What does “back to the future” mean? It seems to mean that the future will be something that we have already experienced.
What does “Make America Great Again” mean? It implies that sometime in the past our country was better and that we should return to that time. It’s a desire to go back to a time when things were simpler and more American, like apple pie. It’s a hint that we’re going to go backward to a time you will like. It’s a dog whistle to racists that we’ll go back to a time when white supremacists ruled the roost and when prejudice was the accepted lifestyle in America. The Trump campaign didn’t invent MAGA. During the Woodrow Wilson presidential campaign in 1916 we had the “America First” movement which appealed to isolationism and was racist. Ronald Reagan used that term MAGA as part of his presidential campaign in 1980. Bill Clinton used that phrase in his inaugural speech in 1991, but he meant that he would like to see us progress socially, educationally, and economically. Not retrogress!
MAGA means “Let’s go back to the good old days”.
How far back are these “good old days”?
In 1776 we had slavery, and we didn’t have cars or television. Not so great.
In 1857 our beloved Supreme Court rendered the Dred Scott decision declaring that runaway slaves who reached non slave states were “property” and had to be returned to their owners. The Court threw in a little aside, namely that slaves could never become citizens. Not such a great time.
In 1926 a huge number of Americans belonged to the Ku Klux Klan. They hated blacks and jews and all “foreigners.” That year they flexed their political muscles by marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. in their white sheets and their pointed hats. Not a good time for America.
What about the times of World War I and World War II? No – that time is out because Mr. Trump called our war heroes “fools and suckers,” Did you know that not one black soldier was awarded the Medal of Honor during or shortly after those wars? It was clearly a racist inspired oversight, and the military was totally segregated until 1948.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the Trump organization is dog-whistling us back to the 50’s.
They believe that life was simpler and better then. Or was it? We were living under the “separate, but equal” decision of our Supreme Court. I think that it’s spelled out in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson. It said that states could compel racial segregation provided the black people were treated equally. Thus, they could have their own schools, restaurants, hotels, sections in the bus and it all would be just fine. Separate? –very much! Equal? – you must be kidding. Awful! I remember in the 50’s, black citizens being compelled to move off the sidewalk and into the street when white folks walked by. Blacks had to be out of the city of Miami Beach by sunset. The black people were not allowed in “white” bathrooms, restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, housing developments, or swimming pools. In Florida a marriage was null and void if a white person married someone with one eighth black genes. There was a lynching in Hollywood, Florida in 1935, but in 1955 we had little fourteen-year-old Emmitt Till who whistled at a white lady in the State of Mississippi and was lynched! A black man rarely called a white man by his first name and never, ever touched a white woman. The separate but equal Plessy ruling was the law of the land for over fifty years. Not good times for America.
In the 50’s the black segregated schools were underfunded and totally inadequate. This was a way of keeping the black people uneducated and in menial jobs with little money. It wasn’t the great American dream. Okay- You’re white and this situation doesn’t apply to you. As a racist it’s just the way you want it, but many, many of us are not proud of Jim Crow racial hatred and blatant Anti-Semitism. Oh yes- Jews were not admitted to many hotels, resorts, golf and tennis clubs, prep schools, colleges too. We haven’t talked about jobs. No blacks or Jews had much of a chance for great success in the rarified corporate world. Very few of the top law firms would hire a Jew or a woman. Just ask Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Businesswomen? Forget about it. I can’t think of a woman bank president or corporate CEO during the 50’s. Women were unable to own their own real estate, couldn’t borrow money at the bank and needed their husband’s permission for many activities.
What else? We didn’t have color TVs. There were no computers, cell phones, jet planes, no Medicare, Medicaid, or Obamacare. There was little air conditioning, and the movies and television shows demeaned blacks, women, jews and foreigners. How many blacks or Jews are depicted in the “Andy Griffith Show” or “Father Knows Best” or were featured on the “Kate Smith Hour”?
What about the present? I can now count thirteen safety net programs in the federal government. Certainly, it’s not as bad as the past. Take a good look at what Trump is suggesting. Go back to what? Don’t believe these gas lighters. Throw your MAGA hat in the garbage!
Oh well- things will be better in the future. Less inflation… or will they? What if Mr. Trump is elected? What will happen to you? What will happen to America? Will it be the “good old days”? Hang around and I’ll give you a glimpse.
GOD BLESS OUR WAR HEROES AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!