At some point in our lives we have all said “what if I had done this, instead of that.” Maybe we should have chosen another option instead of the one we took. In hindsight we still reflect on the what if’s. Unlike my father before me the quality of life I am experiencing just doesn’t compare with that of my youth. I have been cheated out of the pleasantries, the quaintness, and the simpler life that was so much a part of my parents lives and mine. My country, the United States has denied my generation and the following ones the opportunities that enabled my parents to enjoy life. The road not taken by our society and our government has brought America down from one of the greatest nations in the world to a mere shadow of it’s former self.

The year was 1965. The Beatles were on top of the charts and Elvis was still King. This was the pivotal period in the United States in that our society and government set in motion a set of circumstances that forever changed the character of America. Certain laws were passed, civil unrest was starting to spread and the general mentality of the general public shifted away from the high moral standards that was a dominate factor in every day life. This shift in our society has had far reaching effects that still reverberate today.

President Johnson’s War On Poverty was a very auspicious start. The creation of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Welfare system all seemed like a successful plan. In actuality it was just another good idea gone bad. What was created was just another attempt to appease the public that the United States Government knew exactly what America needs. The War on Poverty was and is still a loosing battle under this plan.The continuing escalation of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War where college age men were being drafted in increasing numbers. The Universities aligned themselves with the Army Draft Board in recruiting more male students and increasing their credit hours for each semester in the hope they will funk out and loose their student deferment so that they will become eligible for the Army draft. In this way the Army would be assured of more personal for the war. The way the welfare system was created enable more of our young adults not to seek employment but opt for welfare instead. A whole sector of our society was now being supported by the rest of Americans tax dollars.