In all of the election coverage that I’ve read the past couple of days, one piece of information keeps coming to mind. It’s the most basic explanation of the election result. It sounds rather benign at first, but if we really think about it, and figure out why it’s pertinent to this election, we realize it’s anything but harmless.A survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, a research organization for journalists, scholars, policymakers and the general public, found that 7 in 10 Donald Trump supporters say “American society and way of life” was better in the 1950s than it is today.The numbers for Hillary Clinton supporters are just the opposite, with 7 in 10 Clinton supporters saying things have changed for the better.Trump’s well-known slogan of “Make America Great Again” has been widely mocked by almost everyone except his supporters. It’s so vague, and the implication that America is, in fact, not great today, flies in the face of many of those same Trump supporters who would have no qualms about calling America the greatest country on earth, or the greatest country in history.Perhaps what this survey reveals is that regardless of what Trump intended for his slogan to mean—I doubt he put much thought into it at all—his supporters would love the opportunity to return “American society and way of life” back to how it was in the 1950s.That decade ended almost twenty years before I was born, so I can’t comment first-hand on what it was like. However, I do know we’ve made real, valuable, measurable progress across all aspects of American life in the decades since.So why would we want to go back?What would we lose if we returned America to the 1950s?The Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed discrimination based on the race, sex, country of origin, or religion. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed racial discrimination in voting. Dozens of other laws and statues that help to make this a more fair nation for minorities.Court decisions that ended segregation, banned laws prohibiting interracial marriage, provided various gay rights, including the right to marry, decriminalized the use of birth control, established Miranda rights, and countless other rights that we almost take for granted today.Guaranteed healthcare for some of our most vulnerable citizens through Medicare and Medicaid.Protections for the environment instituted by the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.The Food Stamp Act, which helps ensure that poor Americans have enough to eat.The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which bans testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, oceans or outer space.The Interstate Highway System, which began construction in the 1950s, but wasn’t completed until 1992.Family and Medical Leave Act, which requires employers to provide leave for employees who are sick, have a sick family member, or welcome a new child.I’ve obviously just pointed out what we’ve gained from the actions of the federal government in recent decades. We’ve obviously made significant societal improvements from other sources as well.And America has changed. We’re not as white as we used to be. Women are in the workplace (even though they’re not paid the same), and in positions of leadership. Growing numbers of people with different religions live among us. We always have been, and remain, a nation of immigrants.It’s easy to look back at the idyllic, glossy, Leave it to Beaver-ish version of the 1950s, and think, “Those were the days.” But regardless of promises to Make America Great Again, those Happy Days are gone, and they’re not coming back.We’ve come too far to set ourselves back sixty years. We may think life was more simple in the 1950s, more innocent, but longing for those days ignores the problems that existed. It ignores how far we’ve come.Now that Trump is president, we’ll see how difficult it is to Make America Great Again in the way that his supporters expect him to.White people will soon be a minority. Coal mining jobs and steel jobs aren’t coming back. Regulations can’t be torn up. Fifteen million people can’t be rounded up and deported. Members of an entire religion can’t be barred from entering the country.The American people, perhaps even some of those people who supported Trump, who think that they want to go back to the 1950s, won’t stand for the types of policies that would be required for those things to happen.This is the United States of America. We move forward. Every single good thing that has ever come out of this country—including the country itself—has come from progressing, looking forward, moving ahead. We can’t save yesterday. It’s gone forever, and, usually, for better.Tomorrow is coming. We can choose to embrace it and make it better than today, or we can try to bring back yesterday. Only one path is successful, and I know which one I choose.I hope that Trump, and the millions of people who voted for him, make the right choice.Click here to receive an e-mail each time I write a new post! Guaranteed spam-free, unsubscribe any time IF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: Sometimes We're Absolutely WrongPREVIOUS POST: Thoughts About the Election While It's Still Unfolding