Traditional Values

One of the things I hear my Conservative friends wax nostalgic about is the America of yesteryear and its traditional values that are all but lost to us now.  My Tea Bagger relatives will always cite "I Love Lucy" as the example of the America they want back.  A black and white version of dilemmas solved in a half hour and sealed with a heart and a bow.  These people don't need reality TV because for them, Lucy was it.
I must admit.  I too would love to live in the Ricardo's midtown apartment, married to the dashing Cuban band leader with my best friend living downstairs.  However, I'm not so sure I would want that dashing Cuban husband to tell me that I wasn't allowed to get a job.  Nor do I think I would want to have him give me an "allowance."  I know for sure that I wouldn't like it one bit when he took me over his knee and gave me a spanking.  Although, like Lucy, I too would insist on separate beds after that.
The irony of the Conservatives line of reasoning is that the reality of the time was much different than Lucy would have us believe.  Unlike the Ricardo's, the Arnaz's didn't live in Manhattan, but the San Fernando Valley.   Not only was Desi an alcoholic, but a philanderer as well.  Unfortunately, the beatings were all too real.   And in fact, the true "traditional value" that was practiced back then was the value to keep a secret.   When I question my "traditionalist" friends about these things that's when they play the "it wasn't reality" card. But  I won't deny that there were some really good things about that era.  Schools were outstanding- although, they could select which students attended just by virtue of the color of their skin.  Jobs were plentiful- if you were a white man.  And you rarely saw a homeless person on the streets in America- and most certainly they wouldn't be veterans.  All the people who lament about how far America has fallen are the very same people who scream about taxes.  Yet the America that they all yearn for was bought and paid for by our parents and grandparents.  Under Eisenhower, the wealthiest 1% of the population were taxed at a rate of 90%.  That money went to pay for the outstanding schools and hospitals and treatment for the mentally ill.
In addition, a 90% tax rate for the uber-rich  helped stave off corporate greed.  If a CEO were in the position to fall into that category, instead of paying the money to the government, he was probably more likely to give his employees a raise or expand the company by creating more jobs.
I'm certainly not advocating a complete regression back to era of the sock hop, especially on a social level.  But for people who think that restoring America to the heyday of the 50s is a goal, they can start by getting the funding to bring back the good stuff.  The rest will come naturally.