I think we should rather think of the post WW2 times in the US as anomalous. During the Cold War there was high trust in institutions. If you learn about 19th

I think we should rather think of the post WW2 times in the US as anomalous. During the Cold War there was high trust in institutions. If you learn about 19th century US politics up until the early 20th century things are not so rosy. Just learning about how horrible reconstruction was gives a lot of context. The media environment in the 19th century also resembled more closely the internet today: heavily decentralized with all kids of spurious insanity being promulgated. Yes things are divisive now, more divisive than when I was a kid, but it’s probably better understood in this context.