Roy Moore: last time America was great , was during the slavery era.

[IDL]

Conservatives in general look to the past. The south looks back to the good ol' days of slavery and segregation, while radical Muslims look the good ol' days of the Caliphate. It's like an obese middle aged man who can't stop talking about his high school football team. I get it; it's easier to reminisce about the path than to change. Especially since many agents of change are equally as loony (SJWs).

It's sad because the south and many rural areas have so many good, hard working people with so much potential. Perhaps it's wrong for me to believe in their ability to change? Perhaps that obese 40 year old will never peak past high school?

There is some truth to that (minus the wanting slavery part because I really don't think people want it for many reasons), but it also has to be examined in the current context of high divorce rates, lower marriage rates, below replacement birth rates, single parent homes, culturally promoted and accepted promiscuity, hyper materialism, etc. Marriage and stability in general is easy to argue as a strengthening aspect to any society and the correlations are there, as well as just common sense. That applies universally across cultures.

So there is a large contrast there, and it's easy for people to lament such a perceived loss and trajectory.

 

[A.S. Deep]

There is some truth to that (minus the wanting slavery part because I really don't think people want it for many reasons), but it also has to be examined in the current context of high divorce rates, lower marriage rates, below replacement birth rates, single parent homes, culturally promoted and accepted promiscuity, hyper materialism, etc. Marriage and stability in general is easy to argue as a strengthening aspect to any society and the correlations are there, as well as just common sense. That applies universally across cultures.

So there is a large contrast there, and it's easy for people to lament such a perceived loss and trajectory.

Side note but I have a conservative friend who once said blacks were 'more controlled' back when we had slavery. I think it was Jesse Ventura who said we'd still have slavery if the south could vote to have it or not. I'd think the same if it were blacks in the majority and whites in the minority.

Regarding failing marriages, more open sexuality, etc... there is truth to that, but:
1. The only reason it was never a problem before is because divorce and open sexuality were such taboo. If divorce was more allowed in the 1800s we'd see a shit ton of it back then too.
2. Conservatives would still cry about the loss of family values even if modern culture wasn't as shitty. Proof: Conservatives in other countries. Many of my Indian relatives for examples shit on American culture for simply having marriages that aren't arranged by the parents. In India the old generation is crying because their children want to marry who they love instead of who their parents choose. People who look to the past will always find something to cry about, which is a damn shame because rural/ southern folk are some of the toughest around.

 

[Philo-Publius]

Not out of contest, because no matter how 1 spins it, he states America was greatest back when slavery existed, not explicitly because of slavery by family values at the time. But what his apologists ignore is that to think family values was greatest back then, one has to totally ignore the brutal realities for Black families, who were split up, abused, brutalized and sometimes raped. Moore obviously doesn't even consider the condition Black families were under, and only feels for White families.

Definitely taken out of context...