I’m 72 now, which qualifies me as a Baby Boomer, but also as somebody who was around in 1976 for the Bicentennial and able to understand some of its significance and how that epochal event compares to the current condition.

In 1976, America was reeling from inflation, the OPEC oil embargo of 1973-74, and the aftermath of Watergate, the election-spying scandal hat ended with President Richard M. Nixon resigning from office. There was a general distrust of government, but also a feeling that the worst was over, that politicians had been brought to heel, and corruption in government was waning.

There’s the first thing that compares badly with 2026. Over the fifty years since the bicentennial, it’s easy to make the case that corruption has reached never before seen levels. While 1976 had Watergate, 2026 has the Epstein Files, which has been completely whitewashed from America’s memory and seemingly will never be fully investigated. In that regard, politics hasn’t changed much since 2026 — it’s worse than ever and now, the public doesn’t even get the fair shake of answers. The obviously-guilty criminals running the government are never charged, never prosecuted and never made to pay for their crimes.

Over the past 50 years, politics as usual has become one, big grift, shared by Democrats and Republicans alike. Everybody inside the Beltway gets a piece of American pie, served up by taxpayers and a fully-blown bubble of government debt.

As far as inflation is concerned, it was still rising in 1976, eventually peaking in 1980 at 14%. Today’s seemingly tame level of around four percent — albeit using different, revised measurement instruments — pales in comparison, but, inflation in 2021 and 2022 averaged around seven percent annually. There’s the chance that the Federal Reserve may tighten interest rates to quell the problem, though under current conditions wherein looking good is preferred over dealing with reality, there’s little chance of that happening.

Speaking to how disjointed and immune to crisis America has become over the past 50 years, consider that a gallon of gas at 60 cents was considered an outrage in 1976. Today, anything under $3.50 is thought to be sustainable.

In 1976, we had disco… and rock, pop, and soul music. Elton John and Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go Breaking my Heart” was a chart topper and groups from the Four Seasons to Chicago to Wild Cherry were making sounds defined an evolving era. In 2026, we have rap, or the current flavor, hip-hop, a smattering of Beyonce and Taylor Swift, lots of gyrating bodies, spectacular light, sound and stage shows, and dance routines that provide cover for essentially synthesized crap.

Don’t get me wrong. Some of the current artists are solid musicians, but the pop era is being dominated by singers, not melodies. Still, I’ll take Stevie Wonder, The Bee Gees or ABBA over Bad Bunny or Billie Eltish all day long.

The film genre has undergone radical changes since 1976, when dinner and a movie was a standard date. CDs, the DVDs, and now streaming changed the film culture from the shared experience of the big screen to a night on the couch alone with food delivered by Door Dash or Uber. It’s not he same by a long shot.

In 1976, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" dominated the 1976 Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Jack Nicholson became a household name for his portrayal as a captive of the mental illness complex. In 2026, hardly anybody cared that “One Battle After Another” won best picture. Even fewer saw the film, as it took in just $213 million. “Cuckoo’s Nest” grossed somewhere between $109 and $160 million, but, 50 years ago movie tickets were generally less than $2.00, whereas today, it’s around $15. Adjusted for inflation, “One Battle” doesn’t even register against Nicholson’s tour de force.

That change from movie-going to movie-receiving points to the bigger societal change over the past 50 years. Americans, in general, are more isolated, more alone, and more in despair. Suicide rates are significantly higher, especially in more rural states, where isolation and the decline of small town America has led to economic and social hardship.

There are other big changes that affected Americans from 1976 to 2026. Back in the 70s, we didn’t have cell phones or the internet. Americans didn’t even know what a personal computer was. Fast forwarding to today, the technological innovations over the era have dramatically changed how people make a living, communicate, and function in society. Nobody other than octogenarians doesn’t have a computer, cell phone and internet. The U.S. and the rest of the world relies upon these devices, just as in 1976 the world revolved around Ma Bell and the U.S. Postal Service.

In education, more people have college degrees than ever before. In 1976, about 18% of the population was college educated, whereas the 2026 figure is about 39%, more than doubling over the five decades. The cost of a collage degree has burgeoned from an average of around $12,000 to over $40,000 in 2026, much of the current cost subsidized by grants, loans and other programs. While the price is higher, many argue that the benefit is lower. Many college graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to secure employment in their chose field, making a college degree one thing that costs more but is worth less these days, to say nothing of the level of competency of degree-holders. A degree in Cultural Studies hardly compares to one in Electrical Engineering from th 1970s.

