Make America Great Again - When Was America Great?

(Asking for Everyone Else)

A Slogan Looking for a Time Machine

"Make America Great Again."Simple. Punchy. Repetitive, like a nursery rhyme or a drumbeat to the chant of USA! USA!...

But pause for a moment - just a moment - and ask: When exactly was America great?

And, more importantly - great for whom?

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam is a well-known symbol of the United States, usually shown as a tall, thin man with a white beard and a tall hat, dressed in clothes featuring the colours of the American flag. It symbolises the U.S. federal government or the nation as a whole. 

Great for whom?

It turns out the answer depends entirely on who's remembering- and who's conveniently forgotten.

The MAGA Myth: Nostalgia Without Memory

The slogan wasn’t invented by Donald Trump, despite the red hats and booming rallies. Richard Nixon flirted with it in 1968. Ronald Reagan tried a softer version in 1980. Each time it resurfaced, it carried the same unspoken message:Things were better before... for people like you.

But look past the misty sentimentalism, and the "good old days" start to look a lot grimmer:

• If you were Chinese, you were probably laying railroad tracks under deadly conditions.

• If you were Irish, you were "No Dogs, No Irish" unwelcome.

• If you were Black, you were living through slavery, segregation, or systemic racism.

• If you were Native American, you were being pushed off your land - or wiped out.

• If you were a woman, you could expect no vote, no property rights, no voice.

• If you were Mexican-American, you might find your farm, your labour, and your future stripped away.

In short: America was only "great" for a very narrow slice of the population.

Everyone else was fighting - sometimes literally - just to survive.

The Comfort of Imaginary Pastures

"Make America Great Again" taps into a very human instinct: nostalgia. A yearning for a golden time when life seemed simpler, safer, and somehow "better."

But nostalgia is a trickster.It edits out the queues for food rations, the polio outbreaks, the factory accidents, the segregated buses.It scrubs the dirt off history and leaves behind a glossy, Instagram-filtered version of the past.

The greatness being invoked isn't about historical facts - it's about feelings.Specifically: the feeling of being on top.

And when people feel that their status, wealth, or cultural dominance is slipping, nostalgia becomes weaponised.It becomes a wall, a shield, and a battle cry.

Greatness Has Always Been a Work-in-Progress

The real story of America (and, let’s be honest, Britain too) is not a tale of unbroken greatness.It’s a messy, beautiful, brutal wrestling match between ideals and realities:

• Freedom proclaimed... while millions were enslaved.

• Equality promised... but only for some.

• Opportunity shouted from the rooftops... while doors slammed shut for most.

When America has been truly great, it wasn’t because it looked backward.It was because it dared to move forward - painfully, slowly, imperfectly.

The fight for civil rights, the right to vote, the right to live free - that is greatness.Not nostalgia. Not selective memory.

The Right to Read - Not Just Given, but Fought For

Let’s not kid ourselves - not everyone got a fair shot at “building” America.

While immigrants dug railways and ran corner shops, African Americans, especially in the South, were locked out of even the most basic tools of social mobility. Including books.

Yes, Andrew Carnegie funded thousands of public libraries. But in the Jim Crow South, they were whites-only. Black communities had to petition for access, build their own, or do without.

In Louisville, Kentucky, the first “coloured branch” of a public library opened in 1905 - with its own staff, its own rules, and its own door. That was considered progress.

In Pittsburgh, Carnegie’s own city, African Americans weren’t allowed in until 1923.

Let that sink in. America - land of opportunity - where people were still asking permission to borrow a book.

So when we talk about greatness, let’s remember: it wasn’t just forged in steel and sweat, but in resistance. In every hand that reached for a book someone said they couldn’t have it.

So - When Was America Great?

Answer: America has been great in moments - but not because of myth, and never for everyone.

Real greatness lies ahead, not behind.It lies in living up to the promises, not just polishing the slogans.

If we're serious about greatness - real, honest, all-inclusive greatness - maybe the better motto would be:

Make America Great for the First Time.

And that, as they say, would truly be something worth fighting for.

Gazing Into the Crystal Ball of Tariff Wars: Where Does It All End?

Welcome to Tariffland

Imagine a world where tariffs have been slapped on nearly everything: Phones, toys, trainers, TVs, toothbrushes, tap washers.(Yes, even tap washers. The plumbing revolution could be over.)

America, determined to "make things at home" again, faces a rather awkward problem:It doesn't actually make much of this stuff anymore.

So what next? Let’s polish the crystal ball and have a look.

What America Actually Makes

To be fair, the US is still pretty good at making some things:

• Aerospace (Boeing, Lockheed Martin - although parts come from everywhere)

• Weapons (lots of them, oddly enough, and rarely tariffed...)

• High-end machinery (think Caterpillar diggers and medical devices)

• Big agriculture (corn, soybeans, chickens the size of ponies)

• Luxury goods (certain cars, artisan foods (see Megan), boutique craft beer by the swimming pool-load)

  
  

But what about the everyday stuff?

What America Absolutely, Definitely Imports

Here's where things get sticky:The US imports the vast majority of its consumer goods — the everyday, slightly dull things that keep life moving.

• Electronics: iPhones, laptops, monitors (mostly assembled in China, Vietnam, or Mexico)

• Household goods: kettles, blenders, TVs, microwaves, lampshades, you name it.

• Clothing: jeans, trainers, underwear (yes, even your patriotic boxer shorts)

• Toys and games: 80-90% made overseas.

• Furniture: Flat-pack dreams from Vietnam, Malaysia, China.

• Car parts: even "American" cars rely heavily on imported parts.

Disposable nappies (diapers) - a strategic national necessity if ever there was one - are largely reliant on foreign-made plastics, fibres, and machinery.

You can see the looming problem.

What Happens When Tariffs Touch Everything?

1. Prices Rise.Not just a little. A lot. Expect £4 socks to become £12 socks. Expect £15 toys to become £45 toys.(And not better quality - just more expensive.)

2. Manufacturers Move Again.Not back to the USA, but somewhere cheaper. Vietnam, India, Mexico, Bangladesh.Tariffs don't rebuild factories; they just shuffle the game board.

3. Supply Chains Break.If every small part - every chip, every screw, every plastic cap - faces a tariff, companies can’t assemble anything economically.Imagine buying a phone in pieces and snapping it together with tweezers.

4. Shortages Hit.Not just TVs and trainers - essentials too. Medical supplies, school textbooks, ball bearings, electrical cables.

5. Inflation Gallops.And no amount of chanting "USA! USA!" will fill the shelves.

The Duchess of Sussex Will Not Save Us (With Jam)

Perhaps a bright spot? The Duchess of Sussex is reportedly making artisanal jam.

Small batches. Hand-crafted. Lovingly stirred.

Very admirable - but not exactly scalable for the 330 million Americans who might soon be bartering preserves for phone chargers.

Unless Meghan plans to open 5,000 jam factories overnight (with locally sourced jars, labels, and fruit not affected by drought, tariffs, or labour shortages), I’m afraid homemade jam is unlikely to offset the crisis in disposable nappies and television sets.

Still. It’s something. And it might taste better than the political messaging.

A Strange Irony

In short: The world's most famous "American" cultural export - Hollywood - is increasingly made by British hands, on British soil, with British brains.

Meanwhile, American politicians shout about "bringing manufacturing home" and "keeping jobs local," while their biggest cultural exports quietly keep moving overseas to save money and maintain quality....to be continued.