What Makes America Great?
One of the things that has been bothering me for a while is the climate that we live in that consumes us with ‘the moment’ yet leaves us hanging with so many unanswered questions and no time to reflect before we move on to the ‘next new thing.’
That is true of our culture and our education system and our political system and our everyday lives. And in that vein, I wanted to stop and reflect for a moment on one of the pat slogans that we’ve been living with and seeing reflected on hats and news and billboards for the past decade. It’s a matter of the things that have made America “Great.”
It seems to be a pretty standard phrase; and it is mindlessly echoed throughout the political sphere now. It should not be a mindless phrase. We need to reflect on the things that have made America great in the past. And the things that we cherish and value about our own land that make it unique and special to those of us who live in this country now. And we need to look at why so many were willing to fight and die for this country. Next, we need to ponder why it is that we need to protect our freedoms and continue to protect and defend a culture that has made so many love this land.
What was it that made America Great? Why do so many feel it has to return to the past in order for them to feel they are part of their country again? Why are so many disconnected from the values of our country? And why are so many ignorant-willfully ignorant-of the very things that have made America great in the first place?!
This is not a partisan issue. Many people choose to ignore facts. And many people simply ignore those inconvenient facts when they are seen or heard from a source they don’t trust. So that is another problem that needs to be addressed. But for the moment, here’s a short list of the things that we know have made America great; and remain part of the myths that we create around these United States.
What are those myths? Phrases we all know such as:“The Shining City on the Hill,’ “Camelot’ and the “American Dream’ or “American Exceptionalism’ are the ideals that we have all heard. And the other is the notion of the Melting Pot. All of these things are up for debate because we are so divided and many of us choose not to accept the past, the present, or the future when the facts don’t suit their narrative. That is why we need to ponder this question. What is it that makes America Great?
What makes America Great?
· The US A.I.D program
· Our Colleges & Higher Learning system
· Science & Research ability
· Our freedoms (See FDR & Four Freedoms)
· Our Ability to vote and to protest freely
·What makes America Great?
· Our Constitutional system of checks & balances
· The Rule of Law
· Our Freedom of Speech & Protest
· Our Open society that allows for dissent
· The Melting Pot Theory that has let so many become American
What makes America Great?
· Our people who are so diverse
· The American Dream which has let so many become citizens
· Our resilience and abundance
· Our ability to see things wrong and then set them right
· Our enduring love of personal freedom
What makes America Great?
· Our support for democracies & freedom globally
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· Our pioneering spirit which landed us on the moon
· Our ability to innovate and create new things
· Our sense of purpose and work ethics
· Our ability to look into the future with hope
What makes America Great?
· Our can-do attitude
· The American good ol’ American know-how
· An eternal sense of optimism for better things to come
· An ability to stand up for underdogs & fight for what is right
· A sense of past and a nose for opportunity in the future
What makes America Great?
· Our small towns and the people in them
· The free press and our ability to protect free speech
· Our instinct to protect freedoms and to protest injustice
· A strong middle class that has made us stronger still
· A sense of purpose and willingness to admit mistakes
What makes America Great?
· Our belief in tomorrow and opportunity for all
· An investment in young people and in educational opportunity
· A willingness to pivot and to change
· A shared experience and belief in American Exceptionalism
· A prayer that all of us will be able to get along better someday
This was the ‘short list.’ We have not looked at the specific data or the research or the people who have made America great. We have not looked at the idea that past American greatness has been successfully captured by the extreme far-right and somehow reshaped to create a new narrative. It’s one that keeps the American spirit alive only for those who choose to think a certain way, follow a certain ideology and to focus on the culture and ethos that somehow meets their current moment.
That is not the American Way. We can acknowledge failure and we can overcome our past. We cannot re-capture an America where one-half of the people are determined to abolish democracy and democratic values. We need to begin by acknowledging that we are a divided nation. And then we need to reflect on the things that have made America great, and can make this nation great once again.
There was a book about that dream that never dies. It was called “The Once & Future King.’ It was written in a different time. And it fit a narrative when many people were shocked and saddened by what had occurred when our President was assassinated. America has survived shocking and sad times in our past. We even survived a Civil War. We have come out older and wiser on the other side of these painful episodes.
And yet Author T.H. White, who wrote The Once & Future King, helped to create this vison of Camelot that once was attached to our American ethos and culture. Although he wrote of Camelot, the people who loved the late President, John F. Kennedy, were able to shape that dream and vision of a once great society & attach it to a mythical kind of vision for America. It came with a hope that we could one day become great again. It was the type of mythos and marketing that served to bring a nation together rather than to tear it apart. It seems the myth of this era’s mythical vision- “Make America Great Again’ -was designed to tear the nation apart.
Let us hope that this era doesn’t defeat us. We cannot be looking for the enemy within until we look within ourselves and ask the hard questions. Do we have what it takes to meet the moment? And can we come together to make America that vision that was once & yet still could be-great- again?
