Yes. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and I remember with fondness my little hometown and the people I dealt with therein.
I had a paper route at 10 (now relegated to adults), worked topping corn at 12 (now relegated to migrant workers/illegals), worked odd jobs at 14 (mostly mowing lawns and working for the owner of the company my dad worked for at the owner's ranch - things the owner could now be in trouble for were I to have gotten injured - at the time it would have been a non-issue). Then at 16, I was finally able to get a job at that company. I started working with equipment, then the law said I couldn't work with that equipment until I turned 18 - even though I'd been working on it safely for a year. Old muscle cars were a dime a dozen, and my first and second cars were '67 and '66 Novas I'd rebuilt with my dad at the time (good luck doing the same now). No bicycle helmets and pads (unless we were racing in BMX races), no mandatory seatbelt laws (we're still here), no full-on government intrusion into our lives.
Nowadays, it's getting to be that if it isn't forbidden, it's mandatory. Kinda like some old regimes we thought we'd relegated to the dust bins of history. Now, it's our turn. I fear for my kids. I honestly don't know what I can do to ensure they have a country to grow up in. I wonder if it's the same feeling our forefathers had when they threw off the shackles of the King, or fought their own kin in the Civil War.
Our rich, spoiled country will survive because it will EVER-morph. HOWEVER, it's my contention that it will morph for the better IF we stay close to God in thought, word and deed. THAT'S the only way we stay on the right path.