Tag: crime

Make America Great Again:  What Does it Mean?

I was recently asked a question that I had never really given much thought to.  I had mentioned to a friend that the reactions to my “Make America Great Again” hat have been extremely positive this year.  Whenever I go out with the hat on, there are five to ten “I like your hat” comments from people.  My friend then asked me, “What do you mean by Make America Great Again?  When do you want to go back to that was so great?”  I immediately knew where he was going.  You see, my friend is black.  America does not have the best record when it comes to how black people have been treated in the past.  Until the 1860’s, Democrats thought black people were inferior, so they enslaved them.  Until the 1960’s, Democrats thought black people were inferior, so they segregated them.  Now, Democrats think black people are inferior, so they push lower standards for them through affirmative action and DEI.

As you can see, you have to look at what people actually mean by the slogan to really understand it.  Obviously, it does not mean that we want to go back to slavery or segregation.  When my friend asked me, I answered that it is not about that at all, but when I tried to explain what it is about, I had trouble putting it into words.  Since then, I have been thinking about what we mean by “Make America Great Again.”  When you look at it from the right perspective, it really is simpler than it seems.

First, you have to realize that the slogan “Make America Great Again” implies that things have gone wrong in our country.  If you can agree to that fact, the rest of the explanation falls easily into place.  My friend who asked the question would be the first to say that our country has gone off the rails.  When we say, “Make America Great Again,” we do not mean that we want to bring back failures from the past.  We fixed slavery.  We fixed segregation.  Those bad things should be left in the past.  The things we want to bring back are the good things that have gone awry.

Most of us can acknowledge that our country has some major issues.  By looking at those problems, we can fill in the blanks of what needs to be made great again.  Here are some of the obvious ones:

  • We used to be able to afford to buy a meal for the family at a local drive-thru restaurant.  Now, inflation has made food (and almost everything else) exorbitantly expensive.  Making America Great Again means making our money worth more and our lives affordable again.
  • People used to strive for the American Dream.  They wanted to start a successful business and make enough money to buy a house and provide for their family.  Now, government regulations and excessive taxes have made it nearly impossible to run a successful business.  Making America Great Again means bringing back the opportunity to reach the American Dream.
  • We used to fight crime, support our police, and prosecute criminals so that we could live in relative safety.  Now, we make major crimes into misdemeanors, we unfairly slander and try to defund our police, and we let criminals get away with murder, sometimes literally.  We even make it easy for criminals and terrorists from other countries to enter our country illegally.  Making America Great Again means taking criminals off our streets and securing our borders so we can be safe again.
  • We used to have both major parties agree when it came to supporting our greatest ally, Israel.  In fact, Harry Truman, a Democrat, was the president who pushed for the creation of modern Israel.  Now, we have people in our streets shouting “Death to Israel and death to America!”  We have Democrats walking out of speeches by the Israeli Prime Minister and trying to block military aid to Israel.  Making America Great Again means standing with Israel.
  • We used to have something called comedy.  Movies and television shows were made with jokes that were funny.  You could make jokes about being gay, race, disabled people, and more.  Now, people are overly sensitive and are told to feel offended about everything.  We hear things like, “That movie hasn’t aged well.”  (If you hear that, it is probably a funny movie that you should watch.)  Comedians are criticized and sometimes blackballed for making jokes.  Making America Great Again means being less sensitive, defending comedians, and making America funny again.
  • In the past, most people on both sides loved God and wanted to please Him.  Now, Christians are slandered as bigots for holding mainstream Christian beliefs.  Making America Great Again means praying and advocating for a religious revival and a turning back to God by our nation. 
  • We used to have sports for both men and women to compete.  Now, men can say they identify as a woman and compete in women’s sports.  Making America Great Again means recognizing that men are different than women and should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

This is in no way a complete list, but it is a taste of what we mean by “Make America Great Again.”  It does not mean that America was ever a perfect place, but it does mean that many things have declined and should be repaired.  To make an analogy, say that ten years ago your house had a leaky roof, and you got it repaired.  Now, your plumbing has a broken pipe and the house has flooded.  If you said, “I want to make my house great again,” would that mean you want to go back to when you had a leaky roof?  Of course not.  It means you want to fix the broken pipe that is causing problems now.   Just like that, “Make America Great Again” does not mean that we want to bring back problems from the past.  It means we want to repair the problems that we have now.  Now, let’s get to work and “Make America Great Again!”

