Yet bizarrely everything is better, people have been more healthy, more happy and more free since those times (with occasional backslides, but overall it's no contest). Give me more of that slide to oblivion!
Sorry, but that is just bullshit. People have gotten access to better health care and more resources, but that did
not make them more healthy or more happy. Nor did it give them more freedom - you had more freedom in Habsburg Monarchy to do, well, anything, than you do in today's European Union. What advancement has happened since then has been mostly either technological, or else a consequence of technological advancement (such as greater access to resources). It had little or nothing to do with democracy. If anything, democracy is a
consequence of improved living standard, rather than its cause.
Health? As I said, better access to health care. But the environment is worse, food is
far worse than it used to be. Life is also more stressful, which leads to reduced immunity for the same overall conditions.
Happiness? Nope. If anything, depression rates have multiplied since then - partly because more people are living in cities, and urban life makes people depressed and psychotic. But there has also been an increase in general instability, exposure to mass media, increased governmental meddling... all of which makes the society more unstable, and thus people more scared and depressed.
Freedom? LOLNope. Just look at the current COVID crisis, or migration crisis, or anything - modern "democratic" governments are openly going against the wishes and interests of the people, and if you speak up against it, censorship is generally the least bad thing that can happen to you. And more importantly than the "hard" censorship, people are being constantly brainwashed and kept in a state of fear. No freedom to be seen.