When we were great

It is a tricky headline that could also read as a question, when were we great? But you get the point I am sure. We've been told ad nauseam that the radical changes to our country, the loss of rights, the inhumane actions taken by our government towards any and all it deems undesirable, the repression of science, medicine, and ultimately the abandonment of our democracy and the underlying organizing principles as embodied in the Constitution are all necessary for us to return to greatness. But dare we ask, when exactly was that?

I challenge you to put that question to your local neighborhood MAGA. At what point in the history of our country were we great, and by what definition? Having grown up in the decades of the 50's I searched my own memory to recall any period that might meet this standard. Some might say it was the 50's themselves, when our economy was fueled by postwar demand and the middle class could actually afford to educate their children and own a home. And indeed it was an optimistic interlude, unless we recall that millions of minorities were excluded from this American dream, segregation was common and the KKK burned crosses and lynched unruly citizens.

It was not such a dandy period for women either, returned to the home front from factories and the war to domestic bliss along with restored inequality where the only thing that mattered was acquiring the latest labor saving appliance. True, America was a hero after the war in the world's eyes even as it began a period of tampering with governments and overthrowing those that mitigated the ambitions of our corporate interests leading inevitably to Cuba, Vietnam, Iran, Afghanistan and so many more grim outcomes.

As a child of the 50's let me remind you of one of our least favorite activities--the air raid drill where we learned to duck and cover under our desks as if this would protect us from nuclear blasts and instant annihilation. The war may have been cold, but no less real to those of us who grew up under its shadow.

I've barely touched the surface but clearly it was not the 50's or any time since. So let us go further back. Can we really say that the decades of the 20th century were a time of nobility and peace? Or perhaps we should go even further back to the 19th--to the Civil War and the decades that preceded it when we built an economy based on indenture and slavery. Or maybe it was at our founding when idealism of the highest order and a desire for freedoms both personal and corporate inspired us. Truly these were times where greatness stood in the wings. But they were also a period when we began our quest to occupy even greater tracts and in the process displaced and killed indigenous peoples by the hundreds of thousands.

It should be apparent that America's greatness has always been aspirational, a desire enshrined in our foundation but not yet achieved in any durable reality. We are and always have been a work in progress, and until recently one that surely though slowly was moving towards those virtues and behaviors that would realize the ambitions of our founders, a greatness that enshrined freedom, peace and equality. A greatness that placed the welfare of its citizens above all else, that practiced justice actively and compassion for all.

So I ask again, how are the repressive and authoritarian actions and views of the present administration moving us toward greatness? What is it that we aspire to but a return to some of the most repressive and ignoble moments in our history? As we roll back the hard won progress of centuries condemning it as some sinister illness called 'wokeness' we must ask what constitutes greatness in the minds of those who believe we are moving, finally, in the right direction?