MAGA: A Different Perspective

Some people associate the acronym MAGA with President Donald J. Trump (PDJT). Those with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) are infuriated by the mere sight of MAGA on a ball cap. Yet, the idea of trying to make America great again is not actually Trump-centric. It speaks of a yearning for something perceived to be better than what we have today.

Certainly, the Greatest Generation (WWII), the Silent Generation (born shortly before WWII) and the Baby Boomer Generation (1946-1964), experienced an America at its economic and world-power zenith. But, since 2009, we have seen a diminution of American power and influence along with a number of economic ups and downs.

But many Americans remember good times when families were larger and got together more often to celebrate the traditional holidays, be they Christian, Jewish, or whatever. Farm families needed to be larger to do the back-breaking labor, meaning lots of children. Recent decades of agricultural mechanization (fewer farmers) and increased urbanization (fewer children) account for smaller families. But still, there is a yearning for Norman Rockwell’s America.

Some yearn for the music of Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, or Tony Bennett with lyrics that spoke to universal sentiments, supported by orchestras that did not damage eardrums. Or, how about a Justice system that discourages law-breaking and encourages law enforcement? What a concept!.

Some revere art that displays real skill with light, with perspective, with colors, with the technique of a Michelangelo or the Dutch Masters instead of pieces of canvas over which someone dribbled the contents of their left-over paint cans.

How about radio and TV humor that could be enjoyed by families sitting around the radio or the TV that was actually funny without dipping down into smut or four-letter words. Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly, Abbot and Costello, Our Miss Brooks, Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, Tim Conway, Harvey Kornman, and Carol Burnett come to mind, to mention only a few.

How about Hollywood movies such as Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Stagecoach, Singin’ in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, An American in Paris, or North by North West? There used to be good movies before Hollywood dissolved into drugs and the underside of human depravity.

Or, how about those Broadway musicals such as: My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Camelot, Oklahoma!, The King and I, and South Pacific?

Few, except the military-industrial complex and the neo-cons, yearn for the endless wars that marked the 20th Century and the first quarter of the 21st Century. So, for many, MAGA simply means a return to a much gentler, simpler past that may not have existed exactly as they remember it today but it stills warms hearts and makes us proud to have played a part in an American past that seems much better than the America of today.

As for the future, the geographical and demographic deck is still stacked in favor of America’s future while Russia and Red China face dismal demographic prospects that could cause them to become failed states and split apart.

Suggested reading: The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder by Peter Zeihan, 2014.

©2023. William Hamilton. All rights reserved.

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