Let’s be honest. The first half of the 2020s were miserable.
-COVID to start off the decade.
-Riots all over the summer of 2020
-Racial and gender tension at their highest since perhaps the 60s
-Worst inflation since the 1970s in 2021 and 2022, into 2023
-Decreasing social trust. Social divides on just about everything regardless of how trivial.
-Western rightward shift in 2024.
I would argue that this has been the most miserable five year period in recent memory, at least from the perspective of an American.