Bill O'Reilly's Mythical "Traditional America"

Bill O'Reilly really raised my ire last week when he declared that "traditional America is over" because young women, Hispanics, and African-Americans helped propel President Obama to victory (meaning: these people, in his opinion, don't want to work and want free birth control, therefore aren't real Americans.)  He explicitly lamented that America no longer looks like Leave it to Beaver.  Thus continues the Right's propensity to mourn the loss of a "traditional America" that never really existed (I never watched it, but pretty sure that Wally and the Beave are fictional characters).  But, in fairness, if conservatives think America should return to the 1950s, let's take a look at some of the real-life hallmarks of that decade, both positive and negative:

Positives
Both parties generally accepted that the New Deal was here to stay.  In a letter to his brother, President Eisenhower wrote: "Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.  There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. ... Their number is negligible and they are stupid."  Now the GOP seems to think even the Progressive Era reforms might be a bit much.

President Eisenhower knew that government investment in infrastructure could help the economy.  He launched the construction of the interstate highway system which helped fuel the postwar economic boom.

Union employment was at an all-time high.  And it didn't manage to cripple businesses and the economy.  In fact...

The American middle class was in true ascension.  The policies and practices above directly contributed to it, and median incomes rose steadily into the 1970s.  It was possible for a single breadwinner to provide for a family.  Then those who believe in trickle-down voodoo economics got control of government, and median income hasn't risen much (adjusted for inflation) since.

Negatives
Segregation and racism were institutionalized in the South and implicit in the North.  Still working on the implicit part.

Women were widely discriminated against in the workplace.  Better if they just stayed in the kitchen.  We've made progress, though equal pay remains elusive.

Millions of people had serious qualms voting for JFK because he was Catholic.  You'd think someone with the name of O'Reilly would be a little more cognizant of groups that were once ostracized as not part of "traditional America."

If you dared speak out against American foreign policy you were labeled a weak Communist sympathizer.  Wait, this sounds familiar...

So there you have it.  I'll take the positives and stay in real America.  O'Reilly can have the negatives and join the secessionists in real, "traditional" America.