“Make America Great Again” is probably the most memorable quote of this election season (thus far). This was a slogan Donald Trump stole from Ronald Reagan, who originally used “Let’s Make America Great Again” in his successful 1980 bid for President. Since Trump rolled the slogan out for this election, it has been monogramed on hats and shirts, as well as spoofed by comedians like Trey Parker and Matt Stone ("South Park), and, notably, John Oliver’s “Make Donald Drumpf Again.” While opponents of Trump argue it is a lazy attempt to stand on Reagan’s shoulders, his supporters passionately live by the slogan as a validation that this United States is not the country they wish it were. While there may be legitimate criticism over the current state of our nation, I worry about a slogan that insinuates that the United States is somehow less great than it once was.
I am not interested in suggesting that ‘America is the greatest country in the world, always was the greatest, and always will be the greatest’. That type of blind patriotism usually hurts more than it helps by refusing to acknowledge legitimate criticisms of one’s country. However, I firmly believe the United States is significantly “greater” now than it ever has been.
I have always understood the United States to be a nation built on the foundation of progress. A nation that may never quite achieve perfection, but always strives for that ideal. There are standing legislatures at the national, state, and local levels because it is fundamentally understood that there is a constant need to adapt and change policy to reflect the contemporary issues that face new generations. A nation built to progress will never stop growing (culturally), and its laws should reflect this. If cultural progress has somehow compromised this greatness, then I ask when exactly was America great?
It wasn’t 228 years ago, when the Constitution was ratified, and (with some exception) only property-owning, white males were allowed to vote, while a black individual was considered just 3/5 of a person. It wasn’t 186 years ago, when Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which lead to the forcible removal of native peoples from homelands, eventually called the “Trail of Tears."
It wasn’t 151 years ago, when a law had to be passed stating that black people were human beings, and not property. Nor was it 52 years ago, when the United States was still in need of a law stating that systematic and institutional discrimination toward people of color was federally unlawful, and states still retained the right to deny interracial couples the right to marry. It was only one year ago a same-sex couple could still be denied marriage rights in some states.
It wasn’t 97 years ago, when women were still not guaranteed suffrage. It wasn’t even 30 years ago, during the Reagan administration, when crime rates with respect to violent crime, forcible rape, and aggravated assault, were all higher than today. At the same time, Median Household Income was lower than today’s, even after adjusted for inflation.
These statistics drive home the problem with saying its time to “Make America Great Again." It over-focuses on the idea of “American Exceptionalism,” which presupposes the United States has always been some mecca of remarkable dignity and majesty, but overlooks the embarrassments and shame it, like most other nations, has experienced. By saying it’s time to “Make America Great Again,” one threatens to take a step back into a time when American culture would be a cause of humiliation if witnessed today.
There is no objective benefit in throwing us back to a time where one group or class had a greater advantage than today, but several others were fundamentally hindered. So instead of saying “Make America Great Again,” let’s strive to Make America Great Tomorrow.
