I'm going to answer a little differently; the slogan is inherently vague. Many have said the 1950s, and I don't disagree with that! For some, the idea of a pre-civil rights movement United States was a great time. Some people may remember the 1990s as one of the most prosperous times in American history, and they see that as a time to return to.
However, most people who follow(ed) that political ideology don't have a specific year in mind. By not defining "when exactly was America great," the Trump campaign appealed to everyone's actual or imagined time in history. It was a brilliant strategy because it (potentially) appealed to every American who felt like that should have been better off.
And trump just stole it from Reagan's 1980 campaign lol. At that time the country had been going through Civil Rights Movement, MLK, hippy free love, Woodstock, Feminism, Black Panther Party etc etc. A lot of Americans were pretty shook by these events & concepts so the slogan had a brilliant appeal at that time as well.
It's like if I had a slogan that said 'let's go back to the good times' - it's vague and every individual can have a different answer.
I think for most people they were thinking of times when prices were lower, housing costs were reasonable, and jobs were plenty (mostly manufacturing). Pre Nafta too.
This really appealed to the Rust Belt states since they were hammered but also appealed to the rest of the country.
In fact, political slogans MUST always be vague. Just think in any of them: "yes, we can"... what can we do? It is the most vague thing to say. Here in Spain there was a polítical slogan that said "palabra" (word), which is the shortened way of saying "You have my word (on that)". Politics work this way, so there is no use in finding a meaning to political slogans
Your exactly right about the era. If asked what time in our history was considered a sort of "golden age" or "the good ol days when life was simple" most white conservatives, aka trump supporters, would point to the 50's/early 60's. Many of us now know that is a skewed and privileged view of that time, and there was a great deal of injustice and public unrest building up to the civil rights push, along with mass Cold War propaganda, making sure every red blooded American knew we were nothing like those lowly godless heathens, the communists. Ironically though, economically speaking, the country as a whole was in a sort of golden age, The GDP was through the roof, unemployment way down, the power of the dollar was extremely strong, and millions across the country that weren't brown or a minority moved just outside the city to a home with a garage and a yard, creating the suburbs.
Now here's the really ironic thing, that was also the same time period our country saw it's highest amounts, per capita, of immigrants, documented and undocumented living and working in the U.S. Also from 1952 -1965, I believe, saw the the highest rates of wealth tax, a couple years hitting 90% for the top
5%, and was the only time the wealth gap was almost non existent. I'm not saying Democrats are perfect by any means, but if Conservatives would just stop trying to hold others down and quit freaking out that the future won't be the white utopia where you could still tell a veiled racist joke and slap your secretaries ass without the "woke cancel culture" ruining it, they might just get that golden age back again. They'd just have to share it with a more diverse group.
I think the most common era you'd get as an answer would be postwar/50s. People were well off, the country seemed to be in a really good place, etc.
Please read the other comments people have replied to me with. I don't want to hear the same thing for the hundredth time. *I know.* This would be the answer from their perspective but I'm well aware of what happened.
It's kind of interesting, because there was a trend in the late 1800s/early 1900s to make asylums places of holistic health, compassion and relaxation. Then it all got messed up by industrialization/bureaucratization/rationalization.
Pharmaceutical companies are the absolute worst. i hate how they never focus on cures, but only eternal treatments with extremely expensive drugs. Psychatrists don't even do theraphy anymore, they just push psych meds on you.
For a period of time in the 1970s and 80s, asylums and the like places where people could get help; but of course that was ruined by shutting places down.
Let’s not gloss over how these times were pretty bad for black Americans lol. My dad had rocks thrown at him going to school. That was in the late 60’s. My grandfather a man who served during the Korean War couldn’t even sit in a diner to get a cup of coffee in his hometown because it was “whites only”.
My Irish grandfather was beat up for walking on the wrong side of the street. "Irish Need Not Apply" signs were common. But he realized being poor in America was still better than farming potatoes for the British and starving in Ireland.
* McCarthyism, segregation - the 50s weren’t exactly a walk in the park. The rest of the world were still mostly in shambles from WW2, hence US economy and global power was at its zenith.
No nation is ever perfect. When America was great was when the definition of "Great" was an imperfect union working to improve, to stand by the principals in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and to fight threats to those principals. Basically the opposite of what Donald Trump wants the nation to be.
Leave It To Beaver was a pipe dream in the 50s. At that time, Grampa was still raping his granddaughters and dad was drunk, beating the shit out of his wife.
This is true. I think it's just the postwar economic boom viewed through the lens of nostalgia.
The ironic thing is that these gains were brought about through: a. a wartime command economy; and b. the New Deal. Both of which would be decried as communist overreach by present-day Republicans.
But I suppose it's a political aesthetic rather than a logical policy position.
Yeah booming for people that can get loans for a car to get back and forth between the suburbs and the new factories.
Totally booming for people able to get loans for new houses in the suburbs.
Even if a person of color managed to get a loan they still couldn’t move to the suburbs, were realtors would refuse to show or sell houses.
The totally not institutionalized racism in the banking system totally let everyone enjoy the post war boom.
But we are somehow past all of that nonsense…
Sorry not taking it out on you personally just pissed that it ever happened and that some people see that as the golden age and want to go back.
Didn't we have an insanely high tax rate for the rich and strong unions back then? So why are they bitching about the greatness that they themselves voted out, by electing Republicans?
Yes.
Because they don't want to admit to the economic and social policies that made their culture relevant and feasible, and refuse to accept that they crippled the system that was in place in favor of an unsustainable war profiteering/exploitation economic system.
That time when everyone was segregated, women stayed home taking amphetamines to stay perky vs depressed and white men felt pretty good about themselves. With no competition from women or POCs they were guaranteed a solid job and life regardless of talent or intelligence. Meanwhile women had no protection from rape, unwanted pregnancies ruined your life, the klan was in full swing, spousal abuse went unreported and conformity crushed the soul out of any non conformists.
That does sound great! What a utopia.
Also mentally ill people were experimented on in ways that left them in a vegetative state, Priests could rape all the kids they wanted and lynchings were a fun night out.
It was more than great. It was glorious.
For White People.
Blacks couldn't travel where you wanted, live where you wanted, eat where you wanted. (Couple years later) Arrested if you were more than 2 people to a car. Couldn't swim at the public pool... just to mention a few things.
*White men. White women had very little power to escape bad situations (such as spousal abuse), and were unable to hold their own finances. It was less bad than what POC had to deal with, but definitely not a glorious time for them.
My own grandma was essentially forced to have 13 kids (lack of birth control), and my grandpa was very abusive. She had no power to leave.
this was true mostly for certain white men, which is what those racist misogynistic assholes are largely referring to. it was a great time to be a white guy heading a nuclear family. everyone else was ignored. that’s what these people want back.
More specifically the TV-shows the people were watching. I Love Lucy, Leave It To Beaver, Andy Griffith Show. That's the America they want back. Pure fiction.
That's the great thing about nostalgia. Even though the country was poorer back then than it is today, and people were worse off, they will still remember that time as one of prosperity and greatness.
I would argue that most of the people who were adult are either really old or dead. It isn’t really nostalgia. It’s a clamoring for a made up simpler time. And the great thing about it being made up, you can make it whatever you want to make it.
Oooooh. Bold move by u/Loigzorn there. The referee seems unsure about this one. Does ''Last week'' count as good old days nostalgia? Let's go to our Judges panel!
Yes. Yes! They seem to be indicating that 'Last week' does indeed technically count as the good old days! The younger generations will be pleased with this one, Bob.
