The MAGA Lie: America IS a GREAT Country

You have been told, are being told, and will continue to be told, how bad our country is, how dark is our future. It’s a lie. It was a lie 8 years ago, it was a lie 4 years ago, it’s a lie now, and it will continue to be a lie until it not longer serves the purpose of the liars.

In the 10+ years since I retired, I’ve been to all four corners of our great nation, the Northwest  (including Alaska), the South and Southeast, the Southwest, and New England. And then, of course, I live in the middle (MO). From stunning vistas, happy people, and a humming economy, I’ve been privileged to witness a great country, of which I’m proud to be a citizen. 

But if you believe everything you hear, we are a nation in decline, no longer great, no longer successful, no longer strong, and faced with a dark, dismal future, unless you hand over power (lots of power) to people who can only see that darkness.

America IS a great country. MAGA is built on a lie, because its foundation is that once (AGAIN doesn’t imply, it clearly states) we were great, but we are no longer. Let me remind you, that was the slogan in 2016, as well. Let me also ask, when was that period of greatness that no longer exists?

I’ve travelled (literally) around the world, including South America, Australia and the South Pacific, and Europe), and there is no other country that can compare, no other country in which I’d prefer to live or be a citizen. I challenge you to name one. What other nation do we wish to serve as our model for greatness? With all due respect to the citizens of other nations who think theirs is also great, we are the Muhammad Ali of countries on our planet, “the greatest.”

Any politician who tells you otherwise, who tells you….

“We are a failing nation….”

“We are a nation that is hostile to liberty, freedom, and faith….”

“We are a nation whose economy has collapsed….’

“We are a nation where free speech is no longer allowed….”

“We are a nation that [has] lost its confidence, willpower, and strength….”

That politician is lying to you. Again.

When I hear parroting politicians try to sell the idea of a country that once was, but no longer is, great, I question not only their truthfulness but their motivation. My witness tells me they’re lying, because that is not what I’ve seen and continue to see, daily.  Sewing discord and discontent is simply their pathway and payoff to personal power and wealth. 

Selling fear and unhappiness is not a new political marketing strategy (the KKK used it with great success in the 1920’s; Hitler used it to great effect in Germany in the 1930’s). If they can convince you to be unhappy, they can also convince you that they, and they alone, can reverse that and make you happy again, protect you from mythical enemies who want to personally do you harm (who have YOUR failure as THEIR objective). 

But first the parrots must convince you to ignore everything that is good, beautiful, and great about our country, to look past all the so many positives that make us the envy of the world, and, instead, focus on our (undeniable) problems (great ≠ perfect or problem free) that remain to be, if not solved, at least improved.

If you can choose, and you can, “Choose Happy.” Only you can make that choice. Choose wisely.

P.S. Note well, please, that just because something is not YOUR problem does not mean it’s not A problem.                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                           -30- 

The Power of a Word

Despite the recommendations of so many people I respect, I’ve never spent much time listening to NPR, at least in part because its content is often a little highbrow for me. The other problem: every time I tune it in, (and the only place I really listen to the radio is in the car) the somnambulant voices of most of the hosts make driving even more hazardous for me (and others) than usual.

But the hyper-agitating Rush Limbaugh carries its own dangers, because I reflexively start slapping the radio presets when I hear him ranting, desperate for any other station, so there’s no telling what comes over the speakers. That’s what happened a couple days ago as an NPR conversation filled the car on my way to my (almost) monthly friendship-maintenance luncheon with Norm Berkowtiz. The interview caught my attention to the point that I sat in the parking lot of the restaurant (I was early) to hear the end of it.

Thus it was that NPR was still on as I started my return trip home and why my perception of something I had taught for decades changed forever — slavery.

What caught me, and what I hope catches you, is how a simple change in terminology can alter your whole perception of something that you’ve “known,” at least interllectually, since grade school or earlier. The artist being interviewed talked about how she is working to alter her language, exchanging “enslaved person” for the word “slave.” It shocked me how much difference such a simple substitution made in the way I viewed slavery. Using the term “slave” not only sanitizes the term, but also at least discounts, if not completely erases, the humanity of the person in bondage.

I found myself wishing I had had heard this while I was still teaching; but I find it so profound I feel the need to share it now. And why I’m tagging those connected to the teachng of American history.

Language matters.