I have persuaded myself to write about this MAGA thing. It is a curiosity to me. A curiosity and a serious nuisance. A ‘dog whistle’ of the highest order. ‘Make America Great Again’! What the hell? Though it sounds innocent enough. There is nothing of course wrong with the Idea. We would all like to Make America Great. Or Great-er. We are all on board with that. I would say that we have a consensus on that. Yessiree! MAG! Woo-hoo! Let’s do it. No argument from me.
The word I quibble with is ‘Again’. Is there a specific time period that the proponents of this concept are trying to dial back to? Exactly which part of our history are we trying to reproduce, to bring back Again? We have had some good parts and some not-so-good parts. Parts to be proud of, and parts that were downright shameful.
And ‘Great’ for whom? As I see it, that is the sticky part of the question. The Rich and White Men parts of this country have had, more or less, nothing but Great parts. It is the rest of the population which has gotten less than a square deal for much of our history. And I’m not sure the MAGA crowd has any intention to make it any more favorable for them in the theoretical future.
So when was the ‘Again’ that we are trying to get back to? Given what I know about our current populace, we are not great students of History. We were bored by it in school as it did not pertain directly to us. At that moment. It was not gas in our tanks or a date on Friday night, so we didn’t really pay too much attention. Therefore, ‘history’ for many of us is mostly what we can recall before yesterday morning. Consequently, we are probably not looking to resettle back beyond our own timelines. It is, I am assuming, a pretty short historical horizon.
And given the ages of those who likely came up with this anagram and who have promoted it endlessly and shamelessly, I am going to guess that what they really mean to say is: “Make America 1956 Again”. Give or take.
So, what was it that would make those years so attractive to so many of us. What was it about that time period that would make us equate it with ‘Great’? Fortunately, I am a scholar of that time period. Well qualified to expound upon many aspects of life at that time. What exactly do the red-hat folks want to go back to?
For one thing, Jim Crow was still in place in much of the country. Black folks in most parts of the US, particularly though in the South, ‘knew their place’. White folks had little to fear from them as the constabularies, police, politicians, Officers of the Law and Secret Societies, in one form or another, kept a lid on the colored parts of town and made sure that they only robbed or killed each other. This was mostly an acceptable situation in the more respectable parts of town.
Segregation, I might point out, was a system that worked well for a sizable portion of the population. {The same could be said for Slavery, of course, but the MAGA crowd knows little of the inglorious parts of our History. Doesn’t intend to know much. And they seem determined that the next generations should likewise know little. Thus the attempts to take over school boards throughout the Country and focus only on the smiley-faced portions of our History. Don’t want to rile up the Natives.} It was a two-tiered system in which the Negro tier supplied the upper tier with both cheap labor and a sense of superiority. If one is inclined to believe that that was the way God intended it, 1956 would be the ‘good ol’ days’ and a desirable terminus to Make America Great--Again.
The Voting Rights Act had yet to be signed then so a minority of the population could effectively manipulate the majority. If you or your ideas are unpopular with the voting population, this is a desirable state of affairs. And if one gives even a cursory examination of the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Project (which, regardless of how much they try to deny it, is the MAGA Bible) one can see that this is exactly what the writers of that document have in mind. The Haves, a decided minority, remain unregulated and receive all the benefits of a Free Society while paying a fraction of the costs. AND, they can create loopholes which will allow them to change the System as it behooves them. AND, they can install a succession of Judges who agree with them and ignore the Law. Separate, yes, but hardly Equal. And the Have Nots fall further behind.
But I digress. The Desegregation of Public Schools, which led to school bussing, followed in the years after 1956, which led to the upsetting of a lot of neighborhood apple carts. So the MAGA mob would of course want to go back to the time before all that messiness and inconvenience of School Bussing, before ‘Diversity’ became a watchword, before ‘Equity’ became desirable, before ‘Inclusion’ became a National goal. And well before ‘Black Lives Matter’ became a battle cry. One could argue, I suppose, that America was “Great” back then. It just wasn’t ‘Great’ for everybody. Only a certain few. And the certain few want it BACK that way!
In the 50s, the Christian and Catholic churches and schools were still full. The concept of God and how to worship “Him” was shared by most everyone. And I would concede that a homogeneous National belief system was a comfortable arrangement. If we all believe in the same Supreme Being, things are generally more harmonious.
The problem is that most of America (and much of the World) has moved on from that God. This Universal God and “His” religions became less and less relevant as people, starting, one could say, in the mid-50s, began to realize that “He” sounded more and more like a Man-made idea, a created control mechanism. A Deity Who mirrored the agenda of whoever was in Power. And Who was more than a little sexist.
The world got somehow bigger in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. There was an ugly war that exposed a side of America that we had not seen before. Simultaneously, the God who carried our questionable banner was revealed as little more than a tarnished Wizard. A Nationalist Figurehead. OTHER Gods, or even NO Gods, presented themselves as options. This continues as we speak and is a messy proposition and has created nasty fissures. So to find an America they consider Great again, they propose to go back BEFORE the 60s. To a time when we worshipped mindlessly the way our parents and grandparents had worshipped. It could even be mandated. That would be GREAT, eh!
Also, we need to go back to the time before homosexuality existed. Which is to say when Gays and Lesbians began coming out of the closet. Which would be about ’56, depending on geographical locations. This was a comfortable time for many of us as we could just make fun of ‘sissies’ and dykes, feel superior, beat them up and discriminate against them without fear of reprisal. Oh, yeah! What a Great time!
And this issue of ‘Trans’, which of course is medically complex, psychologically complicated and philosophically thorny, did not exist back then. As far as most of us knew. So it would certainly be a prime Destination Era for those whose brains have difficulty wrapping themselves around nuanced questions.
In 1956, without Trans people to fear, there were no bathroom issues. There were only three kinds back then—His, Hers and Colored. Life was so much simpler. And there really was no such thing as Women’s Sports. So that was convenient. And also apparently ‘Great’. Yeah, let’s do it! Back to then!
And this is of course not even considering the question of ‘immigrants’ in 1956. Most of them were European and of similar bloodlines to those in Power at the time. So “poisoning the blood of our Country” was obviously not be as big of a concern as it apparently is now. The brown-skinned immigrants were mostly baseball players and fruit-pickers. We found them entertaining and useful.
And in any case, the same Jim Crow laws which governed the Negroes also governed the Mexicans. So the situation was under control. And additionally, when the poll numbers started to sag, politicians could still blame them for all their legislative and economic failures. Yowzah, 1956! It was the best of all Worlds!
So, it is clear to me that the MAGA pack is nostalgic for a time when we could discriminate indiscriminately and when substantial parts of the population were oppressed in the service of the more powerful. When this was OK! When this was Legal! And they can smell it.
Just one more election. Intimidate, distract and disqualify enough voters, then get rid of a few messy bits of ‘woke’ legislation, reverse some more established court decisions, and Voila! Things could return to the way they were in 1956. Not quite The Rapture, but close enough.
But not this time, MAGA Hats. Although the path is unclear, we understand the past is not the answer. Your scheme is unraveling. We are not going back!
VOTE!
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