“…Great Again”

An Opinion…

As a citizen of these ‘United States’ I’ve always seen myself, politically speaking, in a very specific and I fear unique position.

As I write these words I do so, not as a Republican nor a Democrat.

I am not left-wing or right-wing.

I am neither conservative nor liberal.

I have been accused of having the proverbial fence post right up my middle, but I can’t honestly call myself a moderate nor independent or nonpartisan. Giving myself a label such as these means that I am, in fact, just a member of another political party.

Because I offer this political opinion as… A citizen; an American!

I am someone who still believes in the greatness that was intended for this country. And while all these other political groups of passionate people work towards their own individual visions of what ‘these United States’ should be, I still believe in that vision that includes all of us, not just those that are on my side.

But even saying this however, that I am an American, especially in today’s political climate can be rather vague and unclear.

As an individual who was born and raised in these United States, I’ve always casually called myself an American. However, logic clearly should show that America is in fact just the name of a group of continents, rather than a culture or collection of affiliated peoples.

If I call myself an American, living in the North American continent then surely Canadians are also Americans because they also live in the North American continent. As an American, if I then travel down to our southern border between us and Mexico and even into Mexico then I am still in an American continent.

Historically, people who live in Mexico have been called Mexicans. However, they live in Central America which just happens to be dominated by a country called Mexico just as about half of North America is dominated by a country called the United States. But when you follow this logic, it makes sense that Mexicans are also Americans. And then, if we head further south to -wait for it- South America, this is where it gets really interesting.

The continent of South America is made up of 12 individual countries. Those being Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Columbia. Then there is Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, and Peru. And finally, there is Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Each of these countries consists of people that have some version of their country’s name to define them. I’m sure that people from Venezuela are Venezuelans and so forth. But these are also, more… Americans.

So maybe the act of calling myself an American as a way of distinguishing myself from any existing United States political party may be far too vague for a discussion such as this.

The country I live in is called the United States. It just so happens to be called the ‘United States of America’. I suppose we could take this to mean that we are a collection of states, or as some countries would call it ‘territories’ that together make up the United States that just happen to be somewhere in the Americas. To quote the website “Mother Jones” and “The History Ace”:

“In the early years of the United States, Americans did not universally identify themselves as Americans. Instead, they often referred to themselves as “United States men” or “citizens of their respective states””.

At the risk of disrespecting our founding fathers, neither of these titles conveniently flow very well and would be very clumsy to use throughout this article. And besides, I would hate to be accused of being “woke” by using something from this country’s history.

So, I think I will stick with the phrase: “I am an American”. And, as an American I am part of that country that is in the North American continent, except for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianna Islands, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands; these are all part of America but they’re not part of the continent. Oh, and we can’t forget Hawaii, which isn’t part of the continent at all. In fact, it isn’t even close to the continental United States but it’s still America.

… But I digress.

Simply put, I am not left nor right nor conservative nor liberal. I am not Democrat nor Republican. And neither am I any middle-of-the-road undecided namby-pamby political group that can’t make up their minds.

I am simply, in the purest and humblest sense of the word a citizen of these United States, and other territories and as such: I am an American.

The title of this discussion “Great Again”, is something that we hear spoken of a lot these days. Donald Trump… Sorry! President Donald Trump speaks this phrase constantly. The quote “make America great again” is tossed around like the phrase ‘please pass the salt’ or ‘I hate Mondays’! And now the phrase ‘make America great again’ has expanded to so many different versions of the original like:

‘Make “place that part of America that you think sucks here” Great Again.

It raises the question, at least in my mind: At what point did America stop being great?

It would seem that President Donald Trump somehow found a phrase he liked and stuck it on every hat that every right-wing conservative wears constantly in order to blatantly express their dissatisfaction with the way things are going. And I’m sure, our ‘Mr. President’ believes that he coined that phrase and should copywrite it so he can charge for its use.

Actually, the phrase “Make America Great Again” was first used by Ronald Reagan during his 1980 presidential campaign.

Sorry; I’m being woke again.

But when you consider this; if Reagan was the first political person that used this phrase back in 1980 it would suggest that, back then, America also wasn’t great. And it then gets further complicated when one wonders, if President Donald Trump has been trying for the last 8 ½ years, both as president and frustrated private citizen, to ‘Make America Great Again’, does that mean that President Reagan failed to make it great the first time?

Does that mean that since long before 1980 this country has been whatever the opposite of great is?

And whose opinion of what greatness is are we using as the benchmark of what greatness should be?

But I think the challenge here is not a question of trying to decide whether America has or has not been great all these years but rather, taking a look at those individuals that have used this phrase and what each of them has tried to do about it.

