It is confusing, simplistic, and little more than empty rhetoric — which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who has actually listened to Donald Trump speak. And yet it obviously is resonating with plenty of voters.
Trump’s mantra during his inexplicable run toward the Republican presidential nomination has been, “Make America Great Again.” No, not “Make America Grate Again,” or “Make America Eight Again,” or “Make America Mate Again,” but “Make America Great Again.” Which is a wonderful-sounding idea, yet one that leads to more questions than answers.
You know, questions such as, “When was America at its greatest? Which time period should we aspire to emulate? And if we once were great, why are we not now?” All of these require a little thought and analysis and insight, which explains why it is beyond the capability of Trump to address them.
But with a little crowdsourcing through Facebook and Twitter and email, we may have made progress in divining those answers. I know, I know, that’s hardly scientific, yet a few consensuses were evident, including: You know, the present is not so bad.
Sure, there were plenty of other suggestions about the pinnacle of American greatness. World War II and its aftermath are obvious highlights. As one commenter wrote: “The pre-eminent military power in the world, we helped rebuild Europe, established NATO, built up our own nationwide infrastructure, and with the return of our fighting (mostly) men, embarked on a period of financial, economic, industrial, and demographic (baby boom) growth.” As another added: “The 1950s. Trying to think of a good employment period, with high home ownership that didn’t require dual income.”
Excellent insight. World War II and the 1950s certainly were an era of pre-eminence for the United States, a time of pride and a sense of shared community (and an income tax as high as 91 percent, by the way). But as somebody else pointed out: “It depends on what your gender and race are. For white heterosexual men, the 1950s and 1960s seem like the greatest. For the rest of us, probably now, or the near future.”
And that brings up the absurdity of Trump’s campaign slogan — it can mean whatever you want it to mean. You see, the United States has had many periods of greatness, but that greatness is inexorably accompanied by problems that often seem too vast to be conquered.
Moving forward
Take the 1940s and 1950s. For all of its attributes and all of the rhetoric that has lionized it, the United States of that era was a place where blacks in most cities — including Portland, not just the South — could not purchase homes outside of one small red-lined district. It was a place where gay people had to remain closeted or risk losing their jobs and homes. It was a place where women had limited options for education and employment.
A great nation? Indeed. A perfect one? Certainly not. And we’re better now than we were then.
Undoubtedly, any view of America is tempered by the age of the person being asked. And many who responded have fond memories of the Clinton years in the 1990s — even some I know to be conservative. Of course, not everybody feels this way, but the best question for those who still cling to demagoguery in criticism of Bill Clinton’s presidency is this: “What didn’t you like, the peace or the prosperity?”
All of which highlights the lesson of this exercise: Greatness is in the eye of the beholder. And it is perplexing that a fair number of people think Trump is the proper person to define that vision.
As one respondent wrote: “I’ve always believed America’s greatest days are ahead of her, not behind her. Each generation has strived for a more perfect Union: abolishing slavery, improving labor conditions, fighting for women’s suffrage, enhancing race relations, racing for the moon, to name just a few. Going backward has never been part of our nation’s sometimes lurching journey forward.”
And that sounds like a more appropriate slogan than Trump’s.
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