The New America (aka Same as it Ever Was)

The white guy from Mission Linen said it best.  He was glad the election turned out the way it did so "America could get back to its good values."  I, however, wasn't sure what values he was referring to.  The key word wasn't "good."  It was "back."

How far back did he want to go?  Back to the '90s?  The '80s?  The '60s?  1947?  Pre-WWII?  1841?  1840?  1776?  How far did he want to roll back the clock?  Where did America "lose" its way?  Typically, when people are saying things like the Mission Linen guy did, it is when America elected a black president.  Some have an even bigger grasp of history and can remember back "decades ago" when Clinton was in the White House, and will use that as the point to where America took a turn to the radical Left (though Clinton was many things, a Leftist is not one of them).

I, too, would love a return to some good ol' American values.  I want to go back to a time when corporations weren't treated as people.  When robber barons had yet to exist.  When stock brokers dove out their windows.  When colonists rebelled against attacks on civil liberties.  When rugged invidualism was more than just an empty value.  A time before the military-industrial complex.  A time when the idea of corporate welfare was laughed at instead of worshipped.  A time when the environment was free of smog.

I think that Mission Linen guy wants the same things as me.  I just don't get why he was so happy about how the election came out.  Oh, I get it now.  He thinks those guys elected into office are going to do that.  I think the joke's on him.