All people actually desire these things or they are socialist/communist and are therefore mentally deficient.   

Smaller government.  Less central government power, more power located in the state and local governments.

Less government spending.  They spend way too much money buying votes with confiscated money.  WE call it PORK

Less regulation.  These regulations were fashioned to ensure government power and are contrary to the consitiution.

Tax rate reduction.  The people know how to spend their money better than the government.

Repeal the 16th and 17th amendments.  This would give representation back to the states.

Fewer laws.  Everyone is a felon in waiting with this many laws

Part time politicians. ( thses guys take themselves far too seriously)

These things would reduce government power and increase participation elections and political process.  This would also improve the economic condition of the entire world.

Please keep in mind the US of A is a republic and not a democracy.

@ Kapitein Andre

There is "ugly", and then there is "really ugly". 

It is perhaps a bit unfortunate that Rob the etc...was ignorant about the full background of Leonard Cohen from Westmount near McGill University in Montreal.  Precisely because Cohen grew up in Westmount, it is  not so surprising that he could sound 'American' to an unsuspecting American like Rob. 

The question is what is "really ugly"?  Is it the ignorance of 1 American about an American-sounding Canadian singer?  Or is it you immediately declaring such ignorance (a futility, really) as "typical" of a national character?    

I have several further observations.

-- Not all Canadians are as sensitive about the longest-undefended border in the world as you are.

-- It is not true that Americans generally are ignorant about the Canadian origins of many TV characters.  While I feel uncomfortable having to defend "American mass media outlets", most of which are generally ridiculously naive-left and 'secular-progressive' in their world outlook, they frequently inform their viewers and readers of the 'Canadian' origins of some of their stars (e.g. Peter Jennings, Robert O'Neil, etc...) or of their 'guests' (JK Galbraith, etc...).

-- How many Parisians were aware (before the recent tax scandal) that Johnny Halliday was a Swiss (?)citizen, who wants to become a Belgian citizen (like his father), because he wants to reside officially in Monaco for tax reasons? You may correct me on this particular story, because it is another futility.    

But it is true, Americans generally are a forgiving people and very quick to 'adopt' others (working and residing legally in their country) as their own, which is an indication of fewer prejudices (more commonly found elsewhere in the world).   

Au contraire, Leonard Cohen is a Canadian born in the Westmount suburb of Montreal. How typical of Americans to appropriate noteworthy individuals from other countries. Canadian entertainers working in the United States are never referred to as Canadian by American mass media outlets and are commonly believed by the American public to be Americans, when in fact they are not.

Please forgive me for ranting about a subject of which I know little.
If I had to go back to a time in American history, it would be a time before the New Deal and political correctness, but after civil rights legislation. However, such a time never existed. As a compromise, I would choose the present time: Volcker, Reagan, Greenspan, and the abolition of welfare as we knew it, have eliminated the worst excesses of the New Deal; and few Americans, outside universities, doubt that American civilization is under threat and is worth defending.
On the whole, I am optimistic and believe that the future will be even better, for America and most of the World.

Leonard Cohen is one of the US's most acclaimed poets/songwriters. This clip from a concert in Finlad captures nicely what a lot of Americans are feeling:

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/006549.php

"Give me back the Berlin wall
Give me Stalin and St Paul
Give me Christ
or give me Hiroshima
Destroy another fetus now
We don't like children anyhow
I've seen the future, baby:
it is murder ...."

Leonard Cohen - "The Future" - live in Finland

These two decades are inseparable despite the different zeitgeists that prevailed in each. What North Americans are truly nostalgic for is the economic strength of the 1950s which was based upon the devastation wrought in Europe and Asia by the Second World War. Such success enabled Americans to produce a middle class generation which was free to critique the society they lived in. Naturally I am oversimplifying, but the 1950s was a bubble dependant upon international events.

I am wondering how many of those responding "an America pretty much like we had in the 50ties" did so on the basis of an accurate knowledge of what that would mean. No internet to preserve 50ties morality, no travel to foreign countries for ordinary people to avoid terrorism and more avoidable deaths due to medical research being constrained by 50ties ethics just to name a few things that would directly impact everyday life.

While I am sure there are some who really want to go back to that time but I have difficulties believing that a majority would want it. Most often when people talk about utopian ideas (and bringing back the good old days is just that) they tend to only look at the bright side while conveniently forgetting about the inevitable downsides.

"“An America pretty much like the one we had in the 1950s.”"

That's what Ronald Reagan preached. Anyone now that wants to go back there is probably a religious freak or brain dead or both. I do think there is some nostalgia for the 1980's though. Everything changed so quickly and mostly got better. There seemed to be a sense of direction that is lacking now in politics. Americans miss the simplicity of the cold war.