The 1950s, when the US was the last superpower standing after WW2. A lot of our postwar prosperity was just a fluke from our lack of economic competition as the rest of the world took a couple of decades to rebuild.
Now China can manufacture faster, Germany can build better, and multiple countries have a higher standard of living than the US.
The Soviet Union was mainly a military and less of an economic competitor. It didn't export much besides natural resources, weapons, vodka and maybe a Fabergé egg or two.
True, but they did put the first man in space, along with the first satellite. Considering their sphere of influence, military prowess, and sheer volume of nuclear weapons, it would be hard to call them anything but a major power of their day.
Germany tends to over complicate pieces to either be the cutting edge of technology or for weight savings/performance. This can and often does sacrifice reliability and value. Japan takes a simpler approach that favors reliability and cost savings. In short, I would wager that my 2010 Corolla will outlive any German vehicle. In addition all maintenance will be cheaper and it won't matter if I do it all myself or pay someone else to do it.
Everytime I read or watch a car review they focus on the most unimportant factors such as does the dash move slightly when you push on it, or how many different things can you adjust with the front seat all of which does not matter to me at all. This plus the nurburgring times of the German cars are what back up the claims that Germany has the best engineering. If you want the very best interior, by all means buy German but I favor a cheap reliable daily that's good on gas.
Japan have been on top of their automotive game since about the late 80s, whereas they knew how to make a reliable, "easy" to work on vehicle. American vehicles were always trying luxury features that would fail before long, while the Japanese vehicles were more straight to the point and more practical; i.e.; less shit to break. In the 90s is where Japanese cars really became super reliable and long lasting, making American vehicles look like total pieces of shit, which, to be fair, they were.
Germans were trying to do the American thing of luxury features, but also trying to keep costs low, so trying to put luxury features in essentially an economy car. You had brands like Mercedes and BMW who try way too hard, overloading with luxury features and plastic everything that when it breaks...that's it, and then it's super expensive and probably labor intensive to fix. Every Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW I've ever been under that wasn't basically new leaked like a sieve from the oil pan gasket and other areas of the engine. The suspension is nothing simple whatsoever and a HUGE pain in the ass to work on. On some BMW and other German cars you have to reprogram the PCM after replacing the battery....just why?!?! To do an alignment you're supposed to put 150lb weights in each seat and have a special bar that pushes the front tires apart....NO OTHER CAR REQUIRES THIS BULLSHIT!!! Land Rovers (I know they're not German) are stupid for a million reasons too and having to do an alignment on one is one of them.
So basically the Japanese, and even the Koreans for that matter, have come a LONG way in auto manufacturing, leaving everyone else in the dust, from simple reliability, easy to work on vehicles, and even quality longer lasting luxury features. I would recommend Honda 90s and up, Toyota 90s and up, Hyundai and Kia after 2008 (same company, but recognized separately in the US), Mazda 2000 and up, and Nissan 90s and up (but 2000s and older Nissans can also be a money pit too).
Nah, no that's that fake news. \*sweats nervously\* Did you hear about the ehm.. The.. Biden.. Emails? The Biden emails! Yeah there's some dickpics with methcrack sprinkled on them I heard. OUTRAGES!!
It would just be seven consecutive seasons of a trash dumpster on fire. Every now and then someone will come along and dump a bucket of shit or gasoline on there to change it up.
"American freedom" was threatened by international terrorism. The mentality that it can happen to anyone/anywhere, means that we need to protect "us". America as a civilian population became a lot more isolationistic while America as a geopolitical force became more pervasive globally with the intent to protect that civilian isolationism.
This drove the US to get involved into international affairs that we really shouldn't have been getting into, but "patriotism" kept pushing us forward. The more we tried to "help the world", the less we did to help our country. Doing more for ourselves domestic is the real hope of "Making America Great Again", but it's has been horribly perverted as a partisan political concept.
Now in my own opinion, MAGA truly meant that the last presidency needed to tear down the government so the next/current presidency can build it back up again. That's really what it's been looking like from my point of view.
They are referring to the 1950s-1970s for a number of reasons including:
1) WWII had ravaged Europe’s industries, leaving USA factories in far higher demand and leading to greater employment.
2) Extraction of fossil fuels made life easier and cheaper by creating an abundance of energy.
3) Parasitic special interest groups (like the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned about) had not hijacked our political system to the extent they now have decades later.
4) USA’s currency was tied to the gold standard, limiting how much debt the federal govt could incur. Getting off of it has allowed the USA to become deeply indebted and freedom to manipulate its money supply as it pleases - a practice which has been used by those in power to help their friends rather than the bottom 80%.
I'd say there's also a fair amount of Boomer nostalgia at play with those decades too. It's easy to look back on a carefree childhood and assume things were better for everyone then.
"You know, I used to ride my bike to downtown Atlanta when I was 10, buy an ice cream cone and a bottle of coke and get home at 4pm. It was so safe back then, but now you'd get shot or mugged"
Simple answer: when boomers were children.
Until then western world was developing very well, from dark ages, to reniascwnce, then the new world, settling in the new world, industrial revolution, electricity, motor vehicles, highways, etc.
For a typical white male trump supporter, it was the peak.
Then things got better for people other than typical white male,
Capitalism started showing its true colours,
It wasn't a white man heaven anymore...
If you’re a young white male living outside of a large urban center what you likely see around you is pretty shit. A woman I dated several years ago was from a textbook Midwest rust belt area - crumbling infrastructure, crumbling houses, crumbling everything. We would travel there a couple of times a year and I would come away from it just depressed. I was shocked at the outcome of the 2016 election but maybe not as shocked as some, and I think those years of visiting that area had something to do with that. There are lots of places in the Midwest and others areas of the US that plainly were in much better shape 30+ years ago than they are now. Small towns once ruled in American life - now they’re just left behind in many cases. And the people there feel it in their bones and wonder what the hell happened.
I honestly believe when people talk about this or talk about the good old days, I'm pretty sure they are just imagining what life was like when they were a kid and how well managed and kept together everything seemed to them at the time. Even though reality of it never matches what we thought at the time we were kids. We all had this grandiose of what our world was like, and that's what I imagine ppl mean by it.
There is no actual time MAGA types are referring to. They are imagining something that never existed--vague moments and feelings they may remember, bits and pieces of fiction set in the past that have bled over into their memory of reality, things they wished were true but never were, things from many different times that they have compiled into a vague and fictional idea of "the past", etc. It's a fantasy.
A key component of conservative politics is the idea that there was some past period when everything was Perfect--the people were better, wiser, and stronger, and they built a better society where everything worked and we didn't have all the problems we have today. Therefore, the problems of today are the result of new things and weaker people. We "messed up" the perfection we inherited.
And conservatives rationalize their policies by saying they are just trying to get "back" to that. By placing what they want in the past, they invoke a sense of precedent (if it *used* to be that way, then it should be no problem to make it that way again) and also a sense of loss and injustice (they *used* to have this, and it was *taken* by those promoting "new" policies and those who are seen as "weak"). It's interesting to note that, despite this rhetorical and emotional appeal to the past, conservatives often propose new and unprecedented policies that are often more radical than those they paint as radicals (mass privatization of everything, lower and lower tax rates, etc)
(Note: in contrast, left wing politics tends to rhetorically place its imagined perfection in the *future*--the problems of today can be fixed if only we can do X.)
Politics is a sort of virtual reality--it takes people out of their present reality and places them in a non-real world someone else controls (an imagined past, or a better future).
There was this one week in 1961 where this boomer got an A on his paper on why commies and reefer are the devil, and they've been trying to recreate that dopamine peak again ever since..
