The Patriot Post® · Make America Great Again

Author’s Note: The following was adapted using reflections on America submitted by Patriot Post readers.

“Make America Great Again” is a phrase that has been likened to calls for segregation and the establishment of a white ethnostate. When I first heard this phrase, I, too, thought it was problematic. As a left-leaning sixth grader who feared the election of the “bigot” Donald Trump, I had internalized both the Left and the Establishment Right’s criticism of MAGA. When my sixth- and seventh-grade peers repeated Trump’s signature comment, I would smartly retort, “America was never great given its history of discrimination and oppression” (the Left’s criticism), or I’d assert, “America was always great given its exceptional foundational ideals” (the Establishment Right’s criticism).

To me, this was the greatest comeback I could provide to my MAGA peers. But little did I know about what this phrase actually meant to millions of Americans. Granted, my conservative peers did not fully understand it — they were just repeating it because their parents supported the Trump campaign. But what I have learned since my days as a Bernie Sanders-supporting middle schooler is that MAGA was far from a racist, bigoted, or anti-American chant — it represents a longing for a safer, simpler time. A time when one could “walk unescorted to school, about three-quarters of a mile from home” with “no worries regarding [one’s] safety.” Now, M.L. Decoster, a 77-year-old who had the pleasure of experiencing Portland during the 50s, returns there to have her heart broken, seeing “the city, streets, and parks full of homeless, drug addicts, and vagrants living in their own fifth.”

The desire to “Make America Great Again” is not an endorsement of white supremacy or racial hierarchies, as some critics suggest, nor is it entirely about a rigid adherence to the ideological principles of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, which many conservatives champion. Instead, this aspiration reflects a broader and more nuanced desire to recover a sense of national community and economic prosperity, focusing on diverse economic, social, and cultural elements that extend beyond simple political ideologies or racial narratives.

To the Americans who grew up in the 1940s and ‘50s, there was something magical about that time. To J. Musgrave, who spent her first decade in South Pasadena, California, “time unrolled in a slow curve that gave me the space to just enjoy what it offered.” The niceties Musgrave enjoyed included buying 10 Hershey bars or 10 Little Lulu comics for the price of one half-dollar.

But beyond the utility of having a currency that could actually buy stuff, reading about life during the '40s and '50s reveals something even more beautiful. Prior to the Sexual Revolution and Civil Rights regime, which overstepped its mandate of ending de-jure racism, America was experiencing what A. Buss calls “happy days.” Life for Buss in a Minnesota suburb was characterized by “complete safety, family values, and church every Sunday.” In fact, Buss remembers how her family never locked their doors “because the milkman needed to walk in and put their milk, butter, and cottage cheese in the fridge.”

Another common theme of life in the mid-1900s was a pervasive sense of safety, comfort, and community. This spirit of communal responsibility is epitomized by the behavior observed in grocery store parking lots. As G.C. Ritz notes, “In generations past, most people put their shopping carts into the nearest corral,” whereas today, “shopping carts are left just one or two parking spots away from the cart corral.” This shift from a simple act of courtesy to neglect highlights the transition from a collective commitment to the community to a narrow, hyper-individualistic focus on oneself.

The America many long for is also the one R. Musser grew up during the 1930s and '40s. In Cucamonga, California, Musser remembers the “freedom to walk or ride horses for miles with no problem” across a landscape covered by brush and filled with basins from which you could “collect runoff from nearby mountains.” Sadly, this landscape, once full of orange and lemon orchards, has been replaced by “houses, more houses, and malls.” Now, Musser must go miles just to do “any of the things [he] enjoyed when young.”

Notably absent from many reflections on life in America that I have read was a direct mention of our Constitution or Declaration of Independence. When our Founding principles were referenced, it was usually in a broader, more abstract sense. For instance, nostalgic recollections of America’s Golden Days rarely focus on grievances like the existence of a government-controlled healthcare system or the expansion of federal agencies. Instead, those who long for a return to America’s former glory often think of liberty and freedom in relative terms. They reminisce about a time they perceive as “freer,” though this sense of freedom is not tied to specific policies or the strict limits of government authority. Their reflections suggest that America’s greatness stemmed from a broader, more holistic sense of community, stability, and prosperity that transcended the details of governmental structure or individual liberties as outlined in our Founding documents. Yes, ideology has always been a part of our nation’s greatness, but not the sole component. These reflections reveal that America’s greatness was also rooted in the traditional sense of nationhood, where the country was viewed as an extended family, bound not just by laws and borders but by shared values and experiences. This collective sentiment was so profound that A. Sanford, speaking to a phone pollster, recently identified her ethnicity as “American,” a rare declaration in today’s fragmented and un-American society.

Furthermore, the Bicentennial of America’s Founding illustrates how the love of America’s history and heritage spanned beyond political ideology. According to M. Swartz, Americans were able to look beyond the chaos of Watergate and our Vietnam withdrawal and instead celebrate their nation’s history. Aside from all local parades and celebrations, from 1974 through 1976, CBS aired Bicentennial Minutes, a short segment dedicated to exploring our nation’s past. Learning this was a shock to me. Would American media today dedicate a minute of their programs every day for over two years to revisiting and celebrating America’s past? I think we all know the answer to that question.

Unfortunately, moral laxity has eroded the values and habits that kept American communities safe and neighborhoods clean. Even more importantly, the racial identitarianism and historical revisionism that have taken over mainstream society have made American patriotism a relic of the past that dwindling young Americans experience, according to nationwide polls.

“Make America Great Again” is not a call to reestablish Jim Crow or abolish Social Security and the administrative state. It is a call to reawaken the “mystic chords of memory” Abraham Lincoln described in his first inaugural address. It is clear that these chords still resonate, albeit faintly, in the hearts and minds of those who remember a different America. Sometimes, when I listen closely, I can hear these chords. When I stand for the national anthem, I can hear them. When I watch fireworks on the Fourth of July, I can hear them. And when I read the stories of my readers, who have experienced America in all its greatness, I can hear them.

I just wish my peers could say the same.