The great thing about being great
or what does MAGA mean?
MAKE America Great Again, is a dream, statement, political ploy which is nearly half a century old. I can only guess it is slow to happen or it is not going to happen, but it was first used in 1980 by Ronald Reagan in his Presidential campaign.
“For those who’ve abandoned hope, we’ll restore hope and we’ll welcome them into a great national crusade to make America great again,” he said at the 1980 Republican National Convention.
While Reagan probably meant the phrase in terms of American power wielded globally if not militarily, the concept is clearly ego and fantasy driven and is meant to appeal to the American belief in their exceptionalism and to assuage the misery and hopelessness which besets so many Americans because their country works for the rich and powerful and not for them.
They fought a war to free themselves from Mother England and the injustices of the monarchy and aristocracy and then turned around and created the same sort of system for themselves. It was all beautifully clothed in noble garments of principles and ethics, draped cleverly over a system which entrenched the power of the rich. And while the English King was gone, Americans decided that they would elect their own King, every four years, with a maximum of two terms for Kingship, and that would fix everything they hated about the English. Well, except for the power of the rich, which, while it was hated in the English, was applauded in Americans. After all, this was to be the land where anyone could achieve anything that they wanted. What pubescent teenager does not believe something like that?
Americans were giddy with delight at what they had achieved and convinced that they were going to be better than anyone else, indeed, exceptional. The myth was written in glorious language and fed as mother’s milk to every American since. Such adolescent enthusiasm in the wake of the War of Independence, is not surprising. But it was not going to be permanent. It has taken a long time for the Americans to grow up into a painful reality of adulthood. Assuming that is indeed happening.
great
adjective
of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above average:
of ability, quality, or eminence considerably above average:
The 1970’s saw the start of outsourcing American manufacturing and it was well underway by the 1980’s, destroying small towns, eradicating communities and sabotaging the quality of life for ordinary Americans and worse, denying them hope in a future.
Those on the lower end of the scale had long struggled because the United States has always been a country run by the rich in the interests of the rich. Yes, at some times, politicians and the powerful toyed with improving the lot of the poor, the working poor and the struggling, and sometimes did, but it rarely came to much once the Christian-driven philanthropic movements of the 19th century were laid to rest, faster in the US than any other developed nation. The US was quick to destroy Unions, which, in other Western nations played a major role in improving conditions for workers. Yes, that process also developed flaws and deep failings, but, the fact remains, American workers compared to those in other developed nations are very poorly treated by the system.
The US has always been slow to grant rights to the underprivileged. It dragged its heels on slavery for more than half a century, and was one of the last to grant women the right to vote, decades behind other nations. And it was 1964 before Americans caught up with enlightened attitudes to segregation. Nothing great about any of that.
Signed into law, on July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools.
I travelled with a black friend and his not-black wife in New Jersey and New York State in the early 1990’s and observed unofficial, but very real discrimination toward blacks still. Nothing great about any of that.
When was America great? And what does great mean? Great as a military power, sure, since the Second World War particularly where Americans rode on the blood-drenched back of war, which pumped their weapons factories along day and night, but that does not make a country or its people great in any worthwhile sense.
Yes, absolutely, there have been times of great scientific innovation, literary brilliance and artistic excellence, but no more than many other nations have experienced and delivered. In fact the wealth of the US has enabled it to buy the best and brightest for a very long time, and they still do, which is different to achievements being home-grown.
The US has always had grinding levels of poverty and inequality, despite its huge wealth. Nothing great about any of that. Americans on average, have, and have had for a long time, the poorest quality of life of any developed nation. They have the lowest minimum wage, worst worker rights and least benefits, and the least social welfare support. Americans also have one of the most inferior universal education systems, in the developed world, where schools are funded by the local community and that means rich communities have excellent schools and poor communities have crap schools. Nothing great about any of that because freedom and a future both require a good education.
And their economy has long ridden on the back of modern slavery, illegals, in ways and at levels, which would not tolerated, in other developed nations. There is nothing great about such exploitation, nor about the lives illegals experience, even if a few manage to drag themselves out of the poverty pond to some sort of success.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the US economy if Trump delivers on his promise to get rid of illegals and as many migrants as possible. If he does and that means decent wages and jobs for Americans then great, but his rich and powerful backers are not going to like it.
Image: Outsourcing created the American rustbelt.
Does he mean great in that mythical American way of being exceptional, superior, God's chosen, a Light Unto the World kind of great? Probably all of it and none of it.
They have wealth and huge natural resources but nothing great about that either. I suspect Americans see becoming great again as being a State where more people can have a decent quality of life and the chance of bettering themselves as did exist for periods in times past.
But is that what Trump means? I don't think Trump values military greatness, as in waging war, but I would bet he values it as a weapon to be used against others. Mostly I suspect he values economic greatness which is really another form of military power and has always been used as such by the US.
In truth, Make America Great Again, is probably no more than a slippery political catch-phrase to draw in supporters. The assumption brewing in the statement is that America should be Great, as in, superior. Americans suck on this exceptional teat from birth but it is and has always been, as much fantasy as fact. But, since so many believe in it, if Trump is smart he will find out what Americans think he means by MAGA and deliver. If that is even possible in a nation with crumbling infrastructure, long-gone factories, dead towns and millions struggling as poor and working poor.
For many Americans, MAGA means, make me feel good about myself and give me the hope of a future. Can Trump deliver on that? For the sake of Americans, the struggling ones, which is a disgracefully large number in the world’s richest country, we hope so. And for the sake of the world, because a stable United States benefits everyone.
Agree it's just a catchy slogan - America has always been at war and will never be great - it's the single greatest threat to world peace while all the greenhouse gasses emitted by it's offense forces the single greatest threat to the environment.
Trump is just the symptom of a far larger problem - the real problem is corporate influence make that control over government if we can still call it that.
Here's your answer - what do we end up with when business and government have merged?
Great article. The outsourcing began sooner, though. I don’t know the details, but I remember growing up in the 50s and 60s it was a joke and a cliche that labels should be checked because everything cheap or of poor quality was “Made in Japan”, and many cheap canned foods were produced in Europe, where, we were told, health standards were lower. Both of those areas have gotten us back big time by producing finer products than the US does, and the cliche now is that everything cheap is made in China. There was a difference, though: back then, there was at least a consciousness that buying union-made goods or at least ones labeled “Made in USA” would boost the economy and US workers. Now, that awareness is discouraged; the Corporate Complex wants to kill unions, and keep the blame for lost jobs on immigrants instead of on the outsourcers.