America's Greatest Time In History

When
was America's Greatest Time In History and
why?

1776, 1918, 1945?
None of the above?

?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk
?

The most intriguing era for me was during The American Civil War. I love the culture, the chivalry, and the mannerisms of the time. It was also one of the top most pivotal moments in our nations history.

Right now actually. Freedom, equality, tech, science and.lessons being learned. The future of.America has probably never been brighter, despite the media focus on negatives...

To a Canadian, 1944 to 45, the Civil Rights period of 1962 to 1965, but since then a steady decline mimicking the last days of the Roman Republic. Look up the career of Marius, the mentor of Julius Caesar, and there are many parallels to the present.

At different times in history America has risen to Great levels of achievement for different reasons. Its unique 'genetic' makeup has made truly great things possible.

The golden days of Greece and the Classical period (480 BC – 323 BC) came to an end due in part to the rise of the oligarchs and plutocrats.

The Thirty Tyrants did their thing to the Greeks. "The Thirty Tyrants were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Tyrants

We have our own version of the Tyrants today having their way with America.

America’s decline can be tracked to the rise of the oligarchs in this country. Every country has oligarchs and plutocrats throughout its history but this country is currently strangled by oligarchies that control the American system of government and keep their money and that of their companies off shore.

Before this happened, America had a fighting chance and the seeds or genetic makeup for continued greatness but since our oligarchs have taken over so thoroughly I see no chance to make America “Great Again” unless that rule of the oligarchs is loosened.

Revised on 12.29.15, 8:20am

It depends on what constitutes a 'Greatest Age'.

America was at the absolute zenith of its military power from July 6, 1945 through August 29,1949.

The "Good Years" of 1900-1914 (cf. Walter Lord) could be argued as the last 'Golden Age'; not because it was perfect, but because Americans genuinely believed that their country could be perfected.

>5 Urquhart: Who would these "Oligarchs" be? I am not being naive but I don't want to assume you just mean the 1% so to speak.

The problem with using Greece as an example is that the "golden age" really only existed for the Athenian Empire and maybe Corinth - I don't think we can say the Peloponnese as a whole had a "Golden Age". Athens was the centre for enlightenment, science and a well defined social contract for sure, but it also had direct democracy which the US (or my country for that matter) has never enjoyed. The collapse of Athens is more than just the rise of plutocrats, but the 3 decades of war which preceded the oligarchs. The life of Pericles pretty much covers the Golden Age of Athens - a truly great commercial empire. It was hubris that really ended Athenian democracy, if we want to believe Thucydides and Xenophon (the events leading up to the invasion of Italy/Sicily).

The US seems to me a different duck altogether. It is plagued by this frankly weird idea of the individual first - this almost seems enshrined in your constitution - over the polis, a large race divide and something akin to unbridled "free enterprise" which almost guarantees more individuals fail than succeed. Both our countries have a largely toothless media now - E.R. Murrow would have been covering Trump/Cruze/Carson more effectively that Chuck Todd. The US has become a terribly uneducated country. In my country we have a new PM and our leading journalists had a private interview with the PM and almost gushed about how much he loved the PM - a less than critical survey of our new PM (which I think will do a good job, but still deserves scrutiny).

If I was to make an historical comparison - always dangerous academically - perhaps late Western Roman Empire would be better as the cult of the individual combined with xenophobia and unchecked religious fervor had long since started the work that the Goths would complete. I would agree with Gibbon in his assessment of the origins of the decline of Rome.

Having said all this, I am not bashing the US. It COULD be a shining beacon of hope, it has, as you point out, the right "genetics" to be a great republic and a force for good. However, its historical development will be stilted so long as individual greed rules over common sense and human compassion. I think if we take the American Military machine out of the equation, we would find America's political and social influence to be at best globally waning.

If the US can get its you-know-what together its best days could still be ahead.

Tim

You ask "Who would these "Oligarchs" be?"

See the following 2 urls for one study

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/21/americas-oligarchy-not-democracy...

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/is-america-an-oligarchy

or

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/videos/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-wit...

or

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/akbar-ganji/the-transformation-of-ame_1_b_7945040....

I personally believe that the entire financial services industry has to count as one of the major oligarchic culprits.

>8 Urquhart: well, Oligarchy as a term is not used in the article, so much as the 19th's percentile' (uber weathy) influence on policy making, and I quote from the Times:

“Rather often, average citizens and affluent citizens (our proxy for economic elites) want the same things from government.” This does get reflected in policy outcomes. Proposals that are supported up and down the income spectrum have a better chance of being enacted than policies that do not have such support. To that extent, democracy is working.

and,

Average citizens are inattentive to politics and ignorant about public policy; why should we worry if their poorly informed preferences do not influence policy making? Perhaps economic elites and interest group leaders enjoy greater policy expertise than the average citizen does. Perhaps they know better which policies will benefit everyone, and perhaps they seek the common good, rather than selfish ends, when deciding which policies to support… But we tend to doubt it.

What was interest was the roughly 50% chance of a policy being made if the top income earners support the bill compared to the 20% chance of the change being made if "average" American's support the policy.

Tim

Anytime being a kid always seems to be the best. It is a more carefree time and as a kid there wasn't much to worry about. I grew up during the Vietnam War, civil unrest and hijackings were all the rage. Little did I know that the world was on a Hellbound Train and the future was going to be a shit storm.

Hey,maybe its 1776 and today if the ladies of "Hamilton" have anything to say about it.....check it out and you'll see why when it all appears bleak there are huge green shoots of energy, passion and positivity out there among our youth.

http://youtu.be/Tbfws-YZQu4

Or show it to your kids and grandkids if your ears are too sensitive to hip hop

New Hampshire has its primary today, and Bernie Saunders (the person giving the USA its second real choice in eight years!) will win for the Democrats...and there are few Republicans in New Hampshire, unlike Iowa, so who wins for the Republicans is less important....but the choice of Trump or Cruz (Who was born in the city of my birth), doesn't make me think Cruz will win, so Trump will continue to exercise his "Barbaric Yawp" for at least a while longer...sigh....
From my progressive point of view the ideal scenario is Trump starting a rump party, and Cruz being the Republican Candidate..and Bernie thus becoming president, with the possibility of a "Golden Age returning to the USA!

>13 DinadansFriend: That would be wonderful.

+1

Well it took over 4 months, but the NYT has finally.......gotten around to addressing the OP.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/upshot/when-was-america-greatest.html?hp&a...