Letter to the editor: Those were the days

It seems as though that dangerous, bigoted white nationalist, who spent much of his time in a worn-out easy chair smoking a cigar, was never more right than now. Fifty years ago, Archie Bunker and his wife Edith sang the theme song to “All In The Family”: “And you knew who you were then. Girls were girls and men were men … Didn’t need no welfare state. Everybody pulled his weight … People seemed to be content. Freaks were in a circus tent … Those were the days.”

This hilarious, insightful and often touching television show couldn’t be made today under our politically correct, censorious, tyrannical state. There were many arguments on sensitive subjects between the polar extremes of Archie and his son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic. Those humorous shouting matches were often intellectual food for thought, even when delivered through a silly sitcom. Today that type of robust debate seems to be forbidden.

It is estimated that the average empire only lasts about 250 years. According to Edward Gibbon’s great work, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” the root cause of the collapse of Roman society was their loss of civic virtue and individual morality. America is 247 years old, our virtue and morality are circling the sewer drain, and our systemic corruption is beyond belief. Emperor Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. We get a bumbling Joe Biden eating ice cream cones.

I was fortunate to have grown up in a time when the American dream was still alive and well. Wow, “Those were the days.”

Steven Crichley

Carrick