I read Sid Schwab’s Aug. 16 column with interest: “‘We’re not going back,’ and with good reason.” I agree, But, not entirely.

I grew up in Los Angeles. There, my world was anything but a “straight, white, native-born, male-dominant, Christian majority, where everyone else knew their place; silent and submissive,” as Schwab suggests in his column. Rather, I saw a world where my generation questioned society, especially its values and the reasons for war.

Throughout the 1960s, America’s youth began questioning popular culture and the establishment. Unfortunately, they succumbed to the same indulgent behavior as their parents, replacing alcohol with drugs. I saw little influence from Christianity, or any other religion, to influence government or society.

Having lived in a city known for racial and ethnic diversity, I witnessed the blessings and challenges such a world presented.

Immigration is good for America. But Biden opened the floodgates, not only for illegal immigration but for the consequent influx of tainted fentanyl. in 2022 over 76,000 Americans died from fentanyl poisoning.

Democrats applaud the Affordable Care Act. Thousands of doctors have quit or have relocated to escape overwork due to the ACA.

Worst of all, we are now engaged in a war that carries the terrible possibility of a nuclear engagement with Russia.

I encourage Schwab, other liberals, and conservatives to look at the past and the present. There are good reasons for not returning to the “Ozzie and Harriet” mentality of the 1950s.

But, a casual observance of the present: a ruined economy, lethal violence in our schools and communities, homelessness, hopelessness, and the growing threat of a nuclear catastrophe, might prompt us to reconsider our values and the empty platitudes that gush out of the mouths of unscrupulous politicians.

Dan Palmer

Lynnwood