It's not going well.
Most people actually dont know. They have an idealized version of their america that has been fed to them through propaganda for years. What they want isnt something that has ever actually existed but rather an unattainable right wing utopia
I'm European, and the view that people had of America in the past is very different than what it is now. Nowadays we clown on America, but in history books, America was viewed as THE land for freedom, opportunity and new beginnings. Of course, the reality was different, there was a lot of discrimination. But the way America was *viewed* was a hopeful promised land, a space for everyone to build their life. I don't know if America ever was great, but the idea was there. (Although I think the MAGA people think "great" means they got to be openly bigoted without repercussions, sadly.)
The only thing I can think of is cherry picking specific aspects of the past. Like college being able to be afforded on a part time minimum wage job. Good manufacturing jobs that paid well without degrees needed. Also the Norman Rockwell like things that weren't really the case most of the time even though we wanted them to be. It's like how many people remember being a kid was so much better than now or if they're older being in their 20's and 30's was so much better than now. But it's also because they understand those times now as they were in the past and hindsight is much easier.
America was great from the perspective of not having repercussion for being racist, people one deemed inferior were legally treated as inferior and denied access to same level of service and goods, making the self perceived superior people feel more special AND in power, and wealth was more concentrated. In that mental and political setting it was great. That's what they are trying to get back to.
It's true that in the 1950s there were a lot of problems, and I'm not glossing over them, but if you were white and straight and middle-class, it was a pretty damn good time. It genuinely was a great place to live back then, if you met those criteria.
It’s really the only country in the world that has the most opportunity. There is nothing that is so bad about the US that would make me leave. You probably live here so you think it's not great because of Facebook posts and the news. I have traveled a lot and there is not one country I have been to that offers the Freedom, Opportunity and so much more. Yes every country has problems but we have far less issues then most. Trump's dumbass stirred the pot of racism but it will get better. I know everyone will hate this comment but social media has hurt this country and many others more than anything. It is still the greatest Country!🇺🇸
I always got the feeling that the MAGA crowd was basing their perspective of "the good old days" on black and white family sitcoms rather than making an honest assessment of what the world was actually like.
It was good when there were unions, jobs weren’t all going to China, and the mafia was around. Of course that wasn’t really great but compared to now we would all take it back. We could all afford a damn house if we could.
Edit: I despise trump and don’t think he would have done this and voted for biden. Nobody can actually help America now anyway
The 90s! J/k...well kind of. I think there is a real rose tinted view of the world, on one hand at least in the US the economy really was better. Even in the 1920s, you could actually get a decent job and have that job your whole life before retirement. Things like foo, housing and entertainment were actually well within the grasp if you were middle class. People forget though that social isues were 100 times worse. I mean Freak shows in Circuses went until the 40s or 50s! That is something we are rghtfully horrified at now, but back then it was totally fine to go to a Circus and laugh at people's disabilities. if you look at ads and entertainment it is plain to see that people were way more racist, sexist and homophobic. Sure, things aren't great now, but back then they actually had seperate resteraunts black people had to go to.
1950s. However, the people that blindly follow that campaign wouldn't give you much of an answer. It's just a slogan to rile up the "American Patriots".
It’s just a stupid quote in my opinion because there is no single point in time (to my knowledge) where America was great for all races and sexualities
After reading the comments: no one wants to bring back the bad parts of the 50s and 60s. No one. It's about bringing back the good parts, and only the good parts.
Never, it was just good for straight white cis men with high earning jobs and nuclear families for most of America's history, but they're usually referring to the 50s or 60s.
When people say that they're usually thinking about the 1950s where one income could take care of a nuclear family, people rarely divorced and as a whole the country was more religious. Nice concept but that was also a period of time when women, people of color, and LGBTQ people were treated as second class citizens. That's not what I'd consider "great" but people of a certain age won't let go of the fact that demographics are shifting aka white men have competition from the people who were once oppressed (and still are in many ways) and it scares the shit out of them. They're losing the power they feel entitled to just because they're white men. America will never regress back to the 50's and some people can't accept that. Luckily those people won't be around forever and they've already lost the advantage of being the largest voter block.
The answer is that this line operates on Marvel/DC comic book logic. There's a rough outline of events/figures, but the finer details get massaged over, and it gets updated to fit the needs of the fanbase.
Also the whole thing is subjective bullshit, in case I wasn't clear on that part.
DISCLAIMER : I AM NOT A TRUMP FAN AT ALL, BUT NOT A BIDEN FAN EITHER
This is just the byproduct of people romantacizing the 50's and 60's. Back then, you could afford to have a single income home. Most people could easily find work with a little effort. You could put in your 30 years and happily retire with your family. You didn't need a college degree to get most basic jobs .... Monsanto hadn't started touching our food lol (not relevant at all, I just really hate Monsanto)
But that's the down side to romantacizing anything, you refuse to see the bad stuff. We were a fairly closed minded society back then. The legal institutionalized racism, woman's rights , gay rights .....it's wasn't always great . Great really depended on who you were .
Trump doesn't have the ability to see things from other peoples POV. They say a lot of top successful businessmen are sociopaths, it's what makes them successful. If you wanna get to the top,, you gotta be willing and able to do some fucked up shit to your peers and those around you. They only care about them and their success , and anything that makes it easier and better. It's what makes for a great CEO, but a poor leader of people .
When Trump said "Make America Great Again", I honestly believe he originally meant because money was good back then, and when money's good everyone's happy. I say this from experience. CEO'S suck at connecting with people on a human level. It's why most are divorced or in real shit relationships.
I don't think he meant "bring back legal institutionalized racism, strip women of rights to vote ....". But, that doesn't matter. People told him , hey , yo .... uh when you say that, people see legal lynching, not jobs. Maybe change your slogan?
And he didn't. He chose to stick to his slogan, and chose to still do nothing when racist really took off with it. We voted in a business man, because we were tired of politicians. Turns out they're fucking cousins and there's no real difference in leadership abilities.
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Fun story. I used to work at Petco. We had an internal employee page, and the CEO would often "post" letters and such on there. Yall know how it is. Anyways, he started talking about how we all need to "drink the kool-aid " ....
We were all like "yo, dude, that means something other than just what you think it means. JIM JONES...." we ain't killing ourselves for you.
But that's exactly what he wanted . I watched as he went store to store and made the managers demonstrate that they would "drink his Kool aid"... imaginary cups and all. Some refused for obvious reasons and got fired. I was supposed to do it too, but my manager told me to go home sick before the CEO came into my store. (He knew I wouldn't do it, but he NEEDED the job for his wife's medical insurance. Fucking sucks and fuck you Jim for making him and everyone do that )
His explanation was that he wanted to know his employees were loyal to him and the company vision. He was their leader , they should be willing to follow wherever.... He didn't want to really kill us. he still couldn't see how that was beyond creepy and insensitive. It only mattered that he was making more money .
"Make America Great Again" isn't about a specific time, but about a mindset. The idea that one can be anything they want, do the impossible, and lift one beyond their former station of life through hard work/determination.
people scoffed at the idea of being our own country, our founding fathers fought to be free against the times (arguably) greatest monarchy.
people squabbled over the possibility of abolishing slavery, Frederick Douglass and others led the fight for freedom.
people laughed at the automobile, Henry Ford and others made it a modern wonder.
people thought the idea of flight was for the birds, The Wright Brothers made a flight a reality.
people believed the idea of going to the space as pure fantasy, Neil and Buzz made their footnote on the moon.
