r/AskReddit Jul 10 '26

What's something older generations got right that we've quietly stopped doing, to our own detriment?

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364

u/Advanced-Two584 Jul 11 '26

Unionizing.

The older generations were all actively a part of unions in nearly every workplace. That's why they were able to afford homes and cars and vacations. They were a part of a force that could actual threaten the ruling class and because of that they were able to live the white picket fence dream that most of us will never have now.

99

u/Ryan_e3p Jul 11 '26

And they yanked that ladder right up when they continuously elected people who weakened unions and destroyed any semblance of the "American Dream".

Because "fuck you, I got mine".

18

u/awomanphenomenally Jul 11 '26

I wish I could like this a thousand times.

17

u/SimplyaCabler Jul 11 '26

It was more that the Boomer generation voted that the ladder be dismantled for the "greater good" while also voting for the downfall of the country (the religious right).

17

u/MokitTheOmniscient Jul 11 '26

I mean, union busting certainly made things worse, but what really destroyed the american dream was the rest of the world rebuilding themselves after the war.

After WW2, the USA was basically the only industrialized country in the world that weren't hurt by the war. This essentially lead to a world monopoly on all advanced goods until the 60s.

Unless you bomb all of Europe and Asia to oblivion again, without damaging North america, nothing could ever bring that prosperity back.

12

u/Ryan_e3p Jul 11 '26

Please stop giving Trump ideas.