{"id":3271,"date":"2026-07-19T18:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=3271"},"modified":"2026-07-19T18:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T18:07:10","slug":"a-toast-to-history-a-dozen-decades-that-led-us-to-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=3271","title":{"rendered":"A toast to history: A dozen decades that led us to now"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

We are well into the new year.<\/p>\n

Long ago toasts have been forgotten, vows made for the year ahead allowed to fall by the wayside. The vast majority of New Year\u2019s resolutions have been jettisoned like a prom dress after three or four cocktails.<\/p>\n

Read more River otters, broken eagles, and God<\/a><\/p>\n

Regardless, it behooves us to look back in time every now and again, to see how we got here and therefore where we may be headed. <\/em><\/p>\n

Every decade has had its own feel, vibe, character \u2026 even ambiance, if you will.<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, here is my extremely brief thumbnail sketch<\/em> of the past 12 of them. I know this post is different \u2014 (ironically) far less timely and on a subject of far less immediacy and import than of those I usually pen, but I wanted to get a feel for you, the readers, opinions of past decades.<\/p>\n

Those of you who aren\u2019t too absorbed in a lovely Summer Sunday and\/or the finale of the FIFA World Cup, \u00a0please take a moment to let me know if you have a favorite decade, or one that stands out to you in some poignant way — for good, bad, or indifferent. I am genuinely curious and look forward to reading your comments.<\/p>\n

*1910s \u2014 Ford invented the assembly line, and, not coincidentally, increased basic wage rates. Babe Ruth made his debut. The Panama Canal was completed. But this decade was dominated by the \u201cWar to End All Wars.\u201d Which, as it turned out, wasn\u2019t. Possibilities met progressivism for the first time. And the Great War devastated Europe and overshadowed everything. Some say we have never recovered.<\/p>\n

*1920s \u2014 The war was over and everyone was dancing. The \u201cRoaring Twenties\u201d came in like a drunken lion and, unfortunately, ended in a stock market crash. Women won the right to vote in America, but drinking alcoholic beverages was prohibited. So speakeasies and \u201cbathtub booze\u201d ruled the day. It was fun, fun, fun until your daddy took the Model-T away. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

*1930s \u2014 Born of a stock market crash, the \u201830s never really got any better. As if a market crash wasn\u2019t enough, the \u201cDust Bowl\u201d years further devastated Americans. FDR and his New Deal of vast social welfare programs reigned. World War II loomed. Churchill tried to prevent it, but no one who mattered listened. If the \u201820s were fun, the \u201830s were not.<\/p>\n

*1940s \u2014 America tried to be aloof, but that dream was shattered on Dec.\u00a07, 1941, a date that would \u201clive in infamy.\u201d Ike, MacArthur, and Patton helped win the war, ending four years of rationing and sacrifice for American families. And devastation for the world. The Nuclear Age began. Churchill presciently identified an \u201cIron Curtain.\u201d The Berlin Airlift began. The Greatest Generation became the Greatest Generation. The United States became the world\u2019s only true superpower, economically and militarily, infuriating the Soviets and every other would-be superpower. This, then, became the \u201cAmerican Century.\u201d<\/p>\n

*1950s \u2014 Back to the \u201820s as we came out of another World War and were dancing again. This time with Big Bands and legal<\/em> alcohol! Sock hops, the Big Bopper, Elvis, and Ike. What\u2019s not to like? A feel-good era of Red Ryder BB guns, slinkies, and Daniel Boone hats — but the space race started between the United States and the Soviet Union. As did the Cold War.<\/p>\n

Read more Second Amendment: Using courts to engineer society is a liberal obsession and delusion<\/a><\/p>\n

*1960s\u2014 Started out O.K.,\u00a0but ended badly. Very badly. Race riots, Vietnam, Woodstock \u2014 sex, drugs, and rock and roll, along with domestic terrorism from the campus left. Flower children. JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King, Jr., all assassinated. A ray of hope: we landed on the moon in July of 1969. The friggin\u2019 moon<\/em>! Oh, and I was born.<\/p>\n

