As a political science major, it should come to no surprise that I've been following the presidential election pretty closely. This election year has been particularly interesting to anyone that has been following it and even those that haven't. We can thank Republican candidate, Donald Trump, for most of the hype regarding this election. Love him or hate him, it's undeniable that this man took the election by storm, effectively holding his own against career politicians such as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, etc. Donald Trump has said multiple things that many people have found absolutely unacceptable. From saying he thinks there should be a ban on Muslims entering the country until we "figure out what's going on," to claiming that the majority of illegal immigrants from Mexico are rapists, stating that he will build a wall on the Mexican-American border and make Mexico pay for it, and that he plans on rounding up millions of immigrants and deporting them all back to Mexico. Now I agree that all of these are some pretty wild claims, and I could probably write a whole article on each one. Especially the one about making Mexico pay for that wall which, by the way, the Mexican government has already declined. However, there is one statement that I think hasn’t received enough thought thus far, and the thought that it has received may miss the underlying message. That statement is none other than his campaign slogan: “Make America Great Again!”
Of course, this statement sounds good on the surface. As an American, I’d love for this country to be great! The “Make America Great…” part is fine. It’s the “Again” that I have a serious problem with. Let me explain. Obviously, when we say “again,” we imply that it has happened before. I don’t think anyone will refute that. So by saying “Make America Great Again,” Mr. Trump is heavily implying that he would like to take America and revert it back to how it was at a certain time in the past. The issue is, what time period would that be? When was America so great that Trump would bring us back to that time with his policies? Now, I am a serious history nerd, especially when it comes to American history. So before I completely discredit this idea of making our country great again, let’s take the time and search for a time period that Trump is referring to.
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Let’s start with the 1770s to the 1860s. It’s a wide time frame I know, but it will serve our purposes. America honestly did do a lot of great things during this period. For those of you who may be a little bit rusty on U.S. History, I’ll give you a brief recap: Basically, America wrote Great Britain a letter declaring their independence because they were sick of high taxes. The US successfully defeated the British in 1783, and continued to operate under the Articles of Confederation until Shay’s rebellion showed us all that we should probably have a stronger Central Government. Thus, the famous constitution was ratified in 1788, the government split up into 3 branches, the Bill of Rights was added in there in 1791 which guaranteed individual freedoms. America began expanding west, picked a fight with England for touching our boats in 1812, signed the Louisiana Purchase, kicked Spain out of Florida, took Texas and most of the current southwest from Mexico, and had a nice gold rush. Not bad for 100 years if I do say so myself. In terms of expansion and rising to power, America was great at this time. Could this be the “Again” that Trump is referring to? I certainly hope not. Because if you thought a lot was missing from my summary, you are correct! I left out the fact that at this time, we were fighting multiple wars with Native Americans and sending them on the Trail of Tears, women had little to no rights, only rich white men could vote for about 30 of those years (for the other 70 poor white men got that right too.), and do I need to mention the fact that people were buying and selling blacks during this time? I’ll give Trump the benefit of the doubt and move on hoping this isn’t his idea of America being great.
Maybe we’ll have more luck in from the 1870s to the 1970s. I doubt you need an in depth recap of this time because it’s still fairly recent but I’ll do my best to point out some highlights. Basically, we had just finished the Civil War in 1865 (Yes I know it seems like that should have been in the last section but it has a more lasting impact on this era so go with it!), then there was the whole Reconstruction era which was supposed to make life easier for the newly freed slaves, but that fell flat since people didn’t really follow through. Two world wars, a great depression, Jim Crowe, etc. Not exactly the pinnacle of American greatness. However, I will say that during these years we also had women's suffrage and the Civil Rights movement. Even still, I don't think this is the time we should be aiming to revert to.
Finally, we have the 1980s to now. There's honestly no point in me covering most of this because we've lived through the majority of it. But I think recent events show that we aren't exactly the greatest nation right now. We're trillions of dollars in debt, racial tension is on the rise, we're still fighting wars in the Middle-East, and we are facing acts of domestic terrorism monthly. I'll just hope that Donald isn't referring to any of these years.
Have you noticed a pattern? There is not a point in time where America was particularly "great". Don't get me wrong, I love this country. I think the ideas that it was founded on are great when put into action. Freedom of speech, religion, the right to own property are all wonderful. But they aren't unique to America. In fact, there are multiple countries that are more effective in implementing these ideas than we are. So, Donald, you can't make America great again. That goes against the whole idea of America. We are supposed to strive to move forward. To realize our mistakes and to improve as a nation.The idea that America was better in the past than it is now is ridiculous. Unless you are a white property owning male, that's simply not true.
Mr. Trump’s proposals go against making America great because they often reflect what was wrong with it in the past. The idea that building walls is better than building bridges. The idea that targeting a whole a group of people due to the actions of a few is okay. Mr. Trump, I would highly suggest focusing more on making America great for the first time, rather than embracing ideas that got us into this mess.