In some ways, history doesn’t completely look back at Ronald Reagan as the great Republican president that he may have seemed to be at the time. For example, many people think that the concept of “trickle-down economics” is a really bad idea. After all, people who have lots of money don’t obtain and keep lots of money by letting it trickle away. They are probably wealthy because they don’t spend their money, thereby making the concept of “trickle down” a nonexistent process.

However, as a person who was a registered voter in 1980,  and as someone who lived through his eight years as president and who voted for Ronald Reagan, I can honestly say that he was a well-spoken man who stood for the country and its people.

As a politician I’m sure he did his share of wheeling and dealing in the background trying to make things work like every other politician has done and ever will do. However, as the most powerful politician in the country and the leader of the free world, he stood for this country and all of its people. At no time in my recollection did he ever look at one side of the political aisle with more or less disdain and distaste than the other side of the aisle. When he spoke the phrase “my fellow Americans”. He spoke to and cared for all of us. He also stood for the democracy of the world, trying to spread peace and unity for all people, eliminating tyranny and strife whenever possible for the betterment of mankind and the betterment of these United States.

Now let’s look at Donald Trump…

Sorry!

… President Donald Trump.

I admit, back in the beginning when Donald Trump first made that statement “I’m running for president”, even back then I looked at both sides of the American political aisle and said:

“This system is not working anymore!”

At that time, like now, all each side did was argue with the other side. And when their side gained any amount of controlling power, they spend their time reversing what the other side had accomplished.

When I heard the news that Mr. Trump was running for president, all I knew of Donald Trump was that he was that guy on television made famous by saying “you’re fired”. I’d never heard him speak or seen him do anything other than that. But I figured; the way things are going now, surely, he can’t do any worse. And besides, going back to Ronald Reagan; we’ve seen an actor become president before. How bad could it be?

But then I saw his first public speaking event. And it was then that I realized that this man was not the right man for the job. It didn’t take long, but I very quickly became a fan of Hillary Clinton.

Again, read the opening title!

“… Opinion”

I believe opinions are still allowed (for now…)!

As Mr. Trump began speaking, two things came to mind:

One:

What mattered the most to Donald Trump, was Donald Trump!

And two:

The more I watched him speak -which inevitably involved long distracted ramblings in all kinds of directions typically not about the issues of the time but more likely somehow about himself- the more he reminded me of an actor auditioning for the lead role in the story: The Emperor’s new clothes.

Basically, everything always somehow centered around him and how only he could make it right, only he knew what to do, and only by following him would this country ever get out of the disaster it was in the middle of.

And at the time, it seemed like he was the only one that couldn’t see that he was really, to quote the premise of the story referenced above, not wearing any clothes at all!

I couldn’t see how a man this self-centered without any political finesse at all could ever be the leader of this country, let alone the leader of the free world.

But then the dynamic changed.

During the 2016 election when he ran against Hillary Clinton, Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote by over 3 million votes. However, she also lost the election because of this country’s system and its Electoral College that somehow gave the win to the new President Donald Trump.

Everyone from the middle all the way left of the political isle, both politically and nationally were shocked, flabbergasted even. How could a man like this win against someone with the credentials and the political background as a Clinton. Surely this is a mistake!

However, whether you chalk it up to the Electoral College, or the glass ceiling that unfortunately still limits our female citizens and their ability to obtain leadership positions, or whether you buy the story that he won the election because the Russians helped him: However you look at it, he won the election and became President.

But the dynamic that changed was none of these ‘what-ifs’ or conspiracy theories noted above. The dynamic that changed didn’t become clear until the end of his first term and wasn’t cemented as truth for me until the beginning of his second.

After he lost the 2020 election and spent the next four years whining and complaining about how it was a conspiracy, and the election was stolen, we then approached the 2024 election.

As election night approached and the votes once again were counted, I very quickly learned two things:

Number one:

The glass ceiling has not been raised or removed one iota since 2016.

And number two:

The dynamic that changed wasn’t a change at all. Because the problem really had nothing to do with Donald Trump.

Donald Trump was just the voice that wouldn’t be silenced. He was popular enough, had enough money and supporters that he could take advantage of the dynamic that most people either don’t want to think about, don’t know about, or are too busy practicing new anti-woke policies to even recognize:

Donald Trump didn’t cause the situations that were in now!

Donald Trump was simply the catalyst needed. He was the perfect storm required to light a fire under that roughly 50% of this nation that still thinks this way and believe this way. It has been this way since the civil war that tore this country in two over the differing ideals on how things ought to be.  Donald Trump is the perfect public figure to help propel this country back to be the way America not only should be again but should have always been.

