Making America more perfect
One of the central themes of Donald Trump’s campaign this year has been “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA. While this notion suggests a certain period and quality of life that represent greatness, Trump is less clear about a specific definition of “Great,” and what chapters of history represent this greatness.
As I contemplated this, I thought that Mr. Trump might be discussing a period of U.S. history sometimes thought of as idyllic: the 1950s, or even more specifically, 1954, the year I was born. Would Mr. Trump define this period as “Great”? If so, what has changed since then to make this country less great, and would returning to those “Happy Days” Make America Great Again?
As 1954 began, segregated schools were common, including in Topeka, Kansas, until May of that year, when the Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Does MAGA include a return to segregated schools? What other significant events since 1954 either created Greatness or undermined it? Would rescinding the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (thus allowing states to prevent Blacks to vote) return the United States to a period of greatness? Would a return to bans on interracial marriage (declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Loving v Virginia in 1967) Make America Great Again? Would a ban on gay marriage (illegal in every state in 1960) represent MAGA? How about a total abortion ban, which was illegal in every state in 1954?
Rather than speculate about Mr. Trump’s answers to these questions, it is more appropriate to identify Trump’s expressed views, which can be taken as hints of what he means by MAGA. One such issue is immigration. I agree with Mr. Trump that the current system is terribly broken and needs reform. I am, however, skeptical that “deporting” all undocumented immigrants would Make America Great Again until some questions are answered. First, who will replace “them” to grow the food “we” eat? Estimates of the percentage of farm workers in the U.S. who are “undocumented” range from 25% to 40%, and even the lower estimate would produce a monumental shortfall of farm labor. An article in Businessweek in June 2017 quoted a farmer in Kansas to headline an article, “I Need More Mexicans.” The enormous loss of labor would produce significant food shortages, which in turn would create large increases in food prices. Mr. Trump claims that he will deport all (he claims 18,000,000) undocumented immigrants. How many millions of federal workers will need to be hired to go door to door across the country, and how much would this effort cost? Moreover, would this really Make America Great Again?
A second issue that Mr. Trump discusses at length concerns what he calls, “The Deep State,” or employees of government in (for example), the Department of Justice and other federal agencies. Moreover, Mr. Trump pledges to “go after” his “political enemies,” fire those working in government, and replacing them with Trump loyalists. During the 19th century, the practice of hiring government workers based on loyalty rather than merit was called “The Spoils System” (to the winner go the spoils), and was viewed as extraordinarily corrupt. This practice worsened until passage of The Pendleton Act in 1883, which created a system of hiring government employees based on merit (rather than loyalty) for all but the highest political appointments. It is hard to imagine that returning to the corruption of “The Spoils System” would Make America Great Again.
A third issue significant to MAGA concerns energy production, with Trump emphasizing increased production of fossil fuels rather than alternative sources of energy. While I may be nostalgic for the “good old days” of 30 cents/gallon gas when I first learned to drive, I am not blind to the consequences of climate change. Increasing temperatures in our future are certainly not consistent with any understanding of Make America Great Again. Moreover, wind now produces more than 40% of all the energy consumed in Kansas, and last year surpassed coal as the number one producer of electricity in the state. How much more expensive would energy in Kansas be without the contribution of energy supplied by wind?
I understand the nostalgic appeal of MAGA, but I also understand that those who crafted the Constitution in 1787 did NOT claim to create a “perfect union.” Instead they made a modest claim “to create a MORE perfect union” than the one that had existed since ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1781. In so doing, they left it to future generations to continue an ongoing process that would liberate slaves, confer the right to vote to women, and other reforms since the 1950s I have noted. In that sense they were fundamentally future oriented, in contrast to the backward-looking Make America Great America. With that said, I am nostalgic for one aspect of our history that I deeply and sincerely wish we could return to: the days when politics was less polarized and less demonizing of “others,” whether immigrants or Blacks or LBGTQ+ or women or Democrats or Republicans or any other group. If we do not transcend such demonization, I fear that it will be difficult to Make America’s Future Greater (call it MAFG).
— Mark Peterson