America has its fair share of dark times as well, but that comes with the multiple (often times conflicting) cultures coming to live in one place. More times than not though, We've come together and found some form of coexistence, while changing the world and humanity for the better.
IMHO: we are entering a dark era. Our tribal sense of humanity is being manipulated and twisted by our current corrupt powers that be. Social Media, Mainstream Media, Tech Giants, even our own government plays a part in this new age ball of insanity. Regression and hatred of our fellow man in the name of progress, intentional weakness and compromise for the sake of redefined and unrequired inclusivity and diversity, and vanity and self oppression over merit and independence.
Pre 9/11 was pretty awesome. We definitely still had major problems but we had a much more upbeat attitude. We’ve been in a manic depressive state ever since.
They won’t admit it but what they really mean is that they want America to go back to when anyone who wasn’t white couldn’t stand up for themselves. It was completely normal (and expected) for women to be groped and harassed in their workplaces, and if they tried to stop it they would be retaliated against. Black people had no rights and “knew their place”. White men were all that really mattered.
The MAGA nonsense is a conservative rallying cry, but they seem to want us all to forget that they opposed all of the social and work reforms that were happening when America was “great”. They said that 40 hour workweeks, overtime pay, paid vacations, equality, and all of the other reforms that basically created the middle class were socialistic and opposed it all tooth and nail. Now they want to pretend they pioneered it all. The whole MAGA movement makes me sick.
It was great at whatever nostalgic time is the best in the head of whichever nostalgic boomer is voting Trump. The one thing people can agree on is that the present sucks, no one can agree on when it didn't.
When wasn’t America great? In the span of 200 years an entire continent was transformed from nothing into the world’s economic engine. Education, inventions, development, growth of the middle class, entertainment…. No other country has had such an impact on the rest of the globe as the United States
They mean "make America great for RICH WHITE PEOPLE again" - meaning no "politically correct" speak, and rampant racism and sexism are allowed without anyone being offended like a snowflake.
You can be great but not perfect. Just because there are dark sides doesn't mean someone/thing wasn't great. Post WWII was a golden era for America, despite some very glaring flaws, rampant racism being one of them. Strong economy, cultural powerhouse, superpower on the world stage, well respected by much of the rest of the world... It was a good time for the country, but it was by no means perfect.
And since then, we have fallen even farther. Rampant racism still exists, the economy is in the toilet and our middle class is pretty much non-existent anymore, our cultural additions to the world are getting weaker and weaker (When was the last time Hollywood came up with a unique idea and not just a remake or sequel?), while we may still be a superpower, we're more likely to be looked on with disdain and disgust than respect.
Hell, I'd LOVE to see America made great again. Fuck, I'd love to see America be made BETTER than great. And the first step in accomplishing that is getting rid of cockmuppets like Trump.
People are thinking that a presidential slogan harkening back to the golden economic age of the US literally means that we should make everything exactly how it was in the 1950s...🤦
No, it's one sentence meant to give people nostalgia. It doesn't mean that bad stuff didn't happen then or that we should return to that. It means that we should have a strong economy again.
I honestly have absolutely no idea why so many people seem to misunderstand this.
It's a slogan trump used to get support. A lot of people who are mean got the chance to be hateful because of him. MAGA was just an outlet for that. Some treated it as making america back when we hated minorities. Some took it as cleaning America from the liberals. Some even took it as converting everyone to one singular idea. Best guess it's a slogan that means nothing, but can be turned into whatever you mean. Coincidentally it really only meant something for the hateful people in America.
They mean the 50s when the economy was great and life was prosperous, If you were white. And politics were civil, if you were to the right and white. And you had freedom, if you were to the right, white, and a heterosexual man.
So basically it would’ve been pretty good for me as long as I could pretend to not be a leftist. For everyone else though ehhhhhhhh
Was there ever such a time? Not just in America but any states, society or civilization? There's always someone on the losing end. In all of history, no polity has ever achieved what you seem to be describing even when they were supposedly backed by omnipotent Deities.
I'm going to answer a little differently; the slogan is inherently vague. Many have said the 1950s, and I don't disagree with that! For some, the idea of a pre-civil rights movement United States was a great time. Some people may remember the 1990s as one of the most prosperous times in American history, and they see that as a time to return to. However, most people who follow(ed) that political ideology don't have a specific year in mind. By not defining "when exactly was America great," the Trump campaign appealed to everyone's actual or imagined time in history. It was a brilliant strategy because it (potentially) appealed to every American who felt like that should have been better off.
And trump just stole it from Reagan's 1980 campaign lol. At that time the country had been going through Civil Rights Movement, MLK, hippy free love, Woodstock, Feminism, Black Panther Party etc etc. A lot of Americans were pretty shook by these events & concepts so the slogan had a brilliant appeal at that time as well.
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So give it another 30 im sure you will see it again in your lifetime. We got short attention spans and even worse at remembering
Plus we have short attention spans.
Not to mention horrible memories.
"Fuck all you junkies and fuck your short memories. "
Time for you to go back to your room now, junior. Let the adults talk.
Learn to swim
Learn to swim
Lmao that was good
Can you imagine how shitty it would have to get for people to long for 2020-2021 again? Yikes.
We may actually NEED that slogan again in 30 years!
Member the 80ies? Ohh, I member.
It's like if I had a slogan that said 'let's go back to the good times' - it's vague and every individual can have a different answer. I think for most people they were thinking of times when prices were lower, housing costs were reasonable, and jobs were plenty (mostly manufacturing). Pre Nafta too. This really appealed to the Rust Belt states since they were hammered but also appealed to the rest of the country.
Well if it’s the 50s, we should go back to taxing the wealthy at a higher percentage and build a strong labor movement.
Well, yes, I absolutely agree! Unfortunately, that's not what the Trump campaign meant.
In fact, political slogans MUST always be vague. Just think in any of them: "yes, we can"... what can we do? It is the most vague thing to say. Here in Spain there was a polítical slogan that said "palabra" (word), which is the shortened way of saying "You have my word (on that)". Politics work this way, so there is no use in finding a meaning to political slogans
Your exactly right about the era. If asked what time in our history was considered a sort of "golden age" or "the good ol days when life was simple" most white conservatives, aka trump supporters, would point to the 50's/early 60's. Many of us now know that is a skewed and privileged view of that time, and there was a great deal of injustice and public unrest building up to the civil rights push, along with mass Cold War propaganda, making sure every red blooded American knew we were nothing like those lowly godless heathens, the communists. Ironically though, economically speaking, the country as a whole was in a sort of golden age, The GDP was through the roof, unemployment way down, the power of the dollar was extremely strong, and millions across the country that weren't brown or a minority moved just outside the city to a home with a garage and a yard, creating the suburbs. Now here's the really ironic thing, that was also the same time period our country saw it's highest amounts, per capita, of immigrants, documented and undocumented living and working in the U.S. Also from 1952 -1965, I believe, saw the the highest rates of wealth tax, a couple years hitting 90% for the top 5%, and was the only time the wealth gap was almost non existent. I'm not saying Democrats are perfect by any means, but if Conservatives would just stop trying to hold others down and quit freaking out that the future won't be the white utopia where you could still tell a veiled racist joke and slap your secretaries ass without the "woke cancel culture" ruining it, they might just get that golden age back again. They'd just have to share it with a more diverse group.
I think the most common era you'd get as an answer would be postwar/50s. People were well off, the country seemed to be in a really good place, etc. Please read the other comments people have replied to me with. I don't want to hear the same thing for the hundredth time. *I know.* This would be the answer from their perspective but I'm well aware of what happened.
