'When things were better' for the US is pre 1913. The TV age put a huge empty wide gap in the generational minds of americans. The internet age is basically regrowing identity and culture from scratch. The fact that our country is majorly suburbs (like seriously fucking majorly suburbs), we have no cultural centers. The ones we do, where people walk about each other instead of drive, are New York, Philadelphia and San Fran. If you'll see these are the cities democrats own with *pure violence*. I think the internet age and their advanced control over mass psychosis is going to change how things would have played out historically. I think a better analogy to our current situation is the gutenberg press revolutions. The revolutions that happened once information was more freely available.