Make America Great Again
“Great” has different meanings depending on what various phrases or sentences it is in. If a country is recognized internationally and by its citizens as “great,” then the title becomes a double-edged sword for a country’s developments. The positive “edge” is that this country is associated with having the best economy, military, and technology; these elements will help country to develop each domain even more. However, the negative “edge” of this sword is that a country can easily lose this title of “greatest” if it does not live up to it. “America” is not only a country name; it also comes with many meanings, such as democracy, freedom, affluence, power, and prosperity. Military power and economic power are synonymous with America because America is the only superpower and has a strong international influence nowadays.
America was the strongest country in the world for several decades before and after World War II, and America was almost the strongest in each if its domains. However, later, America lost its lead in some areas. Thus, in 1980, Ronald Reagan created his slogan: “Make America Great Again.” He used the slogan to compete for the presidency, and he solved many internal problems, such as the high unemployment rate and financial crisis (Martosko). Nowadays, America is surpassed in some domains, such as production and quality of goods, by other countries, but America is still the strongest and greatest country in the world because it leads in some other domains. However, it is not as great as it was before. Because America has fallen behind in some areas, Donald Trump has reintroduced Ronald Reagan’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” to win the presidency. However, unlike Ronald Reagan, Trump’s policies and opinions cannot make America great again because they are too radical. Even though “Make America Great Again” is an excellent slogan and provides hope for citizens, it would be hard become greater if Trump’s policies were in place.
When evaluating whether a country is great, internal and external factors are standards for evaluation. First, the internal factor that should be considered is whether citizens think this country is great. If people believe that they have a comfortable and safe life, they have a sense of belonging in this country. This sense is the essential element that makes a country great. There is a Chinese proverb that says “who gains the common aspiration of the people is who can rule the world.” A sense of bellowing is the “common aspiration,” so people are willing to make efforts for their country because people are devoted to their country. The external factor to evaluate a country is its active international influence: whether a country is perceived as great. Active international influence is the standard for evaluation. If this country has a sense of international community, such as helping and supporting the construction of other needy countries, it will have an active international influence. If this country has a good economy, military capabilities, and technology, its global influence will expande.
In Fortune’s news, Warren Buffett said “[America is] as great as it’s ever been … it’s going to be ever greater” (Shen). Buffett’s opinion is supported by facts because he used internal and external factors to evaluate the country. In Report for Selected Countries and Subjects, it states that “The United States is the world's largest national economy in nominal terms and second largest according to purchasing power parity (PPP), representing 22% of nominal global GDP and 17% of gross world product (GWP).” Thus, America has a healthy enough economy to promise the core welfare of its people, and it has the ability to develop a better military to guarantee the security of its citizens. In 2011, America spent more than $700 billion on its army, a total of 41% of global military spending (“What does Selective Service Provide for America?”). Thus, American people should feel they have an affluent and safe life because they have good source of salary and the best army to protect them. In addition, America is a member of the United Nations, and the United Nations’ goals are to maintain international security and world peace. America has invested a lot of economic and military power into stopping terrorist organizations. Thus, America has an active international influence in the world, and other countries recognize its international rank. Therefore, no matter which internal or external factor is used to evaluate, it is undeniable that America is a strong and great country simply because it has the strongest ability in military and economy; Trump’s “Make America Great Again” can be understand as “Make America Greatest Again.”
Nevertheless, if Trump gets the presidency, he may make American ordinary. In Positions, Trump’s policy viewpoints are: paying for the wall, healthcare reform, U.S.-China trade reform, veterans administration reform, tax reform, second amendment rights, and immigration reform (Trump, “Positions”). Some of the viewpoints can make America better, such as healthcare reform, veterans’ administration reform, and tax reform, but others may make America worse.
For Trump’s immigration reform, he wants to prohibit or temporarily prohibit Muslims from coming into America (Hillyard). In Trump’s opinion, most Muslims hate America, so he thinks Muslims to come into America may do some dangerous activities to hurt citizens and the country’s development. Trump wants to build a database of Muslims to control and monitor Muslims activities. Also, Trump wants to build a wall between America and Mexico, and he wants Mexico pays for this wall because he thinks illegal Mexican immigrations are rapists. His proposition sounds unbelievable because it is opposite of the main American value—freedom. According to the history of America, America is a country of immigrants, and most American lineages do not belong to North America—the lineage of North America is Indians, and because of colonial European countries, white people came into America. Suppose Trump’s policies can be approved; does that mean if a Native American person becomes president, they can limit white people from immigrating to this country? Even though Trump wants to use this database to decrease crime, he still violates people of colors interest. In other words, Trump racially discriminates against Muslims and Mexicans. Trump’s opinion cannot make all the citizen feel safe, so the internal factor cannot be satisfied.