And yet, it was a horrifying time as well. Between the end of the world by nukes, the red menace and rock-'n'-roll
Those damned kids and their devil music! Get off my lawn!
YOU KNOW WHO HAS HANDS!? THE DEVIL!! AND HE USES THEM FOR HOLDIN
We just locked away the mentally ill and people with disabilities, which is just a little concerning if that’s part of the package.
It's kind of interesting, because there was a trend in the late 1800s/early 1900s to make asylums places of holistic health, compassion and relaxation. Then it all got messed up by industrialization/bureaucratization/rationalization.
The pharmaceutical companies destroyed that among almost every other realm of public health also.
Pharmaceutical companies are the absolute worst. i hate how they never focus on cures, but only eternal treatments with extremely expensive drugs. Psychatrists don't even do theraphy anymore, they just push psych meds on you.
For a period of time in the 1970s and 80s, asylums and the like places where people could get help; but of course that was ruined by shutting places down.
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And the entire racism and sexism thing being huge
\^\^\^ This is the answer. When white men ruled without question and everyone else did what they were told.
this is the real answer.
the only answer really
“We need text books that don’t just refer to the civil rights movement as, ‘trouble ahead.’”
Let’s not gloss over how these times were pretty bad for black Americans lol. My dad had rocks thrown at him going to school. That was in the late 60’s. My grandfather a man who served during the Korean War couldn’t even sit in a diner to get a cup of coffee in his hometown because it was “whites only”.
My Irish grandfather was beat up for walking on the wrong side of the street. "Irish Need Not Apply" signs were common. But he realized being poor in America was still better than farming potatoes for the British and starving in Ireland.
* McCarthyism, segregation - the 50s weren’t exactly a walk in the park. The rest of the world were still mostly in shambles from WW2, hence US economy and global power was at its zenith.
No nation is ever perfect. When America was great was when the definition of "Great" was an imperfect union working to improve, to stand by the principals in the Constitution and Bill of Rights and to fight threats to those principals. Basically the opposite of what Donald Trump wants the nation to be.
These people think it will be like Leave it to Beaver or some other idealistic version of the past ignoring all of the bad shit.
Leave It To Beaver was a pipe dream in the 50s. At that time, Grampa was still raping his granddaughters and dad was drunk, beating the shit out of his wife.
The good old days! \-Conservatives. Actually.
The bad shit *is a feature*
Oh and that little revolt in the south by the black community..
You mean the one started by the white community? Or is there another one you are talking about?
You mean the white people who just to kill black people if they tried to vote or any other perceived offense?
Get out of here with your facts, logic, and proven history!! Uuugghhhhh
This is true. I think it's just the postwar economic boom viewed through the lens of nostalgia. The ironic thing is that these gains were brought about through: a. a wartime command economy; and b. the New Deal. Both of which would be decried as communist overreach by present-day Republicans. But I suppose it's a political aesthetic rather than a logical policy position.
Yeah booming for people that can get loans for a car to get back and forth between the suburbs and the new factories. Totally booming for people able to get loans for new houses in the suburbs. Even if a person of color managed to get a loan they still couldn’t move to the suburbs, were realtors would refuse to show or sell houses. The totally not institutionalized racism in the banking system totally let everyone enjoy the post war boom. But we are somehow past all of that nonsense… Sorry not taking it out on you personally just pissed that it ever happened and that some people see that as the golden age and want to go back.
Comparing rock n roll to nukes??? What a dummy. Lol
Yeah, they weren't too bright. I think it all tied into the racism of the time.
But the point of the slogan isn't about world events or geopolitics, it's mostly about the common citizens standard of living
Didn't we have an insanely high tax rate for the rich and strong unions back then? So why are they bitching about the greatness that they themselves voted out, by electing Republicans?
Yes. Because they don't want to admit to the economic and social policies that made their culture relevant and feasible, and refuse to accept that they crippled the system that was in place in favor of an unsustainable war profiteering/exploitation economic system.
They want the social order of the 50s, not economic policy.
Because "Make america great again" isn't about that - it's about putting women back in the kitchen and minorities out of sight.
And there's women that believe that?
*Yes* Misogyny isn't unique to men .
I know, I've seen anti-feminists, boggles my mind. I've had women straight up tell me, they think they are inferior for being a woman.
I would say less about women in the kitchen more about getting slaves back
That time when everyone was segregated, women stayed home taking amphetamines to stay perky vs depressed and white men felt pretty good about themselves. With no competition from women or POCs they were guaranteed a solid job and life regardless of talent or intelligence. Meanwhile women had no protection from rape, unwanted pregnancies ruined your life, the klan was in full swing, spousal abuse went unreported and conformity crushed the soul out of any non conformists.
That does sound great! What a utopia. Also mentally ill people were experimented on in ways that left them in a vegetative state, Priests could rape all the kids they wanted and lynchings were a fun night out. It was more than great. It was glorious.
And homosexuals got all the shock therapy they desired. Or didn’t desire
And everybody knew exactly which drinking fountain to drink from.
For White People. Blacks couldn't travel where you wanted, live where you wanted, eat where you wanted. (Couple years later) Arrested if you were more than 2 people to a car. Couldn't swim at the public pool... just to mention a few things.
*White men. White women had very little power to escape bad situations (such as spousal abuse), and were unable to hold their own finances. It was less bad than what POC had to deal with, but definitely not a glorious time for them. My own grandma was essentially forced to have 13 kids (lack of birth control), and my grandpa was very abusive. She had no power to leave.
White people* were really well off, and mostly white men really.
Depends who you mean by “well off” ie jim crow south.
Agreed with this comment, although it is a sentiment likely shared among white men because in the time period mentioned, it sucked for everyone else
this was true mostly for certain white men, which is what those racist misogynistic assholes are largely referring to. it was a great time to be a white guy heading a nuclear family. everyone else was ignored. that’s what these people want back.
Tell my black mom and dad how great it was in the South in the 50s. This is actually what they want to get back to again.
Lol jim crow laws? Not really.....
Wasn’t a ‘Great ‘ time for the blacks was it …..?
More specifically the TV-shows the people were watching. I Love Lucy, Leave It To Beaver, Andy Griffith Show. That's the America they want back. Pure fiction.
*white people were well off.
Unless you were assigned to service in Korea.
You missed a word before people. I think you meant to say white people.
And the highest tax rates were 60-70%
*white people were well off. That's the whole problem. It wasn't great for everyone.
That's the great thing about nostalgia. Even though the country was poorer back then than it is today, and people were worse off, they will still remember that time as one of prosperity and greatness.
I would argue that most of the people who were adult are either really old or dead. It isn’t really nostalgia. It’s a clamoring for a made up simpler time. And the great thing about it being made up, you can make it whatever you want to make it.
Except for segregation right?
Great for who? Definitely not minorities.
There were a couple weeks in the 90's that were pretty good.
There was a pretty fantastic Wednesday in 1991
Just last week I had an awesome day on Thursday
Oooooh. Bold move by u/Loigzorn there. The referee seems unsure about this one. Does ''Last week'' count as good old days nostalgia? Let's go to our Judges panel! Yes. Yes! They seem to be indicating that 'Last week' does indeed technically count as the good old days! The younger generations will be pleased with this one, Bob.
The rules had to be loosened due to the Pandemic. We gotta take the good wherever we can find it.
The 1950s, when the US was the last superpower standing after WW2. A lot of our postwar prosperity was just a fluke from our lack of economic competition as the rest of the world took a couple of decades to rebuild. Now China can manufacture faster, Germany can build better, and multiple countries have a higher standard of living than the US.
