I'm having a hard time grasping what you are saying here.

Why is a workforce that favors white men and screws everyone else an indication of a "better world"? And how did 9/11 put a nail in the coffin for "sane government" when you've already referenced earlier products of "insane government" such as Vietnam?

The end justifies the means, and therefore the end also condemns the means. Just because the rest of the first world was "in shambles" after WWII (and don't even get me started on "We didn't really fight that war here at home"), doesn't mean things were really "better off" in the US. A lot of men came home from that war broken. The mental health crisis they suffered collectively affected their families and the mental health of several generations since have been affected.

Does "cheap goods" equate to "better quality of life?" Personally, I believe we are taught that as a part of our capitalistic indoctrination, but there is little truth to it. The wrong things are cheap, and the wrong things are expensive, and we have politicians from several generations ago to thank for that. Politicians today are tasked with untying that knot without losing the ship in the process.