*1970s \u2014 War. Loss. Carter. Gas lines. Stagflation. Malaise. Hostages. Orange shag carpets. If the \u201870s were a car they would be a Pinto. Or a Vega. If they were a food, they would be a Brussel sprout. If they were a person, they\u2019d be a homeless addict. Despite all that, I can reflect fondly on the decade, as I<\/em> was young and improving. Unlike the U.S. For $5 you could buy a \u201cpet rock.\u201d I played a lot of pinball.<\/p>\n

*1980s \u2014 \u2026And then the U.S. Olympic hockey team stunned the world. I mean stunned<\/em>. And Ronald Reagan became the 40th\u00a0president of the United States of America. When America was<\/em> still somewhat united. Pop music was upbeat. Reagan was re-elected in the biggest landslide in American history, only Minnesota abstaining. If the \u201870s were a Vega, the \u201880s were a Mustang. Reagan\u2019s policies really took effect in 1983 and ushered in the \u201c17 Fat Years.\u201d Don\u2019t worry, be happy! The Berlin Wall fell. Life was good! My favorite decade.<\/p>\n

*1990s \u2014 The \u201890s saw the creation of the World Wide Web, revolutionizing communication, commerce, and culture. For good, bad, and indifferent. Globalization, the European Union, Hip Hop. Bill Clinton and \u201cit depends on what your definition of is is.\u201d Most of us were still doing well, but many of us felt that something wasn\u2019t right. Gulf War. Dot-Com bubble. \u201cDefining deviancy down.\u201d On a positive personal note, I got married and my wife and I had child #1. Ode to Joy.<\/p>\n

*2000s \u2014 Just as the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d and Ronald Reagan ushered in the \u201880s with great optimism and a \u201ccan do\u201d spirit, 9\/11 cast a pall over this decade that could never quite be shaken. And then came the 2007-8 real estate crash and a recession. The fat years were over. Barack Obama was elected vowing to \u201cfundamentally transform\u201d America. Sadly, he did. Boy, did he ever. (Wife and I welcomed child #2. Ode to Joy again.)<\/p>\n

*2010s \u2014 This decade saw the rapid rise of smartphones and social media platforms, a trend that continues today. \u201cApps\u201d became ubiquitous. A.I. became \u201ca thing.\u201d There was a surge in cultural movements. (And virtue signaling.) D.E.I. was the order of the day. Donald Trump shocked the world when he was elected president of the United States in 2016. Trump Derangement Syndrome was born.<\/p>\n

*2020s \u2014Joe Biden was allegedly elected president in 2020, a \u201cfact\u201d that no one was allowed to question at the time, but which looks less and less factual<\/em> today. Politicians used COVID-19 to lock down the world and force people to accept an experimental mRNA \u201cvaccine\u201d into their bodies. Donald Trump was elected again in 2024, as the people were sick of an obviously incompetent and senile husk of a man who was being used by far-left entities to advance a far-left agenda. This decade, now just past its midpoint, is hard to permanently characterize, of course– other than by saying it has been fraught with inner tension, heightened division, rising skepticism, and increasing angst about the future. (I lost a brother in 2021 during the COVID lockdown. Horrendous.)<\/p>\n

Read more Certain types of bike thieves in San Francisco are getting a pass<\/a><\/p>\n

Image: Pixabay \/\/ Pixabay Content License<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are well into the new year. Long ago toasts have been forgotten, vows made for the year ahead allowed to fall by the wayside. The vast majority of New Year\u2019s resolutions have been jettisoned like a prom dress after three or four cocktails. Read more River otters, broken eagles, and God Regardless, it behooves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,202],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\nA toast to history: A dozen decades that led us to now - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=3271\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A toast to history: A dozen decades that led us to now - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We are well into the new year. 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