I was born in 86, and my parents divorced in 92 (which for me was the first step down in quality of life, and I've seen a few other people throughout the years remark on 92/93 being a step down). From there on things really seemed to deteriorate. I know a lot of people point to the dot.com crash and 9/11 as major markers, but I think 2008 had a bigger impact of the socioeconomic climate then anything. I feel like I have been living my life of pause since 08, like a sort of safe mode.
What about the rest of you, especially you older folks that have been around longer? Was there a before and after year? Or years where there was a progressive and noticeable step down?
I think 2000 was when they started rigging presidential elections outright and perhaps Gore was supposed to win but got cold feet about presiding over 9/11 so they pushed in GWB at the last moment.
I never thought about the possibilty of Gore getting cold feet. That entire election was strange, hanging chads and all.
I think Bush won that election outright. Clinton was never as popular as the libs claimed, and Gore was as exciting as fresh dogshit. The fact that they announced FL going to Gore before polls closed statewide tells you that they wanted to tip things to Gore. People actually liked W Bush on the right ... the enthusiasm for Gore wasn't there in 2000.
That being said, I think that election was primed to divide the country. The entire Red vs Blue shit started in the aftermath of the 2000 POTUS election. I think they (the DS) saw an opportunity to help fuck things up and took it.