Trump Would Not Make Us Great!

Rather than making us great again, Donald Trump would tear us apart!

by Charlie Leck

I get quite confused by so many people I know claiming that “America is the greatest nation on earth!” My confusion comes from not knowing what that means – especially when I hear the Donald Trump campaign for the presidency shouting out all the time: “Let’s make America great again!”

I’m also confused because I do not have much experience with other nations – I’ve been in quite a few but there are so many I know nothing about. For instance, I know France and I absolutely love it. If it weren’t for the idea of leaving so many children and grandchildren, I would try to convince my wife to give living in the area of Avignon a chance. I also loved Japan. There is something about that nation’s calm demeanor and its gentleness that I really like. And, of course, Canada is a remarkably civilized and well-informed nation. Eastern Canada would be someplace I could easily live.

America seems so much more violent than those three nations mentioned above. It seems to me that so many Americans don’t understand our constitution and the extraordinary rights conferred to us by that remarkable document. My own surveys and quizzing has proven to me that very few Americans understand that we are a republic – a democratic republic to be sure – and not so much a pure democracy. This comes as the result of being a nation of 50 individual states. History shows us a lot of perpetual rancor between the states.

I wish Americans would stop boasting so much about our greatness. I know it somewhat irks dear friends and relatives of mine who live in other nations. Why can’t we just strive for being a great nation and let others decide just how great we are?

I want to ask the question: What is a great nation? Or, what makes a nation great or greater than another nation? I think my answer to those queries would be quite different than the replies most people would give. I would want to know how well the nation takes care of the least of us (as Jesus is said to have put it). How concerned are we that our nation is fair to everyone and gives everyone an even chance for success? How vast is the wealth of the wealthy and how vast is the poverty of the poor? How well do we take care of our very young and our very old? Have we a real compassion about justice for all or do we just recite it to be politically correct?

Only six out of ten eligible voters will vote in America. That troubles me. And don’t think it is this uneducated or poor or ill who don’t vote. As the NY Times points out in a remarkable story this morning, “…the majority of people who didn’t vote in the 2012 presidential election were white, middle-income and middle-aged.” Why? A great nation ought to fix that! The republic is not quite working as it should.

I am asking myself all those questions as I prepare to vote this year. After careful thought, I am quite certain that Donald Trump would not make us a greater nation. A lot of people would be left out under the Donald Trump promise. His comment at one of his campaign rallies, about a protester, is a perfect example of the attitude that Donald Trump would bring to America as its president: “I’d like to punch that guy in the face!”

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