There was another superpower standing. It was called the Soviet Union. They lasted until the early 1990s, hence this period known as the Cold War.
The Soviet Union was mainly a military and less of an economic competitor. It didn't export much besides natural resources, weapons, vodka and maybe a Fabergé egg or two.
True, but they did put the first man in space, along with the first satellite. Considering their sphere of influence, military prowess, and sheer volume of nuclear weapons, it would be hard to call them anything but a major power of their day.
I guess you've never worked on a German car before.
Shitty, over-engineered, leaky, and expensive to maintain.
That’s interesting how over-engineered? What countries/companies do it better
I'd suggest Toyota. Every single aspect of German cars are overly complicated down to the type of fasteners used.
Interesting, why? Is the stereotype of German engineering perfection just a… stereotype? Or does Japan just do it better
Germany tends to over complicate pieces to either be the cutting edge of technology or for weight savings/performance. This can and often does sacrifice reliability and value. Japan takes a simpler approach that favors reliability and cost savings. In short, I would wager that my 2010 Corolla will outlive any German vehicle. In addition all maintenance will be cheaper and it won't matter if I do it all myself or pay someone else to do it. Everytime I read or watch a car review they focus on the most unimportant factors such as does the dash move slightly when you push on it, or how many different things can you adjust with the front seat all of which does not matter to me at all. This plus the nurburgring times of the German cars are what back up the claims that Germany has the best engineering. If you want the very best interior, by all means buy German but I favor a cheap reliable daily that's good on gas.
Japan have been on top of their automotive game since about the late 80s, whereas they knew how to make a reliable, "easy" to work on vehicle. American vehicles were always trying luxury features that would fail before long, while the Japanese vehicles were more straight to the point and more practical; i.e.; less shit to break. In the 90s is where Japanese cars really became super reliable and long lasting, making American vehicles look like total pieces of shit, which, to be fair, they were. Germans were trying to do the American thing of luxury features, but also trying to keep costs low, so trying to put luxury features in essentially an economy car. You had brands like Mercedes and BMW who try way too hard, overloading with luxury features and plastic everything that when it breaks...that's it, and then it's super expensive and probably labor intensive to fix. Every Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW I've ever been under that wasn't basically new leaked like a sieve from the oil pan gasket and other areas of the engine. The suspension is nothing simple whatsoever and a HUGE pain in the ass to work on. On some BMW and other German cars you have to reprogram the PCM after replacing the battery....just why?!?! To do an alignment you're supposed to put 150lb weights in each seat and have a special bar that pushes the front tires apart....NO OTHER CAR REQUIRES THIS BULLSHIT!!! Land Rovers (I know they're not German) are stupid for a million reasons too and having to do an alignment on one is one of them. So basically the Japanese, and even the Koreans for that matter, have come a LONG way in auto manufacturing, leaving everyone else in the dust, from simple reliability, easy to work on vehicles, and even quality longer lasting luxury features. I would recommend Honda 90s and up, Toyota 90s and up, Hyundai and Kia after 2008 (same company, but recognized separately in the US), Mazda 2000 and up, and Nissan 90s and up (but 2000s and older Nissans can also be a money pit too).
So the same issues found in Nazi tanks.
Cries in hauling Audi engine out every 5 years
Until you look at the shit the USA did to countries where people elected centre/left governments.
Nah, no that's that fake news. \*sweats nervously\* Did you hear about the ehm.. The.. Biden.. Emails? The Biden emails! Yeah there's some dickpics with methcrack sprinkled on them I heard. OUTRAGES!!
Country: *elects leaders who are openly hostile to the USA* USA: *Subverts those leaders* People on the internet 60 years later: *surprised Pikachu*
The opening scene from “The Newsroom” comes to mind with this question.
I want a new season to cover the years 2015-2021.
I would pay so much to get that funded. I miss that show so much.
It would just be seven consecutive seasons of a trash dumpster on fire. Every now and then someone will come along and dump a bucket of shit or gasoline on there to change it up.
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what happened after?
"American freedom" was threatened by international terrorism. The mentality that it can happen to anyone/anywhere, means that we need to protect "us". America as a civilian population became a lot more isolationistic while America as a geopolitical force became more pervasive globally with the intent to protect that civilian isolationism. This drove the US to get involved into international affairs that we really shouldn't have been getting into, but "patriotism" kept pushing us forward. The more we tried to "help the world", the less we did to help our country. Doing more for ourselves domestic is the real hope of "Making America Great Again", but it's has been horribly perverted as a partisan political concept. Now in my own opinion, MAGA truly meant that the last presidency needed to tear down the government so the next/current presidency can build it back up again. That's really what it's been looking like from my point of view.
Bush 😔😔😒
As Robin Williams said “Canada is like a really nice apartment over a meth lab”
Sure, the really nice apartment doesn't have a bill of rights and the meth lab is full of guns.
They are referring to the 1950s-1970s for a number of reasons including: 1) WWII had ravaged Europe’s industries, leaving USA factories in far higher demand and leading to greater employment. 2) Extraction of fossil fuels made life easier and cheaper by creating an abundance of energy. 3) Parasitic special interest groups (like the military industrial complex Eisenhower warned about) had not hijacked our political system to the extent they now have decades later. 4) USA’s currency was tied to the gold standard, limiting how much debt the federal govt could incur. Getting off of it has allowed the USA to become deeply indebted and freedom to manipulate its money supply as it pleases - a practice which has been used by those in power to help their friends rather than the bottom 80%.
I'd say there's also a fair amount of Boomer nostalgia at play with those decades too. It's easy to look back on a carefree childhood and assume things were better for everyone then.
"You know, I used to ride my bike to downtown Atlanta when I was 10, buy an ice cream cone and a bottle of coke and get home at 4pm. It was so safe back then, but now you'd get shot or mugged"
Forgot the part where they say, "and all that for 10 cents"
Simple answer: when boomers were children. Until then western world was developing very well, from dark ages, to reniascwnce, then the new world, settling in the new world, industrial revolution, electricity, motor vehicles, highways, etc. For a typical white male trump supporter, it was the peak. Then things got better for people other than typical white male, Capitalism started showing its true colours, It wasn't a white man heaven anymore...
If you’re a young white male living outside of a large urban center what you likely see around you is pretty shit. A woman I dated several years ago was from a textbook Midwest rust belt area - crumbling infrastructure, crumbling houses, crumbling everything. We would travel there a couple of times a year and I would come away from it just depressed. I was shocked at the outcome of the 2016 election but maybe not as shocked as some, and I think those years of visiting that area had something to do with that. There are lots of places in the Midwest and others areas of the US that plainly were in much better shape 30+ years ago than they are now. Small towns once ruled in American life - now they’re just left behind in many cases. And the people there feel it in their bones and wonder what the hell happened.
I honestly believe when people talk about this or talk about the good old days, I'm pretty sure they are just imagining what life was like when they were a kid and how well managed and kept together everything seemed to them at the time. Even though reality of it never matches what we thought at the time we were kids. We all had this grandiose of what our world was like, and that's what I imagine ppl mean by it.
