A toast to history: A dozen decades that led us to now

www.americanthinker.com

We are well into the new year.

Long ago toasts have been forgotten, vows made for the year ahead allowed to fall by the wayside. The vast majority of New Year’s resolutions have been jettisoned like a prom dress after three or four cocktails.

Regardless, it behooves us to look back in time every now and again, to see how we got here and therefore where we may be headed.

Every decade has had its own feel, vibe, character … even ambiance, if you will.

For what it’s worth, here is my extremely brief thumbnail sketch of the past 12 of them. I know this post is different — (ironically) far less timely and on a subject of far less immediacy and import than of those I usually pen, but I wanted to get a feel for you, the readers, opinions of past decades.

Those of you who aren’t too absorbed in a lovely Summer Sunday and/or the finale of the FIFA World Cup, please take a moment to let me know if you have a favorite decade, or one that stands out to you in some poignant way -- for good, bad, or indifferent. I am genuinely curious and look forward to reading your comments.

*1910s — Ford invented the assembly line, and, not coincidentally, increased basic wage rates. Babe Ruth made his debut. The Panama Canal was completed. But this decade was dominated by the “War to End All Wars.” Which, as it turned out, wasn’t. Possibilities met progressivism for the first time. And the Great War devastated Europe and overshadowed everything. Some say we have never recovered.

*1920s — The war was over and everyone was dancing. The “Roaring Twenties” came in like a drunken lion and, unfortunately, ended in a stock market crash. Women won the right to vote in America, but drinking alcoholic beverages was prohibited. So speakeasies and “bathtub booze” ruled the day. It was fun, fun, fun until your daddy took the Model-T away.

*1930s — Born of a stock market crash, the ‘30s never really got any better. As if a market crash wasn’t enough, the “Dust Bowl” years further devastated Americans. FDR and his New Deal of vast social welfare programs reigned. World War II loomed. Churchill tried to prevent it, but no one who mattered listened. If the ‘20s were fun, the ‘30s were not.

*1940s — America tried to be aloof, but that dream was shattered on Dec. 7, 1941, a date that would “live in infamy.” Ike, MacArthur, and Patton helped win the war, ending four years of rationing and sacrifice for American families. And devastation for the world. The Nuclear Age began. Churchill presciently identified an “Iron Curtain.” The Berlin Airlift began. The Greatest Generation became the Greatest Generation. The United States became the world’s only true superpower, economically and militarily, infuriating the Soviets and every other would-be superpower. This, then, became the “American Century.”

*1950s — Back to the ‘20s as we came out of another World War and were dancing again. This time with Big Bands and legal alcohol! Sock hops, the Big Bopper, Elvis, and Ike. What’s not to like? A feel-good era of Red Ryder BB guns, slinkies, and Daniel Boone hats -- but the space race started between the United States and the Soviet Union. As did the Cold War.

*1960s— Started out O.K., but ended badly. Very badly. Race riots, Vietnam, Woodstock — sex, drugs, and rock and roll, along with domestic terrorism from the campus left. Flower children. JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King, Jr., all assassinated. A ray of hope: we landed on the moon in July of 1969. The friggin’ moon! Oh, and I was born.

*1970s — War. Loss. Carter. Gas lines. Stagflation. Malaise. Hostages. Orange shag carpets. If the ‘70s were a car they would be a Pinto. Or a Vega. If they were a food, they would be a Brussel sprout. If they were a person, they’d be a homeless addict. Despite all that, I can reflect fondly on the decade, as I was young and improving. Unlike the U.S. For $5 you could buy a “pet rock.” I played a lot of pinball.

*1980s — …And then the U.S. Olympic hockey team stunned the world. I mean stunned. And Ronald Reagan became the 40th president of the United States of America. When America was still somewhat united. Pop music was upbeat. Reagan was re-elected in the biggest landslide in American history, only Minnesota abstaining. If the ‘70s were a Vega, the ‘80s were a Mustang. Reagan’s policies really took effect in 1983 and ushered in the “17 Fat Years.” Don’t worry, be happy! The Berlin Wall fell. Life was good! My favorite decade.

*1990s — The ‘90s saw the creation of the World Wide Web, revolutionizing communication, commerce, and culture. For good, bad, and indifferent. Globalization, the European Union, Hip Hop. Bill Clinton and “it depends on what your definition of is is.” Most of us were still doing well, but many of us felt that something wasn’t right. Gulf War. Dot-Com bubble. “Defining deviancy down.” On a positive personal note, I got married and my wife and I had child #1. Ode to Joy.

*2000s — Just as the “Miracle on Ice” and Ronald Reagan ushered in the ‘80s with great optimism and a “can do” spirit, 9/11 cast a pall over this decade that could never quite be shaken. And then came the 2007-8 real estate crash and a recession. The fat years were over. Barack Obama was elected vowing to “fundamentally transform” America. Sadly, he did. Boy, did he ever. (Wife and I welcomed child #2. Ode to Joy again.)

*2010s — This decade saw the rapid rise of smartphones and social media platforms, a trend that continues today. “Apps” became ubiquitous. A.I. became “a thing.” There was a surge in cultural movements. (And virtue signaling.) D.E.I. was the order of the day. Donald Trump shocked the world when he was elected president of the United States in 2016. Trump Derangement Syndrome was born.

*2020s —Joe Biden was allegedly elected president in 2020, a “fact” that no one was allowed to question at the time, but which looks less and less factual today. Politicians used COVID-19 to lock down the world and force people to accept an experimental mRNA “vaccine” into their bodies. Donald Trump was elected again in 2024, as the people were sick of an obviously incompetent and senile husk of a man who was being used by far-left entities to advance a far-left agenda. This decade, now just past its midpoint, is hard to permanently characterize, of course-- other than by saying it has been fraught with inner tension, heightened division, rising skepticism, and increasing angst about the future. (I lost a brother in 2021 during the COVID lockdown. Horrendous.)

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