And sometime the present is in fact worse than the past. To think otherwise would require permanent infallibility.

And the present is always better than the past for some people, and worse for others. Which is why the fascist framing is described as the "mythic" past, not a genuine comparison of ways the country may have improved or regressed.

It's the conceit of Renaissance Festivals, looking back at times they mythologize rather than evaluate with clear eyes. People enjoy assuming the identity of lords and ladies and knights and minstrels or skilled craftsmen - even though in truth the vast majority would be subsistence farmers living a truncated life of near-starvation and constant sickness and physical pain before dying of (today) preventable illnesses after burying more than a few children.

The same is true with mythologizing the recent past in American culture - typically an idealized vision of the immediate post-WWII boom of the Eisenhower years. The propagandist will paint this as a time of prosperity, security and enjoyment compared to today. But in reality, for most people in America they're far better off today than a random "Golden Age" resident. Most folks in the Eisenhower days didn't live the life of Ward Cleaver - there were enormous burdens and limitations that society placed on blackss, female, Catholic, or any of a number of other ethnic, national origin, or religious minorities in much of the country.

Whatever "better" past you're talking about, there's only a small minority of people today who could push a magic button and change places with a random person in that past and be better off for the change.