Famb, nah, you are mistaken. When it comes to the GOP, it is worse, it can still get worse.
I think dudes are talking about how our political system functions and the norms that support them, and not society in general. Yes, today is better than the Jim Crow Era, but the thing point is trying to drive home is the GOP is more committed to authoritarianism more to today than any time during the modern era. And that is dangerous too for the country.
Things are getting worse, and can still get worse.
The GOP has been slowly becoming more and more **** over the decades. Every decade the sink lower and lower. But now:
-No real ideological diversity
-They are gerrymandering more
-Engaging in voter suppression more blatantly
-The Senate has a bigger white rural tilt
-Conservative judges are more reactionary
-The Electoral College Advantage for the GOP is growing
-They are becoming more hostile to liberal democracy
From Nixon to Reagan, to Gingrich, o Bush, to McConnell, to Trump. At every step the GOP has chosen to become more reactionary, more liberal, more oppression, more partisan, more hostile to democratic norms. They are only one iteration away from becoming a full-blown authoritarian.
Someone that pops a perc every night to calm their nerves is an opioid addict. Someone that pops multiple Oxy pills a day is an opioid addict.
But one is worse than the other.
Welp, we are saying that shooting heroin in a back ally is coming next.
The real difference is that in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the electorate could punish Republican bad behavior if they wanted to, soon they might not be able to. The Democratic Party was incentivized to become a party of civil rights and diversity. Soon they might be incentivized to move away from these positions.
Soon every marginalized group in America will be living under a government completely unresponsive to their needs. Coalition building will not work as a political tool. The gains people fought for in order to destroy Jim Crow America, will be slowly rolled back. So yes **** has been horrific in the past, **** is bad now, but it can get even worse.