Romanticizing the Past

It is unwise for advocates of individual liberty to romanticize the past as if it had been some kind of "Golden Age of Individual Liberty", at least not when speaking before women and blacks. And come to think of it, not when speaking before white males, either. And gays. It is true that Americans have less liberty today than in yesteryear with regard to taxation, but Americans have more freedom today than before in other areas, such as with regard to sexual freedom and rights for women and racial minorities. Freedom will never be there in some kind of "pure" form. A more prudent attititude to take would be to assume that there never has been and never will be a "Golden Age of Individual Liberty" and to advocate policies for their effect in the here and now.