So this phrase “Make America Great Again” has been floating around a lot in the past few weeks—particularly from Trump supporters. At first glance, who would not agree with that? It is safe to say that we all believe that America is in a pretty bad state—probably the worst it has ever been. So it would only be appropriate that if we love this country, as much as most claim to love it, we would obviously want to make America great again. But first, let us examine what it means to be “great”.

According to the first definition that comes up on Google, it is an adjective: of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average. Well, if we are speaking in size (amount) that could not be the case because countries like China and India have us beat by quite a big margin—1.357 billion and 1.252 billion respectively—and population size is a problem in the US. What about intensity? Well, I think militaristically when I hear that word and if we go with that it is an undeniable fact that America has the strongest, largest, and most funded military in the world. So then what is it?

If we listen to what Trump says about “making America great again” he is talking about the current position the state is in as a whole. This includes (but is not limited to) economic and income inequality, debt, job opportunities, racism, and xenophobia—the list goes on. Hearing someone in a position of power claiming to want to fix all these problems definitely sounds like a saving grace, but it got me thinking—was America ever really that great to begin with, and if so, for who?

It definitely was not great for the Native Americans who were literally brutalized, mass murdered, put into slavery and forced to convert to the respective religions of Christopher Columbus and the early settlers. Welcome to the real founding of America kids. The sh*t they did not teach you in history books. I hate to break it to you, but it was not all handshakes, mutual agreements and exchanges of beautiful cornucopias like they taught us. It was quite the opposite actually.

And it definitely was not great for 3-quarters of the early population that was put into slavery by white elitists. This included the remainder of the Native Americans, African Americans, poor European settlers and Africans that were shipped to America specifically for slavery. I mean yeah, they got a free ticket to the “greatest country in the world” but were forced into harsh and cruel servitude for most (if not all) of their lives. Doesn’t sound that ‘great’ to me.

Well what about Asian Americans?

It definitely was not great for Japanese Americans (over 127,000) who were forced into internment camps during WWII because they could not be trusted due to the conflicts with Japan. If that doesn’t classify as xenophobic behavior I don’t know what will. These were legitimate citizens of the US, not illegals or undercover terrorists. They were legitimate documented US citizens.

Jewish people?

Try again. They tried to flee to America to escape the iron-bloody fist of Adolph Hitler and were originally not allowed in (sound familiar?). But when they were granted leniency, were not at the top of the priority list for governing officials. Once again, xenophobia was still an issue and all the Jewish people wanted was refuge. Once they were here they had to fight and work 100x harder than their American counterparts to get out of the poor economic conditions in which they were dealt.

So then for whom can America be made great for again?

Mexicans? We all know the answer to that question. Undocumented immigrants specifically contributed to over 11.6 billion in tax dollars as of February 24, 2016, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). A lot of that money being tax-dollars that they put towards social security accounts they will never benefit from. If anything they are even more advantageous in helping ‘make America great again’ because unlike us, documented American citizens, who are paying taxes because we: One: have to and Two: because we benefit from them. He also could not be talking about providing more job opportunities because contrary to popular belief the immigrants create more jobs.

Then back to the original question. For whom can America be made great for again?

White people?

News flash, America has not really been ‘great’ to them either unless you were considered an elitist. Remember earlier in my article when I was talking about slavery in the early founding stages of America? That included white people—poor European settlers to be exact. The only time America got “better” for them was after Bacon’s rebellion when white elitists created race to make the poor European settlers feel (keyword ‘feel’) superior to the African Americans to prevent events like Bacon’s Rebellion from happening again. And yes, you read correctly—created race. Race actually isn’t a thing either, people. It is an artificial label that was created to enforce and ensure ‘racial’ subjugation in America—and it has worked to perfection. Fast forward a few hundred years and things still did not get much better for middle-lower class whites. They just benefited by association. White elitists really just used middle-lower class whites as pawns for all their bigger agendas by using assimilation as the uniting driving force behind why middle-lower class whites should side with them.

It is extremely hard to fathom how we are on the pursuit of making a country ‘great again’ that was not great to begin with. Sure, we can make the argument that it is the “land of prosperity” and home to the ever-so-famous “American Dream.”

But did you ever stop once to think that maybe the hundreds of years of division, oppression, subjugation and manipulation was just covered up and beautified into this ego-maniacal term known as the “American Dream”? Founded upon traits like ‘hard work’ and ‘dedication’. Yet the only hard work and dedication exhausted was in finding ways to disguise all the horrific acts done by our founding fathers through means of manipulating and omitting vital information of our nation’s history in textbooks. Then by painting these vivid pictures of the ‘outsiders’ being the catalysts and origins of all our problems that consequently created this “us vs. them” mentality. When in reality it was our own greed, manipulation, intrusion, and fake ‘super hero’ persona that not only created problems on our homeland but abroad.

Maybe that is why we [America] have to meddle in everyone’s business. Maybe that’s why we do not trust other countries to govern themselves correctly and therefore see it fit to “step in and fix the problem.” Maybe that’s why we have the American Dream. To blind us and keep us in this perpetual rat race with the hopes that we are so focused on achieving this pinnacle of success that we become completely oblivious to the atrocities being committed by our very own governing officials. Maybe that’s why our military is the largest, strongest and most funded sector of our economy. Because we suffer from this false consensus effect that has been brought about via all the immoral and unjust acts committed since this nations very inception.

Maybe that’s whom we must make America ‘great’ for again. Not for the people, but for the higher-uppers who are slowly but surely losing their grip on the strings in which they use to puppeteer society in a fashion most suitable for them. Make it great [again], not by spiritual, mental and physical liberation, but by the opposite—utter despotism. This despotism takes up its form through the oppression of the emotions, the body, and even more potent—the mind.

America is on the verge of its fifth Great Awakening. Not that of religious enlightenment, but instead a societal enlightenment revolving around the premise that the government does not function for the needs of the people, but rather for itself. We must not turn to demagogues and those who prey on the desires of the many for political gain because the loudest voice in the room is not always the most insightful. Instead, let us turn to the individuals who speak through their actions and have a reputable background on fighting the issues at hand instead of sustaining them. We must not be on the pursuit of perpetuating the ‘Great’ American myth. Instead, we must defy everything that made this nation ‘great’ and shoot for something this country has never seen—excellence.