionally controls, we could carve out new towns from these rich areas. It is a LIE that there are two many people in the US, designed to stop fami… Read more
