We were proud to be Americans. Fourth of July parades were where to see Cub Scouts to white-haired World War I veterans in uniforms, little girls wearing red, white and blue riding decorated bicycles as big girls strutted in cute little outfits twirling batons. And then there was the cacophony of the brass band playing patriotic songs in the Bonfield Gazebo. Most American men of military age served in uniform during World War II, which ended five years earlier, with us as the winner.
Uniforms made it obvious who we were. We all knew The United States of America was the most powerful nation on earth. Having just won World War II, and invented the atomic bomb, we were champions of the world.
America's main goal was containment of communism. Having funded the Marshall Plan to rebuild war torn Europe and Asia, having created the United Nations to maintain international peace and security, having led development of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, having insured free trade and freedom of the seas and having organized the North America Treaty Organization The United States of America that created the seventy year-long "Pax Americana".
Restoration of normalcy was each family's goal. One of every four Americans lived on a farm. Newspapers and the radio reported "Children are starving in China" so we produced enough food to feed the world. Selling corn, wheat, oats, milk, cattle, hogs and eggs provided small family farmers enough money to modernize the homestead, buy a car and a television.
Being the only major industrial nation to escape wartime devastation resulted in anything "Made in USA" salable. This translated into jobs for anyone who wanted one. Labor unions were strong and unionized jobs paid well enough for a man to support his wife and four children, buy a small house and a new car from what he alone earned.
Everyone knew their place. Men worked on a farm, trade, job or factory to earn enough money to pay the bills and boys did manly chores. Women cared for the children, house, garden, clothes and linen and prepared three meals a day. Girls helped inside the house. All children walked to school together but girls played feminine games while boys rough-housed and competed in baseball, basketball and football.
The fifties were pivotal and glimpses of equality emerged. Racial prejudice was white person accepted reality with Jim Crow laws still legally and culturally in force. When a decorated black soldier was denied basic accommodation, and assaulted on his bus ride home, President Truman integrated all branches of the Armed Services in 1949 which was a beginning. Emmet Till, who was the same age as me, was brutally murdered in 1955 for having flirted with a white woman making it obvious the shadow of Jim Crow still darkened our sky.
Having won World War II, and the GI Bill fomented the beginnings of societal evolution. Having done "men's jobs" during World War II made Americans a little more open to equality, The Women's Rights Movement began and health insurance benefits became implanted. Hundreds of thousands of returning veterans used the GI Bill to attend universities and earn advanced degrees, a career opportunity previously only available to male scions of elite families.
It was alright to take a vacation to Florida. Russians were acting up but my family had a bomb shelter and we knew nothing anyone did could hurt us because we lived in The United States of America.
We've lost our swagger. Infatuation with military service ended in the sixties when we became mired in an unpopular unwinnable war. Young men and women, and many of their parents revolted, when they discovered our leaders were liars who got us enmeshed in what was basically a civil war. Our soldiers won every battle but having been lied to resulted in this nation losing the war. Worse, a case could be made that our intervention resulted in loss of a nation, whose leaders aspired for democracy and shared our distrust of Chinese communists, to become Russian supported communists.
Military jobs are also so much more technical and complex today only one out of three High School Graduates is qualified to serve. This makes it difficult for our Armed Forces to meet enlistment quotas. As a result the United States of America's uniformed services are now completely staffed by highly skilled and motivated volunteers and 60% of all Americans still have great confidence in our military and being an officer is prestigious.
Pax Americana worked. Rebuilding Germany, and containing communist expansion, resulted in an unprecedented seventy years of peace among major European nations. Rebuilding Japan, and enforcing freedom of the seas, resulted in free trade and increased prosperity for all Americans until the eighties
Thanks to American largess, China arose. American companies offshored manufacturing to China and other poor nations where factory worker wages were low as a way to decrease production costs.
That is coming to an end. Russian invasion of Ukraine, and increasing Chinese aggression in Southeast Asia, made very obvious the folly of depending upon hostile communist nations to produce goods essential to our national security. Anything we must have here must be mined and manufactured here. Made in America is returning and that feels good.
Family roles evolved with mixed results. While marriage is still the aspirational ideal of most couples 40% of all American children are now born out of wedlock and single parenthood is common. Family structure and socioeconomic status are linked. The 60% of married two-income American families are doing fine.
Nearly 30% of all single parents live in poverty and are not doing fine. Single parents are also more likely to live in poverty when compared to cohabiting couples, and single mothers are much more likely to be poor than single fathers. This is not progress.
Congress passed The Civil Rights Act in 1964. Discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin is now legally prohibited. After five decades most Americans finally ascribe to the wisdom and morality of equality. Americans actually elected a talented Black man President of the United States of America.
Unfortunately there are still Americans who long for the days of Jim Crow and systemic discrimination is still a problem. In 2020 a white policeman felt free to murder a black man, while being video-taped, confident he could do so with impunity.
Woman's roles are no longer restricted to being a mother, teacher, secretary or nurse. About 60% of all college students are female and women are now represented in most trades, government offices and business at all administrative levels. For example the majority of Medical students are now female as are about half of all doctorate level astrophysicists.
Religious zealots are trying to force obedience to their interpretation of Purity Culture onto all Americans. Their interpretation of Purity Culture is that sex outside of a religiously sanctioned marriage is sinful, that the only justification for sexual relations is procreation, abortion is murder and that the only rational female role is some version of motherhood.
In reality abortion is an essential component of personal and community economic progress. Without ability to control fertility women are dependent upon the will of others which often translates into unfair pay, unequal social power, and higher burdens in the household. Banning abortion is making the United States of America an outlier when it comes to limiting the career development potential of the female half of this world.
Foreigners see this nation as a paradise and compared too many places it is. Many people who immigrate to the United States do so to seek asylum from war and violence. Most find a job or are offered one. This helps immigrants build a better life for themselves and increases American productivity.
In reality this nation's less than replacement birth rate means we need immigrants to retain our status of being the best economy on earth. Immigrants are needed as field laborers, craftsmen, construction workers and scientists. More immigration means more growth for the economy. This means higher tax revenues and more options for national spending.
Today we are 332 million strong. We are closer to racial and sexual equality and that is good. The whole nation does better when everyone is able to contribute to the best of their ability. Our post World War II focus on economic development of defeated nations and, containment of communism instead of revenge, led to seventy years of relative peace. We are the most free, and have the best economy, in the world.