White is right! Everything else is secondary and should be treated as such.

Women do not know how to make decisions about their own bodies, and they need government intervention to make sure that they do what’s right.

And most importantly, the only way to deal with opposition is to eliminate it.

Yes, I know! These are controversial phrases. Right now, people reading this who don’t know me are labeling me an extremist, although I’m not sure which side of the aisle that would be. And people who do know me are wringing their hands thinking “what has he done now”.

Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, even ugly.

At the end of the Civil War the Confederate soldiers, their leadership and what then made up the Confederate states didn’t just lay down their weapons and say,

“You know you are right; I’m sorry”.

They lost the war!

Losing the war meant that they were forced to give up, thereby giving up their right to fight. This meant they had to conform to the ways of the northern states that had won the war -or at least, agree to it in theory.

But that doesn’t mean they had to agree with the philosophy and the thinking of the side that won; and that didn’t mean thy couldn’t continue to practice their old ways behind closed doors, away from prying eyes.

And let me be clear. I am not singling out those southern states that were a part of the Confederacy back in the Civil War. I am not suggesting that they are all a bunch of radical lunatics that are to be eliminated from this country. I am suggesting that in the minds of many people, the philosophies and the belief systems of those brave soldiers from those southern states still exist in many people in this country today. And the proof of this is the 2016 election, and the 2024 election.

Because if a greater percentage of the American people didn’t think the way Donald Trump thinks, and didn’t believe what Donald Trump is selling, he would’ve never won any election.

“… Great again.”

So now that he’s back, now that he’s president again, how is he making America great again? What is the Donald Trump process of turning this country around really consist of?

It would seem that his approach to making America great again is to speak to, appeal to, and support that 50% of the country that voted for him and agrees with what he believes. He not only disagrees with the other half of the politicians from the “radical left”, he doesn’t even consider or regard those politicians and the people and states that they represent.

In Donald Trump’s America, this country will be great again by supporting that half of the country that agrees with and supports his vision of how America should be and then belittling and alienating the other half that disagrees.

And if there is any opposition to his agenda or his belief system or his vision, then the solution is very simple:

They are obviously stupid!

It’s obviously a hoax.

It’s fake news!

As in the story of the emperor’s new clothes, those who support him dared not point out the fact that he’s making this country a shambles and embarrassing himself in front of the world. And those who don’t support him are too afraid to say or do anything.

In the end this is why I refuse to call myself right or left. I refuse to call myself Republican or Democrat, or any of the other names or labels associated with any political party today.

I don’t agree with Donald Trump: President Donald Trump, but I also don’t agree with those who oppose him because, in their mind, for some reason, the solution to the problem is to do nothing. Their solution is to wait it out, hope for the best, and if they ever get back into power, they can then push the pendulum back the other way and ‘fix’ it all.

I would rather try and remember those founding fathers that I must believe saw something greater than what we’re seeing now in this country. I would rather see this country as one that was designed for all people, from all nations. I believe this because it was founded, not by people on this continent, but by people of other countries. All these people came here because they wanted something better. They wanted the freedom to be who they believed they should be, who they could be if they dared. They wanted to pray and worship the way they believed to be right not how somebody else dictated they should. And they wanted to live in a world without tyranny and oppression and the unfair treatment that they suffered under in the countries that they fled from.

Additionally, at the risk of being ‘Woke’ again, I would also rather remember those who welcomed us into their lands, albeit reluctantly: the American Indians. Let’s face it: At no time did we ever really treat these people in any way that resembled respectful or considerate. We landed on the shores of this new wild land, and for the Indians, it was all downhill from there. These are a people that should be embraced as the first, original Americans and should be honored for their sacrifice, tolerance and considered an integral part of the fabric of this country.  

Only by embracing our differences, and by standing united as a nation of many differing colors and religions and backgrounds and beliefs can we ever hope to achieve this ‘Greatness’ we long for.

And as I wave that flag that represents this great country, I do so, knowing that it flies high as a banner of freedom and justice, calling all those who would seek a better place to come near, and stand close. For here you are welcome; here you can find peace and a sense of belonging. Yet, be prepared, because you will need to be ready to play your part, to contribute to the whole knowing that in doing so we’ll have your back.

It won’t be easy, but then nothing important ever is.

While I hope and pray that I still have the right to speak freely and to express my opinion:

I would rather associate myself with those original Americans, our founding fathers, and these new Americans struggling to belong and to be free. I would rather call myself a “united states man”, and see all American people’s as one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all…

And for those that don’t agree with me:

You are welcome as well. And your opinions are also welcome. As long as you can somehow make room for the rest of us that disagree with you.