They're uncomfortable getting into specifics for obvious reasons. Any date you pick will be much worse than today in some glaring ways. For example, lots of conservatives wax nostalgic about the 1950s, but that was a time when many career and education avenues were all but closed to women and minorities, and there was racial segregation throughout the South. Any time before that will have those same problems, plus additional ones depending on how far back you go (mass lynchings, women not having the vote, slavery, etc.) You could make a case for the late 1990s as being better for the majority of people (based on lower poverty rates, higher median real incomes, lower unemployment, etc.), but even that case requires you to ignore the situation for gay people, since gay couples didn't even have the right to get married, they could be discharged from the military just for being gay, and it was legal to fire someone for being gay in most states. It was also a time with higher violent crime rates and murder rates than today.