If I hear someone say that Trump is going to make America great again, I might actually throw up. I don't mean metaphorically, either. Because it's the truth: Trump will not make America great again. This election has brought out something that, as a generalization, America has: a severe ego complex. People throw lines around from the Declaration of Independence all too frequently as "proof" of our greatness. "We're the land of the free!" Sound familiar? People say this almost as often as they change their clothes, and I am sick of it. Out of the approximately 195 countries in the world today, about 144 of them have freedom. That cannot be a defining factor of America's "greatness". America was built on three things: the backs of slaves, the genocide of Native Americans, and the exploitation of immigrants and the working class. Is that what you would call great? I personally don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong.
"Wait, but no no that's not what we mean!" Oh, it's not? Please correct me where I'm wrong. Tell me at what point in America's history that we were "great." Find me a single instance of a time where there wasn't a minority group being oppressed, or when our country wasn't founded on a lie, and I will retract all of my statements. That doesn't mean that we haven't done great things, it just means that we have never been great. There's a difference. Until we can admit that our country was never great, we can move forward.
I am proud to be an American, make no mistake about it. I love the land that I live in and the people who fight to protect it, and I love so many other things about America. However, I do not love what it was founded on, nor do I love the lie about our country's supposed greatness that, by and large, we continue to believe and feed off of. We were never great. Period.
If we change Trump's slogan around a little bit to "Make America Great", I still stand by my statement: Trump cannot make America great again. Trump is one man. Granted, he's become one of the most powerful men in the world by winning the election, but he's still only one man. And no man, regardless of status or wealth, can make an entire country great again–especially when it was never great to begin with. That being said, I believe that it's up to us, the average, ordinary citizens, to make America great. It starts with us. It starts with a conversation. It starts with confrontation. It starts with us losing our pride and admitting to the fact that America was never great, but that it doesn't mean that we can't be. We need to right the wrongs of this generation, as well as the generations that came before us. We need to make sure there is equity and equality for all Americans, as well as those who aspire to become citizens of this country. We need to learn toughness and grit and how to make the best of what's given to us–not just whine and complain when things don't go our way. We need to cut the crap and have civil discussions about contentious subjects like politics. We need to lose our personal agendas and biases, and live with open minds. Trump can do a million and one things while in office, but what he can't do is change the heart of every individual.
Making America great starts with you, me, and the choice to choose love over all else. If we make the conscious, intentional effort to choose love over hate, America will be on it's way to becoming a great country. But it will require a choice, one that starts with you and me.
