I also think that we should be able to learn from history and in so many ways we do but in politics it has almost always been different, when last has the vast majority been happy with a President and the state of the country, it has always been in debt, it has always been at war give or take a decade, it has always been on a downward spiral.
I would be the happiest dude on the planet if the U.S. took a lesser role on the world stage. The problem with that however, is that our politicians seem to have an ego problem (U.S.A. #1 lololol)
I look at America and see them living the Utopian dream in the 50's + 60's but from then on out it was down hill. So how much learning from history has been made, in theory we learn from our mistakes but in reality it is different. That is history!
You're right.
The 50's and 60's could be described as the only time in American history when the American dream could be achieved by anyone who tried with very few being left out (as long as you ignore civil rights issues). So what was the key to this prosperity? Well, as I've argued before - the New Deal had a big hand in creating this prosperity as well as WW2 - both leading towards mass redistribution.
What a lot of people don't realize though, is what kind of actions the government took in WW2 that had a huge effect on the 50's and 60's. The policies, for lack of a better term, were socialist in nature. The era in which this happened - just before, during and after WW2 - was called the "Great Compression"... A long ago forgotten time when there was an unprecedented redistribution of wealth from the top to the bottom. Prices were regulated by the OPA (office of Price Administration, in effect until shortly after the war ended), many sectors of the economy were suspended or under the direct control of the government(for example, auto manufacturing plants were used for wartime production instead) and top earners were taxed at rates never before(or after for that matter) seen percentages (over 90%).
All this time, unions started to really gain power (much of this due to New Deal policies) and once WW2 ended... They flexed that power. because of the heavy government regulation that was needed in WW2, there was a shortage in certain commodities (like cars) which led to a shortage in workers... The unions know how market forces work - they demanded higher pay(there were strikes, etc... and the government eventually passed a couple laws to limit union power a bit). Also, because of the wage controls - employers began to more commonly offer employer attached health insurance... etc. as a way to attract the best workers despite not being allowed to pay them a better wage, this practice (offering benefits to attract better workers) became common is is still prevalent today - mostly because post-war unions made sure those benefits weren't ever lost.
Essentially the New Deal and WW2 created the perfect conditions for upwards pressure in wages for the average American... Which is something that - at least dating back the early 80's - market forces alone have failed to produce (wages since 1980 have been stagnant, rising barely at the same rate as inflation). It sounds like "socialism" and in a lot of ways the U.S. did engage in socialism during war time... But the facts are there and what we all see from the 50's and 60's is the product. It was the American dream..