[Aria]

You know, I've been thinking the same thing. I look at my mother who is 79, originally from Minnesota, and think that she has seen the depression, WWII, the 1950s (the Ozzie and Harriet and Lucy years) then then it gradually started to fall apart - Kennedy being shot, Vietnam, drugs, sexual revolution with women demanding that they have the "right" to kill their babies so then can have careers, the rise of the cynical society dictated by lawyers and the media, and now this. The world is exploding. Its impossible to imagine that we will ever get back to the good years. I heard that Australia is like the US was in the 50s. Maybe its time to check it out.

[Chemist_Geek]

I was born in 1973, so I have no direct experience of the times. However, from books and films and talking to people wo were alive then, it seems that there was national self-confidence, optimism, politeness, that are missing today, to name a few.

Australia's out, unfortunately, due to their silly firearms laws.

[stuartcr]

If we went back to the 50's, there wouldn't be any freerepublic, along with a whole lot of other good stuff.