But Was There?

Like me, you've no doubt seen variations on the theme your whole life. I'm just picking this particular one because it happened to pass before my eyes this morning: "There was a time when things were different, and public health promoted genuine equity and decentralization."

Ah, the good old days! When everything was swell and whatever particular thing I dislike now didn't exist, or whatever particular thing I long for now did exist!

For almost any particular thing good thing/bad thing X, there are no "good old days" when it did/didn't exist. It may have shrunk or grown, become better or worse, etc., but there's really not much entirely new under the sun, at least since we started using tools, then planting crops.

Which isn't to say there aren't noticeable changes and specific points in time that can be useful as before/after points for marking very large ones (a couple of examples that come to my mind are the Peace of Westphalia and the American Civil War).

But when it comes to political government specifically, things like "public health" have always been kept at hand as tools of control to at least some degree.