The theme of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was Make America Great Again, and this resonated deeply with much of the electorate. Personally, I struggled to understand in what way people thought America had lost its greatness and what his proposals would do to restore it. I admit that with this failure to understand, I often thought the worst of people’s motivations and I want to rectify that. It made me realize that we need a foundational conversation on what it is that makes America great. Please, share your thoughts. How do you define American greatness?
For me, the idea of America is by itself one of the most powerful forces for good in the history of the world. A land where people of varying different faiths and backgrounds came together and mutually agreed to a system of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are core values that we do not compromise, and that are protected by the Bill of Rights. Please review all 10 of them again, as I did just now. We often focus on just a few, and need to remember that all of these rights are most important at the times when our leaders tell us we must abandon them due to fear.
Another core value is that America can be a beacon to people from around the world. America was never just for any one group of people. Anyone who believes in the idea of America and is willing to live up to the responsibility is considered a valuable contributor to our nation. We grow stronger by bringing in people from around the world and incorporating the best of their cultures into our own. There has been resistance to most newcomers from the beginning, but when we look back we see that they have made us better as a nation. Even if we don’t have capacity to take in all comers, we are at our best when we strive to offer the opportunities of America to as many as we can handle.
You may have noticed that I did not mention being number one in the world, whether about having a dominant military or the world’s strongest economy. To me, these characteristics have supported our greatness but are not its foundation. We have faced countless threats to our security over our history and overcome them all. But we only truly damage our place in the world when we succumb to fear and trade off the best of our values in the name of an elusive security. Or place our economic health above our moral health. We should never sacrifice the best of America to the fears of the day.
And that is why we must openly acknowledge and confront the worst of America as well. No nation is perfect, and we do not need to apologize for the fact that we are not. But there are dark times in our past where we have done great harm to those who did not deserve it, and we diminish them as humans if we do not own up to those flaws and vow to learn from them. I can only imagine how my words above must read to a Native American, for example. It would appear that I am dismissive of the fact that much of the foundation of what we have in our country was built by doing great harm to them. We owe it to them to at the very least acknowledge this harm.
It is in looking at when we have failed to live up to our greatness that teaches us how to properly define our values. Examining our periods of moral failure next to our successes gives us a deeper understanding of what the best of this country truly is. I can summarize it by noting that America has been great when we commit to the offering the American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone. When we let fear drive us to exclude certain groups from that dream is America at its worst.
My letter to the President-elect can now be seen in the context of this view of American greatness. It is not primarily his core policies that disturb me. It is what he says and it is even what he does not say. He uses ambiguity to let his words support the most hateful and divisive ideas of those who do not believe in an inclusive America and would use fear and resentment to marginalize those who are different. And leave us wondering if that is the route he will choose. It is up to all of us to hold him to a higher standard.
Nice work, Brian!
As I was reading this post, I thought a lot about the travel I’ve done. I’ve been very fortunate to have visited more than 30 countries in my life, and in total I’ve probably spent more than two years of my life outside the U.S. Traveling has a lot of rewards, but one key advantage of travel is that it allows you to see your own country from another angle.
One common experience I’ve encountered again and again is that people in other countries see themselves as linked to the U.S in ways that are political, economic, personal, and above all, idealistic.
In Ireland, it became a running joke that everyone I met seemed to have a relative in America, and many of them asked if I happened to know their relative. In Mexico, the people I met were also quick to tell me about their relatives in America, although for some reason none of them seemed to think that I might know them. In Australia, I found that the American Navy holds a special place in that country’s heart, and that when the fleet calls on Sydney, a lot of Australians feel compelled to welcome our sailors and marines with American flags. In Cambodia, I met people who literally had American-made shrapnel in their bodies who would also tell you that America is the greatest country on Earth; and to be clear, they were not referring to our military might, they were speaking about something more aspirational. I experienced a similar regard for America in places as different as France, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Nicaragua, and Chile. I happened to be in Greece the day the Iraq war began. The streets of Athens were thick with protestors and I ended up getting caught up in some of that (and tear gassed too, but that’s a different story). The Greeks I met that day who were so mad at our government’s decision to go to war in Iraq made a distinction, however, between our government’s policy, and America the nation; they held a dim view of our government at the time, but an incredibly optimistic view of our nation and our people.
I’ve often wondered why so many different people from all over the world hold such a favorable view of America and Americans. One answer, I think, is that the world looks to America as a place where anything is possible.
I think one great thing about America, an exceptional thing, is that we can make Americans. People can come to America from anywhere and they can become Americans. This is only sort of true with other countries. That is, you can immigrate and become a citizen of France, for example, but it’s not really clear that you’ll ever be truly French. Yes, we’ve had huge struggles with immigration and we’re in the middle of one right now, but on balance, we’ve managed to assimilate all kinds of people from all kinds of places throughout our history. This is because the essential Americanness of being an American isn’t about an ethnic identity; it’s about a commitment to an idea.
The people I’ve met in my travels, I believe, look to America not just because we are the world’s indispensable nation, but because we’re the only nation on Earth (aside from their home, possibly) where they or their relatives could truly belong. And they see this as true because we they know the difference between nations as they exists throughout the world and our nation, a nation of all the world’s peoples.
That sentiment is often summed up as diversity, but I think that’s the result, not the foundation. We are a diverse country because we have people from all nations, ethnicities, and faiths; but we are are a great nation because of something inside our national DNA that allows us to assimilate anyone from anywhere. No, we don’t do that perfectly. And it’s often ugly. But we have managed to do it for centuries, and in all my travels I’ve never come across another nation that could touch us on that front.