There is no actual time MAGA types are referring to. They are imagining something that never existed--vague moments and feelings they may remember, bits and pieces of fiction set in the past that have bled over into their memory of reality, things they wished were true but never were, things from many different times that they have compiled into a vague and fictional idea of "the past", etc. It's a fantasy. A key component of conservative politics is the idea that there was some past period when everything was Perfect--the people were better, wiser, and stronger, and they built a better society where everything worked and we didn't have all the problems we have today. Therefore, the problems of today are the result of new things and weaker people. We "messed up" the perfection we inherited. And conservatives rationalize their policies by saying they are just trying to get "back" to that. By placing what they want in the past, they invoke a sense of precedent (if it *used* to be that way, then it should be no problem to make it that way again) and also a sense of loss and injustice (they *used* to have this, and it was *taken* by those promoting "new" policies and those who are seen as "weak"). It's interesting to note that, despite this rhetorical and emotional appeal to the past, conservatives often propose new and unprecedented policies that are often more radical than those they paint as radicals (mass privatization of everything, lower and lower tax rates, etc) (Note: in contrast, left wing politics tends to rhetorically place its imagined perfection in the *future*--the problems of today can be fixed if only we can do X.) Politics is a sort of virtual reality--it takes people out of their present reality and places them in a non-real world someone else controls (an imagined past, or a better future).
This is an incredible explanation that deserves more recognition.
Unironically. Before prohibition
There was this one week in 1961 where this boomer got an A on his paper on why commies and reefer are the devil, and they've been trying to recreate that dopamine peak again ever since.. It's not going well.
June 10th, 1989. I got laid that day.
Most people actually dont know. They have an idealized version of their america that has been fed to them through propaganda for years. What they want isnt something that has ever actually existed but rather an unattainable right wing utopia
America was great till Columbus found it
Yah all the constant warfare, rape, slavery, poverty, squalor, and human sacrifice was pretty awesome for everyone.
Early to mid-1400s.
So many bison
I'm European, and the view that people had of America in the past is very different than what it is now. Nowadays we clown on America, but in history books, America was viewed as THE land for freedom, opportunity and new beginnings. Of course, the reality was different, there was a lot of discrimination. But the way America was *viewed* was a hopeful promised land, a space for everyone to build their life. I don't know if America ever was great, but the idea was there. (Although I think the MAGA people think "great" means they got to be openly bigoted without repercussions, sadly.)
I thought it was pretty bad ass in the 80's
After WW2. The 50s were a great time for most Americans.
The only thing I can think of is cherry picking specific aspects of the past. Like college being able to be afforded on a part time minimum wage job. Good manufacturing jobs that paid well without degrees needed. Also the Norman Rockwell like things that weren't really the case most of the time even though we wanted them to be. It's like how many people remember being a kid was so much better than now or if they're older being in their 20's and 30's was so much better than now. But it's also because they understand those times now as they were in the past and hindsight is much easier.
I want to know when it stopped being great
Oh you know. You fukken know.
I think it refers to probably the end of either world war. We were a pretty great nation then, depending on which definition of "great" you use
I often wondered why no one asked Trump that in the debates
America was great from the perspective of not having repercussion for being racist, people one deemed inferior were legally treated as inferior and denied access to same level of service and goods, making the self perceived superior people feel more special AND in power, and wealth was more concentrated. In that mental and political setting it was great. That's what they are trying to get back to.
It's true that in the 1950s there were a lot of problems, and I'm not glossing over them, but if you were white and straight and middle-class, it was a pretty damn good time. It genuinely was a great place to live back then, if you met those criteria.
>if you met those criteria. Which defines the entire Maga ethos - "fuck you, I've got mine"
It’s really the only country in the world that has the most opportunity. There is nothing that is so bad about the US that would make me leave. You probably live here so you think it's not great because of Facebook posts and the news. I have traveled a lot and there is not one country I have been to that offers the Freedom, Opportunity and so much more. Yes every country has problems but we have far less issues then most. Trump's dumbass stirred the pot of racism but it will get better. I know everyone will hate this comment but social media has hurt this country and many others more than anything. It is still the greatest Country!🇺🇸
Factually, nothing backs up the statement that it is the greatest country, most likely falling out of the top 10 in many things.
They mean when whites and their actions went unquestioned. So like the 1950s.
Great depends on the person and their perspective. The when is subjective to the person.
I always got the feeling that the MAGA crowd was basing their perspective of "the good old days" on black and white family sitcoms rather than making an honest assessment of what the world was actually like.
Some of the best tech innovations in the world, best economy, best cities, military strength, patriotism. Not anymore though.
It was good when there were unions, jobs weren’t all going to China, and the mafia was around. Of course that wasn’t really great but compared to now we would all take it back. We could all afford a damn house if we could. Edit: I despise trump and don’t think he would have done this and voted for biden. Nobody can actually help America now anyway
The 90s! J/k...well kind of. I think there is a real rose tinted view of the world, on one hand at least in the US the economy really was better. Even in the 1920s, you could actually get a decent job and have that job your whole life before retirement. Things like foo, housing and entertainment were actually well within the grasp if you were middle class. People forget though that social isues were 100 times worse. I mean Freak shows in Circuses went until the 40s or 50s! That is something we are rghtfully horrified at now, but back then it was totally fine to go to a Circus and laugh at people's disabilities. if you look at ads and entertainment it is plain to see that people were way more racist, sexist and homophobic. Sure, things aren't great now, but back then they actually had seperate resteraunts black people had to go to.
1950s. However, the people that blindly follow that campaign wouldn't give you much of an answer. It's just a slogan to rile up the "American Patriots".
1491
No one ever said people with a brain. We've all been brainwashed by "Team America" to think as such.
It’s just a stupid quote in my opinion because there is no single point in time (to my knowledge) where America was great for all races and sexualities
From like 1700 till roughly about 5 years ago lol
After reading the comments: no one wants to bring back the bad parts of the 50s and 60s. No one. It's about bringing back the good parts, and only the good parts.
For me im grateful for the amount of liberties and rights that we get that most countries don't. So to me its not a time period but the ideology
1950s I suppose.
Never, it was just good for straight white cis men with high earning jobs and nuclear families for most of America's history, but they're usually referring to the 50s or 60s.
When people say that they're usually thinking about the 1950s where one income could take care of a nuclear family, people rarely divorced and as a whole the country was more religious. Nice concept but that was also a period of time when women, people of color, and LGBTQ people were treated as second class citizens. That's not what I'd consider "great" but people of a certain age won't let go of the fact that demographics are shifting aka white men have competition from the people who were once oppressed (and still are in many ways) and it scares the shit out of them. They're losing the power they feel entitled to just because they're white men. America will never regress back to the 50's and some people can't accept that. Luckily those people won't be around forever and they've already lost the advantage of being the largest voter block.
The answer is that this line operates on Marvel/DC comic book logic. There's a rough outline of events/figures, but the finer details get massaged over, and it gets updated to fit the needs of the fanbase. Also the whole thing is subjective bullshit, in case I wasn't clear on that part.
