Like many Americans, I was fairly troubled by last week's Republican National Convention. The theme, of course, was Make America Great Again, Donald Trump's campaign slogan. He's a pretty inspirational guy, which is nice because sometimes the nation seems like it's lacking inspiration. Unfortunately, he's inspirational in all the wrong areas.
There's probably not really anyone who disagrees with the idea of making America great. I have some questions about the "again" part, as I'm curious which past greatness he's referring to - without getting into ugly details, I hope we can all acknowledge that every period of our history has been marked by some very awful things that we are guilty of.
I don't mean to be excessively cynical or gloss over great times in our nation's history. We've undoubtedly had amazing times of innovation, discovery, and helping others at home and abroad. And there's no doubt that we've lost some of that in the past few decades, as we've started to lag behind other nations in education, infrastructure, and scientific breakthrough, not to mention losing some moral high ground in our entanglements abroad. So if we can acknowledge that we've had very dark days in our history, and if we can dispense with the "again" part, then what would it take to make America great?
One of the things that troubled me was watching a video of convention attendees trying to cover up a sign that said "No Racism, No Hate." It's possible that they took simply great issue with the organization sponsoring the lady (Code Pink, which is a “women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs"). But perhaps the people trying to silence her ought to have taken a moment to think about how it doesn't send a great message when you try to grab away a sign that says "No Racism, No Hate." If there's a message we could all get behind, you'd think it'd be that one.
I think that's part of the symptom of our perceived lack of "greatness". We're against all sorts of things, ready to take a stand against anyone or anything that appears to contradict our own positions. But we aren't really for anything. Much of last week's convention seemed to be aimed at all the things that are terrible and terrifying about our world, and some equally terrifying solutions to those problems. Perhaps the reason people are inspired by Trump is that they don't have anything else to be inspired by.
Most of our rhetoric has revolved around problems. The right groans about abortion, LGBTQ issues, immigrants, terrorism, welfare programs, and so forth. The left groans about inequality, tax cuts for the wealthy, gun control, militarization, climate change, and so forth. They both clamor the loudest when they're arguing against each other. Sometimes we all do this - we get caught down in a rut of seeing all the problems around us and lowering our eyes to the muck and filth we're wading through. In those sorts of times, the best thing is to lift up our eyes.
We need visions for a better future that don't involve blatant racism, sexism, and violence. The right has failed to cast a vision that involves making America good and moral for all people. The left has failed to cast a vision for an inclusive government that is actually efficient. Nobody is interested in saying, "What if we committed ourselves to having the best education system in the world, regardless of the cost, because it's worth it for our future, our competitiveness, and our citizens?" Nobody says, "What if we committed ourselves to being 100% driverless vehicles in 15 years because we're tired of having more than 30,000 people killed on the roads every year?" Where is the politician saying "We're going to fund the planting of 100 million trees in the next four years because we can all be glad about either the climate benefits or the beautification"?
We've been distracted. As they usually are, each distraction was variously catastrophic and significant in itself, whether the attacks of 9/11, the constant race violence or gun violence, the movements on social issues, and so on. The mark of a successful initiative, however, is whether or not it can mind a distraction while remaining focused on the goal. During the Civil War, the North was noted for continuing remarkable investment in infrastructure and building westward even while dealing with the biggest threat to the nation's existence before or since. The 1960s were a tumultuous decade to say the least, including the assassination of a President, but by 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were still standing on the moon.
Social issues, economic issues, climate change, violence...these are all very important discussions to be had. But if we put our entire focus on them, we won't become a great nation, we'll only sink into global insignificance.