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But why is our social fabric tattered and just what is this social fabric you refer to? From my perspective, people accessing housing, healthcare, etc affordab

But why is our social fabric tattered and just what is this social fabric you refer to? From my perspective, people accessing housing, healthcare, etc affordably and consistently has never happened, at least not in the USA. Things are much better now than 100 years ago, at least in terms of the existence of programs to help those in poverty. Before the "great society" programs there was pretty much only family and private/religious charity, otherwise the poor were on their own. Those were the days when you had 2 or three generations living in the same house -- out of necessity, not choice. Maybe medical care wasn't so expensive in those days, but it consisted of a doctor with a few basic instruments in a hand-carried leather bag. Not exactly a big difference-maker most of the time.

User23 8y ago
The homestead act was an affordable housing program that was a great success.
- philwelch 8y ago
  The problem was, we ran out of frontier. And we're not gonna get any more frontier anytime soon.
  - jfk13 8y ago
    As someone[1] wrote, "The acquisition of new soil for the settlement of the excess population possesses an infinite number of advantages..." After all, it seemed to work out pretty well for those 19th-century Americans. [1] http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch04.html http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch04.html
    - philwelch 8y ago
      Well that was the craziest Godwinning I've ever seen.
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  Except for the problem of having to get there. If you lived in Virginia and wanted to homestead in Nebraska, you'd probably need a wagon, team, tools, supplies, and seed. That was a significant capital requirement. If you were dirt poor, I'm not sure you could do it.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  I'm part Cherokee. I'm trying to learn about that aspect of my heritage. My father was very white passing and I believe he actively tried to convince the world to perceive him as white to sidestep the horrifying impact of racism. I imagine Natives probably don't feel so positive about the success of the homestead act. A thing I wrote previously that really opened my eyes to how insidiously Native land and wealth was stolen by homesteaders: https://1001histories.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-little-known-bear-river-massacre.html https://1001histories.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-little-known-...
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    That’s why the US is suffering now from the same problems a lot of older countries have had for a long time. There are no areas left where you can just kick out the Natives so now people have to fight for a fixed pie insted of being able to grow.
DoreenMichele 8y ago
Our social fabric has changed considerably. People may have lived with extended family out of necessity, but it wasn't all downside. There was social capital of various sorts to draw upon that has largely disappeared. We are in crisis in part because those things have changed and a lot of unanticipated collateral damage is not being adequately addressed. We find ourselves needing to pay for services previously provided by relatives while not having any budget for them or real comprehension of what was lost. You may feel that what was lost was more downside than up, but that doesn't actually refute the fact that our social fabric has changed enormously in the last 100 years and those changes involve collateral damage. A friend once said to me something like "I'm not trying to make things as good as they were a hundred years ago. I expect better than that. We have so much more knowledge now, I think we shouldn't settle for such a benchmark." If things were all hunky dory, we wouldn't have articles on HN about the failures of the current system. I agree with the sentiment my friend expressed to the effect that we shouldn't excuse our current failures on the idea that "Well, it used to be worse! So just suck it up and quit your bitching!"

User23 8y ago

The homestead act was an affordable housing program that was a great success.

philwelch 8y ago
The problem was, we ran out of frontier. And we're not gonna get any more frontier anytime soon.
- jfk13 8y ago
  As someone[1] wrote, "The acquisition of new soil for the settlement of the excess population possesses an infinite number of advantages..." After all, it seemed to work out pretty well for those 19th-century Americans. [1] http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch04.html http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch04.html
  - philwelch 8y ago
    Well that was the craziest Godwinning I've ever seen.
AnimalMuppet 8y ago
Except for the problem of having to get there. If you lived in Virginia and wanted to homestead in Nebraska, you'd probably need a wagon, team, tools, supplies, and seed. That was a significant capital requirement. If you were dirt poor, I'm not sure you could do it.
DoreenMichele 8y ago
I'm part Cherokee. I'm trying to learn about that aspect of my heritage. My father was very white passing and I believe he actively tried to convince the world to perceive him as white to sidestep the horrifying impact of racism. I imagine Natives probably don't feel so positive about the success of the homestead act. A thing I wrote previously that really opened my eyes to how insidiously Native land and wealth was stolen by homesteaders: https://1001histories.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-little-known-bear-river-massacre.html https://1001histories.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-little-known-...
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  That’s why the US is suffering now from the same problems a lot of older countries have had for a long time. There are no areas left where you can just kick out the Natives so now people have to fight for a fixed pie insted of being able to grow.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

Our social fabric has changed considerably. People may have lived with extended family out of necessity, but it wasn't all downside. There was social capital of various sorts to draw upon that has largely disappeared. We are in crisis in part because those things have changed and a lot of unanticipated collateral damage is not being adequately addressed. We find ourselves needing to pay for services previously provided by relatives while not having any budget for them or real comprehension of what was lost. You may feel that what was lost was more downside than up, but that doesn't actually refute the fact that our social fabric has changed enormously in the last 100 years and those changes involve collateral damage. A friend once said to me something like "I'm not trying to make things as good as they were a hundred years ago. I expect better than that. We have so much more knowledge now, I think we shouldn't settle for such a benchmark." If things were all hunky dory, we wouldn't have articles on HN about the failures of the current system. I agree with the sentiment my friend expressed to the effect that we shouldn't excuse our current failures on the idea that "Well, it used to be worse! So just suck it up and quit your bitching!"