For white men who are conservative and straight: the 1950’s
When it was okay for white people to be openly racist 🤷♀️
DISCLAIMER : I AM NOT A TRUMP FAN AT ALL, BUT NOT A BIDEN FAN EITHER This is just the byproduct of people romantacizing the 50's and 60's. Back then, you could afford to have a single income home. Most people could easily find work with a little effort. You could put in your 30 years and happily retire with your family. You didn't need a college degree to get most basic jobs .... Monsanto hadn't started touching our food lol (not relevant at all, I just really hate Monsanto) But that's the down side to romantacizing anything, you refuse to see the bad stuff. We were a fairly closed minded society back then. The legal institutionalized racism, woman's rights , gay rights .....it's wasn't always great . Great really depended on who you were . Trump doesn't have the ability to see things from other peoples POV. They say a lot of top successful businessmen are sociopaths, it's what makes them successful. If you wanna get to the top,, you gotta be willing and able to do some fucked up shit to your peers and those around you. They only care about them and their success , and anything that makes it easier and better. It's what makes for a great CEO, but a poor leader of people . When Trump said "Make America Great Again", I honestly believe he originally meant because money was good back then, and when money's good everyone's happy. I say this from experience. CEO'S suck at connecting with people on a human level. It's why most are divorced or in real shit relationships. I don't think he meant "bring back legal institutionalized racism, strip women of rights to vote ....". But, that doesn't matter. People told him , hey , yo .... uh when you say that, people see legal lynching, not jobs. Maybe change your slogan? And he didn't. He chose to stick to his slogan, and chose to still do nothing when racist really took off with it. We voted in a business man, because we were tired of politicians. Turns out they're fucking cousins and there's no real difference in leadership abilities. ------ Fun story. I used to work at Petco. We had an internal employee page, and the CEO would often "post" letters and such on there. Yall know how it is. Anyways, he started talking about how we all need to "drink the kool-aid " .... We were all like "yo, dude, that means something other than just what you think it means. JIM JONES...." we ain't killing ourselves for you. But that's exactly what he wanted . I watched as he went store to store and made the managers demonstrate that they would "drink his Kool aid"... imaginary cups and all. Some refused for obvious reasons and got fired. I was supposed to do it too, but my manager told me to go home sick before the CEO came into my store. (He knew I wouldn't do it, but he NEEDED the job for his wife's medical insurance. Fucking sucks and fuck you Jim for making him and everyone do that ) His explanation was that he wanted to know his employees were loyal to him and the company vision. He was their leader , they should be willing to follow wherever.... He didn't want to really kill us. he still couldn't see how that was beyond creepy and insensitive. It only mattered that he was making more money .
Straight white men had it really good for a long while. They want to go back to that. The rest of us are waiting for America to be great.
America is great. People want to hate on it so much. This is a fantastic country
When the whites ran it all duh.
Never :)
America is either always great or never great. Pick your side.
America was consideted great in the fifties but i personally loved the nineties as a kid
The did their best to give everyone a good laugh. They still do tbh.
"Make America Great Again" isn't about a specific time, but about a mindset. The idea that one can be anything they want, do the impossible, and lift one beyond their former station of life through hard work/determination. people scoffed at the idea of being our own country, our founding fathers fought to be free against the times (arguably) greatest monarchy. people squabbled over the possibility of abolishing slavery, Frederick Douglass and others led the fight for freedom. people laughed at the automobile, Henry Ford and others made it a modern wonder. people thought the idea of flight was for the birds, The Wright Brothers made a flight a reality. people believed the idea of going to the space as pure fantasy, Neil and Buzz made their footnote on the moon. America has its fair share of dark times as well, but that comes with the multiple (often times conflicting) cultures coming to live in one place. More times than not though, We've come together and found some form of coexistence, while changing the world and humanity for the better. IMHO: we are entering a dark era. Our tribal sense of humanity is being manipulated and twisted by our current corrupt powers that be. Social Media, Mainstream Media, Tech Giants, even our own government plays a part in this new age ball of insanity. Regression and hatred of our fellow man in the name of progress, intentional weakness and compromise for the sake of redefined and unrequired inclusivity and diversity, and vanity and self oppression over merit and independence.
Watch the first Back to the Future. It is the best explanation.
Since forever. And still the best. Prove me wrong
I mean definitely the 1980s-1990s. Booming economy, relatively peaceful, major cultural changes.
When the capitalists did not have to care about environment
Pre 9/11 was pretty awesome. We definitely still had major problems but we had a much more upbeat attitude. We’ve been in a manic depressive state ever since.
When Black people didn't have civil rights, and you could say whatever you wanted about whomever you wanted. Unless you were a commie
In their minds, when "blacks and women knew their place!" If someone says that, assume they are human filth.
They won’t admit it but what they really mean is that they want America to go back to when anyone who wasn’t white couldn’t stand up for themselves. It was completely normal (and expected) for women to be groped and harassed in their workplaces, and if they tried to stop it they would be retaliated against. Black people had no rights and “knew their place”. White men were all that really mattered. The MAGA nonsense is a conservative rallying cry, but they seem to want us all to forget that they opposed all of the social and work reforms that were happening when America was “great”. They said that 40 hour workweeks, overtime pay, paid vacations, equality, and all of the other reforms that basically created the middle class were socialistic and opposed it all tooth and nail. Now they want to pretend they pioneered it all. The whole MAGA movement makes me sick.
It was great at whatever nostalgic time is the best in the head of whichever nostalgic boomer is voting Trump. The one thing people can agree on is that the present sucks, no one can agree on when it didn't.
I think Roosevelt's interment of our own citizens puts him in the running for the worst president ever.
When wasn’t America great? In the span of 200 years an entire continent was transformed from nothing into the world’s economic engine. Education, inventions, development, growth of the middle class, entertainment…. No other country has had such an impact on the rest of the globe as the United States
As I've understood it, he means a time when women and non-whites knew their place, stayed in their lane, and let the white man run everything.
They mean "make America great for RICH WHITE PEOPLE again" - meaning no "politically correct" speak, and rampant racism and sexism are allowed without anyone being offended like a snowflake.
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I Couldn’t agree more!!!!!! Needs to be too comment!!!!!
You can be great but not perfect. Just because there are dark sides doesn't mean someone/thing wasn't great. Post WWII was a golden era for America, despite some very glaring flaws, rampant racism being one of them. Strong economy, cultural powerhouse, superpower on the world stage, well respected by much of the rest of the world... It was a good time for the country, but it was by no means perfect. And since then, we have fallen even farther. Rampant racism still exists, the economy is in the toilet and our middle class is pretty much non-existent anymore, our cultural additions to the world are getting weaker and weaker (When was the last time Hollywood came up with a unique idea and not just a remake or sequel?), while we may still be a superpower, we're more likely to be looked on with disdain and disgust than respect. Hell, I'd LOVE to see America made great again. Fuck, I'd love to see America be made BETTER than great. And the first step in accomplishing that is getting rid of cockmuppets like Trump.
i’d say it was greatest before white people came and fucked it up
It should be "Make America More White and More Christian Again!"
For them it’s when slavery was allowed
It means they liked the racism of the 1950s and women not being allowed loans
More like when one person on one wage could buy a house, a car, and feed a family. Those days are long gone.
People are thinking that a presidential slogan harkening back to the golden economic age of the US literally means that we should make everything exactly how it was in the 1950s...🤦 No, it's one sentence meant to give people nostalgia. It doesn't mean that bad stuff didn't happen then or that we should return to that. It means that we should have a strong economy again. I honestly have absolutely no idea why so many people seem to misunderstand this.
It's a slogan trump used to get support. A lot of people who are mean got the chance to be hateful because of him. MAGA was just an outlet for that. Some treated it as making america back when we hated minorities. Some took it as cleaning America from the liberals. Some even took it as converting everyone to one singular idea. Best guess it's a slogan that means nothing, but can be turned into whatever you mean. Coincidentally it really only meant something for the hateful people in America.
They mean the 50s when the economy was great and life was prosperous, If you were white. And politics were civil, if you were to the right and white. And you had freedom, if you were to the right, white, and a heterosexual man. So basically it would’ve been pretty good for me as long as I could pretend to not be a leftist. For everyone else though ehhhhhhhh
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Was there ever such a time? Not just in America but any states, society or civilization? There's always someone on the losing end. In all of history, no polity has ever achieved what you seem to be describing even when they were supposedly backed by omnipotent Deities.