Turning Lemons Into Lemonade; Making America Greater

EVERYONE IN THE WORLD, except perhaps those who have been hiking the Appalachian trail for the past two and a half years, has long since become familiar with those iconic bright red MAGA ball caps, which are not associated with any baseball team, but rather, with Donald Trump's political career and his millions of loyal followers. And just as those who adore Trump adore the ball caps, the caps are every bi as repugnant to those who detest the president as is the president himself, at least, almost. Such people need have no hatred nor anxiety. for these people, the message is; not to worry, incorporate, coopt. It is a time tested, true blue tactic. when during the American was of independence from Great Britain the British and their American allies, of whom there were many, belittled the revolutionaries as ill mannered uncultured bumpkins by singing the disparaging tune "Yankee Doodle", the yanks themselves began singing it. they made it their own, and the term "Yankee" which originally meant both a sailor responsible for hoisting sails and an American lower class worker, became in America a term not of derision, but of veneration. To this day Americans are known as "yankees" in many parts of the world, and at home, the word has essentially positive connotations, except among those who happen to hate a certain historically successful baseball team, a team named after sail hoisting sailors. We return to red ball caps. To progressives, and to thoughtful people with some measure of historical knowledge, the expression "make America great again" is at best meaningless, at worst, a lie. it is, if nothing else, an expression of the true conservative spirit. America was once geat, in the halcyon, revered past, no longer is, but can be once again. reverence for the past,a longing to return to it, a reverence for tradition, pure conservatism. Also, pure nonsense. Here's why. If America has ever been great, if America has always been great, it still is. Nothing has happened recently to change that, to remove her greatness. Conversely, if America is not great now, then she never has been, because, by all fundamental measurements, America is basically the same as always. If anything, America has improved. Higher levels of education, better health, longer lives, more prosperous citizens, greater social equality, and, notwithstanding our current enormous degree of economic inequality, economic inequality has throughout much of American history been a persistent feature of American economic life. the most reasonable conclusion is that America is great in some ways, and not so great in others. America, a complicated mixed bag of greatness and shortcomings. The truth, as usual, is many shades of grey. Back to the ball caps. Humility is, in most quarters, considered a virtue, while pride and arrogance are not. let us assume for the sake of common sense that whatever it is about America that is already great need only be left alone, and that our duty as patriotic citizens is to address those areas in which American is not great, and probably has never been great, and to make them great. The appropriate message on the ball caps then becomes "make America Great." Make America more prosperous for more people by ending poverty, homelessness, and unemployment. Make america great by leading the world in addressing and finding and implementing solutions for climate change. Make america great by curtailing its career as an aggressive imperialistic power bent on remaking the world in its own image, for the purpose of enhancing the power and prosperity of its corporations. Make America great by taking control of the country away from the billionaire corporate oligarchs who have long owned and controlled it, and giving control to to people, who have never before had any real power in the United States, but could, for the first time, with sufficient political and economic reform. Make America great by ending, once and for all, racism, sexism, and all other manner of social and economic inequality. Make america great by ending disease and hunger. And perhaps most importantly of all,make America great by renewing our commitment to education as all levels, and our commitment to the advance of science, and by ending the all too pervasive contempt for and rejection of science demonstrated by those who oppose vaccinations and those who deny the reality of climate change of the human made kind. The list is endless. And, since we wish to be confident and optimistic as well as humble, our ball caps could say; 'make America Greater". And while we're at it, why not vary the color scheme a bit. Caps can come in all colors. there are a billion shades of red. Why not use blue too? Making America greater is a bipartisan project. May all good citizens come forth, with their caps of many colors, proclaiming the positive, hopeful message: Make America Greater (MAG).