Dear GOP: The 1950s called; they aren't coming back.

[nobodyspecial]

The idealized, sanitized version of the perfect two-parent family, dutiful wife and obedient children is a long distant memory. It isn't coming back -- no matter how many laws you pass.

Besides, unless you were a white male, they really weren't that good -- for women, for minorities, for gays, for children. But, I guess that's why the white males are clinging to that fantasy with all of their might.

[Tabasco_Dave]

1. They love the 50's

until you mention the 90% tax rate on the wealthy and 33% union membership.

[SharonAnn]

16. And polio.

[dogknob]

19. Big Pharma wishes they could roll back the polio vaccine.

The way our system is now, there will never, EVER be a cure for Cancer, AIDS, Herpes, whatever...

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Well, there are some aspects of the '50s I would like to see return

There was a progressive tax structure in place, which played a role in unprecedented growth of the US economy. Wealth was much more equitably distributed in that era. Plus, even the Republicans had accepted the reforms and programs enacted during the New Deal. Aside from that, however, the '50s pretty much sucked for the groups you mentioned.

[nobodyspecial]

3. Great points

but I hardly doubt they would be in favor of any of that.

[PassingFair]

6. Well, I loved the furniture.

[Downwinder]

4. Bring back the top 90% tax rate and the excise tax.

[Pab Sungenis]

5. Even the 50's weren't like the 50's.

The memories of Mom, Apple Pie, and Home Sweet Home are fantasies brought on by people who don't want to remember the bad times, and those who like Parson Weems set out to whitewash over history.

We're seeing the same thing with the 80's (which was a DISASTROUS time for so many people) and even the 90's now.

They want to bring back a world that never existed in the first place.

[nobodyspecial]

9. I agree

That's why I used idealized and sanitized in the OP.

The '80s and Reagan were truly awful. I don't get that at all.

[butterfly77]

7. K&R..

[MrMickeysMom]

8. You realize the 50's to the GOP is Pat Boone and not Dobie Gillis, right"

These fucking people can't grasp any kind of reality.

[hifiguy]

13. Dobie Gillis was one of the most sociologically accurate

sitcoms until "All in the Family." The Gillises were working class people.

[Terry in Austin]

28. Don't forget Maynard G. Krebbs

Like, he taught us about beatniks.

[hifiguy]

30. Never. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up

to be just like Maynard. WORK??!!

[MrMickeysMom]

29. Funny, things ahead of their time...

... are pushed to the side (at least temporarily)

[provis99]

10. they don't want the 1950s to come back...

they want the 1850s to come back.

[AtomicKitten]

11. I think they want to repeal the 20th century.

[nobodyspecial]

12. Economically, you're probably correct

When robber barons ruled and owned politicians.

[aaaaaa5a]

14. Bingo! We have a winner. That is the base of thought for the GOP.

I would only add that it is also the party of crazy religious fanatics.

[Nye Bevan]

15. The 50s were good for many working Americans.

Strong union protections, good wages, jobs for life, generous pensions, reasonably priced houses, a hugely smaller gap between average Americans and the wealthy, and no banksters wrecking the economy with predatory mortgages and CDOs. Someone could get a job right out of high school, earn a good living, buy a house, a car, take vacations and have a comfortable retirement.

While gays and minorities were treated worse than they are today (especially with the despicable Jim Crow laws in the South) the 50s certainly had advantages in terms of unionization and a much smaller divide between the rich and the poor.

[snooper2]

20. And you didn't have to worry about somebody blasting Warren G in their back yard

right...

And the little lady got to look forward to her new HotPoint LOL

[Nye Bevan]

21. Whoa. I would definitely have bought my wife one of those beauties

if she promised to have a hot dinner waiting for me every evening.

[snooper2]

25. I guess that would have been possible since the age of microwaves was coming

Sometimes the milk man had more than milk back in those days

[raccoon]

23. White males could get a job right out of high school, earn a good living, buy a house,

a car, take vacations and have a comfortable retirement.

There were some good things about the '50's--some good music--early R&R.

One bad thing, no air conditioning. Ever been through a summer in the south with no AC?
Trust me, you don't want to go through that.

[Nye Bevan]

26. Good point. My in-laws have told me stories about sleeping on the fire escape at night.

And that was in NYC. I can't imagine dealing with that in the South. I love AC.

[_ed_]

17. I argued the point the other night

that any white man who attended medical or law school up until AT LEAST the early 1970s is illegitimate, because they only had to compete against other white men for positions at these schools. This system is sure to produce doctors and lawyers that are not as good as if they had to compete against the population as a whole.

Just another retort for those who pine for "the good old days." Only white, Christian men should look upon the 50s as "the good old days" because they used to get every advantage in society.

[Nye Bevan]

18. The first black law school (at Howard University) opened in 1869.

http://www.law.howard.edu/19

BTW, that's where Thurgood Marshall graduated, first in his class, in 1933.

[_ed_]

31. So what?

Are you suggesting that there was an equal representation of minorities in 1933 in professional schools? Or in 1970?

[Jennicut]

22. You are correct, it never really existed to begin with. Even my conservative parents admit that.

Women, minorities, gays were mistreated even more then and secrets of spousal and sexual abuse were kept quiet. Being an alcoholic was hushed up, drug abuse not admitted to. People rarely got the help they needed. Even men were forced into roles they perhaps did not want to be in.

[raccoon]

24. And there was the draft. A peacetime draft. nt

[Initech]

27. Bill Maher had a great bit about how they want to make the Honeymooners a reality.

"To the moon Alice!!!!!" and such, it seems that's what the GOP's ultimate end game is in all this.