Governments are far more representative than at nearly any time in history. The 20th century was dominated by a struggle between Communist and (crudely speaking) Western societies. Most of the Communist governments are gone and have been replaced by more representative governance systems. The monarchies of Europe that dominated pre-WW I, all gone or profoundly altered, with lesser roles across the board.

The wars that swept whole countries, civilizations, and cultures, seem greatly reduced in size and menace (stay tuned on this score though. The Pax Romana lasted a long time too).

The feudal socio-economic practices that held great masses in poverty, perpetually, largely gone.

The threats to health caused by childbirth, infection, unclean water and unsafe sewage handling, long gone in the developed world, and much reduced even in the developing world.

Education for the masses, a rarity prior to the Enlightenment and the printing press, is now commonplace.

Just take a look at the sweeping changes hitting China and India now. Between them they hold 1/3 of the worlds population. Life for the average citizen is measurably improving there, year by year.

The main thing that gives me pause is the human impulse. Humanity has a knack for messing up their own circumstances. Give (or simply enable) a person to achieve a middle-class lifestyle, and what seems to happen? Recreational activities increase to the point of self-destruction (gambling, drug use, Jackass-type activities). This is the wildcard. We cannot change human nature.

I think what Dreher is referring to are the 100+ million slaughtered in world wars, ethnic cleansings, communist purgings and U.S./USSR proxy wars. That was quite a toll, so I don’t know that the “glory that was the 20th century” is quite so cut-and-dry.

Well I have some good news for you then. The meth epidemic is just starting to take off in places like Fargo. Coming soon to a nieghborhood near you…. Tweakers, a really fun bunch with something like a 1% chance of recovery. If this crap was hitting the suburbs like it is hitting podunk we would hear ten times as much about it.

Monetary depreciation of the dollar since 1970 – not a perfect match, but eerily similar.

Fargo’s so goddamn tame that at some point a normal person who moved there would want to start importing riffraff just to reduce the boredom.

People just refuse to believe that crime is down. Oddly enough, they have accurate beliefs about crime in their own neighborhoods, but inflated perceptions of how bad things are elsewhere. People similarly tend to think that their health-care situation is good but everyone else’s is bad and the economy has been good for them but not everyone else.

Bad news sells because it draws a strong emotional response and information that elicits strong emotions is more likely to be remembered.