Many wish for a return to the days when no one went to jail because they had a certain plant or powder in their pocket (unless it was stolen property). The days when people who really hurt other people (rape, robbery murder, horse thieving, cattle rustling, etc.,) were, if they survived capture, given a fair trial, and when found guilty, after a suitable wait, (normally the time needed to build the scaffold) were decently hung by the neck until dead, dead, dead.
(got to ease up watching the Westerns channel...
)
One of the big problems with this (besides the fact that the idealized past never existed the way we idealize it) is that whenever anyone brings up various things about the past that we consider good, those who often style themselves as "progressives" bring up all the bad things about the past, and how we cannot, must not, ever, return there.
For some reason I cannot fathom, they are firmly wedded to the belief that if we were to return to things like strict and severe punishment for serious crimes, and the general idea that the law should leave people alone unless they do hurt someone, if we were to try and return to those ideals, we would also HAVE to return to the evils of the past, all the bigotry, intolerance and inequality.
it doesn't seem to matter if you look at the 1850s or the 1950s, if we point out something we think they did right, the other side will point out the greatest evils and injustices of that period, and claim we want to return to those as well. And they usually believe that if some idea from the past was wrong, ALL were just as wrong, somehow not recognizing that it was the "right ones" that got us here today, and gives us the moral compass to decide which of the ones in the past were the wrong ones.
They believe they are right, just as strongly as we believe we are right.
History won't decide who was right. History will just show who wins. IF our side wins, you'll be able to decide for yourself who was right, and when. If their side wins, I think there a strong probability that someone else will decide those things and much else,
for you.