Root causes for the behavioral and societal changes over the past 50 years can be summed up well by examining the economic structures of 1976 versus 2026. Recalling that President Nixon closed the gold window “temporarily” in 1971, the economics of the ensuing period were predicable though not necessarily addressed in any meaningful way.

The national debt in 1976 was less than $1 trillion. 50 years forward, it’s quickly closing in on $40 trillion. That mammoth ascent has contriubted largely to any number of elements in the lives of Americans. More people are deeply in debt now than then. The government borrows roughly a third of its annual budget because, in addition to the massive rise of debt and inflation, Americans are ill-equipped to pay more taxes. Converting from a gold-backed or gold-pegged currency to one which could be printed at will has led to a society desperately trying to keep pace and retain sanity. In the 1970s, there was still a strong number of single-earner households, upwards of 60%. Today, more than half of married couples are both employed and that number jumps to 75% within couples with children.

The “good old days” of 1976 — where a single spouse could bring home a paycheck, pay the rent or mortgage, buy more than enough food, take a family vacation and still have enough left over for savings are long gone. Today’s dual-earner families are making an aggregate 10 times what they did in 1976 ($12,000 - $120,000, unadjusted for inflation), the tax, rent or mortgage, and food bills are all straining their ability to pay. Most are in debt, not just for the home, but for cars and other credit card purchases. Forget about family vacations. A week at Disney World will run over $7,250 for a family of four.

What data tells us about changes in the structure of the American middle class is that since 1976, its overall size has shrunk significantly, most are heavily in debt, and economic matters are top of mind. Extended loss of a job by either a husband or wife likely results in economic catastrophe. America has changed from a prosperous nation to a revolving debt circus with income disparity at all-time highs and purchasing power on the decline.

Most of this has been caused by what can generally be termed “reckless policies” by politicians and the Federal Reserve. The politicians are spendthrifts in the extreme and the Fed is more than happy to supply them with endless loans backed by a paper currency they print out of thin air. While the United States has survived five decades of papering over problems, how this resolves in 2076 - on the nation’s 300th anniversary - is a question fraught with pitfalls and potholes. Social Security is already set for insolvency within the next five years. Medicare and Medicare consume a growing portion of the federal budget and the military continues to cajole for more money, more weapons, and more war. The situation the federal government has gotten itself into is plainly unsustainable. Our children’s children will inherit a country so overwhelmed with instant gratification as opposed to expedient, conservative choices that their futures will be framed by debt and corruption, leading to what likely will be unsavory consequences.

If anything’s been learned — probably nothing — over the 50 years from America’s last big celebration to today’s, it is that technology may appear to make one’s life easier, the financial consequences of embracing spend, tax, and borrow policies don’t add up to happiness or prosperity and the appearance of good living is fleeting, imaginary, and eventually a cause of desperation.

Over the holiday, America will be praised and congratulated at its success. The reality of life 250 years into the democratic experiment issues more concern than toasts and braggadocio.

The conditions extant in 2026 are far from what the founders intended, which were to steer clear of foreign entanglements, gold and silver only as money, and a small government with conservative values that issues currency without a central bank.

Those original precepts are disappearing rapidly along with the rights guaranteed by the first amendment. The inability of the people to rein in government excess has reached disproportionate levels of sustainability. While there is still much to like about America at 250, it doesn’t compare well to America at 200, or even 100 years old.

Politicians have squandered America’s treasure through war and inflation. How much longer the American public can tolerate the destruction of their livelihoods and the future for their children should be a major concern.

Admittedly, it is not.

Elizabeth Willing Powel, a prominent Philadelphian, asked Benjamin Franklin, on September 18, 1787, the final day of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin, then 81 years old, replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

So far, so good.

America has always been known as a country willing and able to face all challenges. Compared to just 50 years hence, those challenges appear to have multiplied enormously and the public has borne a burden of unrivaled inflation, taxes, and corruption. To its credit, it survives, but survival is far removed from prosperity, which should always have been the goal and should be once again and forever more.

As Americans celebrate, praise, and bless their country, the reminder to be ever vigilant in defending its values is one of paramount importance.

— Fearless Rick, July 4, 2026

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