Wonderful writing Michael. I expect nothing less from you and appreciate the contribution! There is certainly a great power to this aspiration of America and it does get me thinking about how exactly that idea came about and what has kept it alive even while other countries share so many of the characteristics that one would call out to explain it. I am curious if any of my readers with a deeper historical perspective than I have can address how long this view from other countries that you speak of has been around. If we could see a point when this view became popular that might identify causes. Assuming of course that your assessment is accurate, and I believe it is as I have seen it as well in my more limited travel as well in various things I have read. If I had to guess, I would think it is around the early 1900’s, but maybe that is just because it is when my family came here!
I became US citizen exactly one year ago and this election was my first year election. I came to this country from a muslim country. In Indonesia I had a double minority status because I am a Chinese (non Indonesia native) and that I am not a muslim. For me to make America great again is for America to keep giving freedom to its citizens, but at the same time also be smarter and be more vigilant of the real threat out there. To make America great again is the commitment to protect its citizens no matter of religions, race, etc. Again, my perspective is based of my experience growing up being persecuted and discriminated in a muslim country. To make America great again is for its citizens to wake up and realize there is a real danger out there and not every countries favor the US. To make America great again is for its citizens to realize that there is a God who creates and loves us. To make us great again is to stop killing ourselves and realize that abortion is wrong. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts..
Congrats on your first election Inge! I am sure it was a proud and exciting moment. I appreciate your sharing how your unique background informs your views. I am taking some time to reflect on your comments before replying to specifics.
Inge, I have a couple of follow up questions and thoughts for you.
History shows us that groups with power oppress those without power. To me that seems consistent with what you experienced in Indonesia, although I certainly don’t want to substitute my outside judgment for your own perspective. When it comes to protecting all races and religions in the US, how do we ensure that those with less power do not become the subject of hatred and oppression as happened to you?
To take that a step further, every country is constantly facing numerous threats. How we respond to those threats is a large part of what defines us as a people. The US has been at its best when we come together in the face of those threats rather than turning against entire groups of people for the actions of a few. How do you think we can best face threats to our country without being overcome by fear that brings out the worst in us?
Michael,
What an exciting perspective. I agree about the point that anything is possible. It is one of the things I love about being in New York City-I look at the diversity of people, listen to the diversity of languages and how they all blend together to create a remarkable experience.
On this Thanksgiving, I’d actually like to respond to Brian’s post on my own with a long post of my own that speaks to my personal history.
I grew up believe not only that American was great but that it was the Greatest Country in the world. My early youth was completely formed by this perspective. I would feel sorry for kids in other countries that they couldn’t grow up in America. Why was America the greatest? Well, anyone who wanted to work hard could come from anywhere and be anything. We had an amazing democracy founded on a rich history and we were helping spread that democracy to the rest of the world. In American we enjoyed a degree of freedom not seen in the rest of the world-we had the Bill of Rights. And had the strongest ecomony and milatary.
As I grew up I learned more about the world (although haven’t gotten to travel like Michael) and I learned that there are folks happy to live in their countries and proud of their countries. I learned (from my penpal) that even though Finland wasn’t a powerful country, people were happy. Through a report on Sweden, I learned that they country provided benefits for their citizens that the US didn’t. And as I grew into high school, I began to realize that folks in the USSR were people just like us. They didn’t hate us. They didn’t want to fight us anymore than our citizens wanted to fight them. Then came college, adulthood and the collapse of the Soviet Union. My perspective broaded. I looked at Manifest Destiny from the perspective of the Native Americans. I realized that the 20th century map was created after WWII and had always been fluid. That countries like France and UK had been major powers, lost that power and still people had pride in their country. I realized that maybe America was Great but it might not be the Greatest, as there might not be a Greatest country-and maybe there shouldn’t be.
So let’s go to the present, because I’ve been struggling with what makes America Great and trying to reconcile that with what I see now in middle adulthood. We have a strong miliary and economic presence in the world but we don’t always use it for good. We help some countries but not others (look at Boko Harem or genocide in Africa) and sometimes we think we help countries and make it worse by trying to spread the freedom without understand where we are spreading it (Iraq being the best example.)
But let’s also look domestically; do we really make things great for our people. We have the greatest healthcare opportunities in the world, but not one of the best healthcare systems because many can’t get healthcare. We are the land of opportunity but when the opportunity disappears because your factory closes due to automation, what do we do to help folks to find another job when they need to learn new skills? How do we help children who grow up in extreme poverty with little hope, food or a robust education, move up in this world when epigentics, prejudice and poverty makechanging their life more difficult? How do we justify that instead of our wealth trickling down to all Americans, it is staying in the pockets of the most privileged? How are we great when many feel marginalized by others for race, religion, gender identity, sexual preference and gender?
Ok so that’s my negative on why America isn’t great. By I’m still here and I don’t intend on leaving. Why? Because America is great. There are no easy answers to the questions and difficulties that plague us; not a single country has all the answers. But the United States is a country that is founded on freedom. Freedom to speak up for those who are not benefiting from our policies. Freedom to help others in need. Freedom to disagree with our government. Freedom to acknowledge that what we might have said or done in the past was wrong but we want to make it right and move forward. The United States is the melting pot where we have traditionally welcomed anyone from anywhere and our society is greater for it. Yes, when folks have arrived from various places we treated them poorly, Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, (to name but a few) but over time they have become accepted and have contributed much to the greatness of the country. The folks today coming from other parts of the world have and will similarly make the country even greater.
Our freedom and diversity make us Great today and we need to acknowledge that fact and come together to listen to each other, compromise and work towards solutions to our issues.
Thanks Lisa. I can certainly relate to much of your perspective. You point out problems that I think most of us would agree are areas where we could do better, although the approach to addressing those problems, and even how much we want society to deal with those issues rather than individuals, are open questions for debate. I hope to be able to take many of those in turn through this forum and explore more deeply how we all feel about addressing those issues.