Maybe what is declining is a knowledge of history? Like, compare Andrew Jackson to Trump, or Reagan or FDR to Biden; it’s no contest. Public mental illness, drug abuse, homelessness were all worse during the 1980s and that’s just in my lifetime. Go farther back in U.S. history and there were entire cities of homeless, destitute, starving, and sick people. The idea that “homelessness” is even a problem that society should collectively address is barely 100 years old. Prior to that people died in the streets all the time and the only public funding was to pick up the bodies and bury them.
I think a lot of problems I see is caused by a general lack of curiosity of any sort of historical norms. I think this leads people to extrapolate what is normal (The Trump presidency was not normal in most respects, and many people treated it as if it was) and what isn't (current living standards actually are extremely high compared to even 40 years ago, but people think standards are declining).