Imagine: Crime and Punishment in Our Leftist Utopia

In 1971, John Lennon wrote the iconic song, Imagine, about his dreams of a leftist utopian world with no religion, countries, or possessions.  The song is beautiful, but as many wise conservatives have explained, terribly blind to the horrors its prescriptions would lead to.

We are now at a point in our country where the left is trying to pitch new ideas to build their utopian society.  This time they want to change how we deal with law and order.  Once again, their views are naïve and dangerous at best.  A great way to imagine the ideas of the left in practice is to take a look at a story and compare how it would play out using their positions as opposed to how a conservative thinks it should happen.  First, let’s tell the story with a conservative vision.

Michelle is walking home one night.  Suddenly, out of the shadows, a large man grabs her and drags her into a dark alley.  She struggles and manages to pull the gun she carries from her purse.  Bang!  She shoots the man dead.  Shaken, she calls the police.  They arrive at the scene and follow the evidence, which corroborates Michelle’s story.  The next day there is a story on the news about the brave girl who fought off an attacker.

Now, let’s look at the same story in the fanciful world of the left.

Michelle is walking home one night, thinking about how wonderful life is now that her city disbanded the police force.  Sure, there have been some minor problems, like a precipitous rise in the murder rate.  And yes, the murder rate in the black community has quadrupled, but that’s a small price to pay to save black lives.

Suddenly, out of the shadows, a large man grabs her and drags her into a dark alley.  As she struggles, she has the vile thought that it would be nice if she had a gun now, but she quickly remembers how bad guns are and why the government banned them.  Fortunately, out of the corner of her eye she sees a whiskey bottle that must have been left in the alley by one of the many homeless people who had flocked to the city since they began their program to help the homeless.  Michelle grabs the bottle and swings as hard as she can, smashing it over the man’s head.  Shaken, she checks his pulse.  Dead. 

“It’s ok,” she thinks, not because the evidence would exonerate her of course, because that’s beside the point.  She is a woman and you have to believe all women unless they accuse a Democrat presidential nominee.  As she pulls out her phone to call the coroner to come get the body, the light from the device gives her a closer look at the deceased, and a look of horror comes over her face.  He is black!  The realization hits her that she is not the victim, but instead a racist and a murderer.

Michelle breaks down in tears.  “How could I have not seen the signs?” she cries.  “I used to like Drew Brees and he had the audacity to say that people should respect the flag.  I am a modern day Bull Connor!” 

Feeling guilty and dejected, Michelle goes to the former police station, now the Office of Social Justice, and tells them what happened.  The official is shocked at her bigotry and tells her that they are going to throw the book at her.  “Oh no!” she exclaims.  “But you outlawed the death penalty!  Are you going to send me to prison?” 

“Of course not,” he responds.  “Prisons are draconian and punitive.  We only use those for people who continue to think differently than they should.  You will be sent to a conformity school, where you can relearn the right things to think.”

The next day the leading story in the news reads, “Unarmed Black Man Killed by White Woman.”

There you have a look at how crime and punishment would work in our parallel universes.  I should add a disclaimer here because people will twist the meaning.  I am in no way conflating this story with Derek Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  What he did was wrong and he deserves to be punished, but not because of race; because of the facts.  The point of the story was that justice based on evidence yields much different results than “social justice” based on skin color.  There is no reason for thousands to take to the streets in protest of something that we already agree on, that racism is bad and people should be treated fairly regardless of skin color.  Too bad John Lennon didn’t imagine people being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.  I think somebody else did, though.  Imagine that.