In addition, in U.S.-China trade reform, Chinese productivity is higher than American, but Trump thinks that Chinese productivity impacts to American business and America cannot get high interest for the low import tax. Trump thinks that international trade can improve American employment benefits, but fair trade has this benefit and free trade does not. In other words, he thinks that international trade with China, Japan, Mexico and some other countries, which have low prices for productivity and low import tax, cannot bring benefits to America. Therefore, Trump wants to raise taxes to get the companies’ jobs back to the local community, and he wants to give citizens more chance to get jobs through this method. His proposition can bring benefits for America citizens, but he violates Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican benefits. If the tax is raised, these countries may not have any trade or business with America. This action will course cheap goods to become expensive. For the internal factors, citizens’ living cost may increase, so citizens cannot have comfortable lives as before. For the external factors, America will increase hostility with those countries, so America will face high pressure for economic and military capabilities.
According to some news and research, Trump has a negative reputation and evaluations. He has more negative evaluations than positive evaluations. Hillary Clinton thinks if Donald Trump gets the presidency, he may start a nuclear war any time because he feels “unhappy” (Becker). Also, Gary Locke thinks that if Trump gets the presidency, he will start a trade war with China (Appelbaum). This kind of evaluation for Trump proves that he is not a good choice for president. Most of Trump’s voters do not have much education, so his policies may not be perfect for a country’s development (Magary).
If the trade war becomes a reality, American loss will be higher than Chinese loss. Firstly, China has higher productivity because it has 1.3 billion people. Because America only has 0.2 billion people, America cannot have enough labor potential for lower and basic jobs. Secondly, Chinese products are almost the cheapest in the world. America cannot make their products as cheap as China because America cannot get the cost of production down. If this trade war is a price war, American prices are higher than Chinese; if this trade war is a product war, America cannot make as many products as China in one day. Therefore, the loser is America, and America will have huge economic losses; in other words, Trump as president cannot make America become greater, he can only make America become mediocre.
According to the propositions of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Clinton has positive views of American developments, and she thinks the United States remains a strong country because she has a hopeful and self-confident mind; however, Trump has negative views, and he thinks that America has many threats and America is becoming worse. Also, according to some research, it is proven that America is a great country because American economy, military capabilities, technology, and international influence are almost the best. Therefore, “Make America Great Again” is malarkey for Trump because his opinions are too radical, and Clinton is the best choice to make this the hope of Trump’s slogan come true.
Works Cited
Taube, Jeff (September 1012). Why America Isn’t the Great Country in The World Anymore. YouTube. [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPHSXUS0_1c
Shen, Lucinda (May, 2016). Warren Buffett to Trump: ‘No Need to Make America Great Again’. Fortune. [Online]. Available: http://fortune.com/2016/05/02/buffett-trump-make-america-great-again/
Martosko, Davis (May, 2015). Exclusive: Trump Trademarked Slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ just DAYS After the 2013 Election and Says Ted Cruze has Agreed Not to Use It Again After Scott Walker Booms It Twice in Speech. Daily Mail. [Online]. Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3077773/Trump-trademarked-slogan-Make-America-Great-just-DAYS-2012-election-says-Ted-Cruz-agreed-not-use-Scott-Walker-booms-TWICE-speech.html
Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. IMF. [Online]. Available: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2016/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=44&pr.y=16&sy=2016&ey=2020&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=111&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC&grp=0&a=
What does Selective Service Provide for America? Selective Service System. September 2012.
Rngelhardt, Tom (April, 2016). What Trump Really Means When He Says He’ll Make America Great Again. Nation. [Online]. Available: https://www.thenation.com/article/what-trump-really-means-when-he-says-hell-make-america-great-again/
Trump, Donald. “Positions.” Trump Make America Great Again. [Online]. Available: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions
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Appelbaum, Binyamin (May, 2016). Experts Warn of Backlash in Donald Trump’s China Trade Policies. [Online]. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/us/politics/donald-trump-trade-policy-china.html
Hillyard, Vaughn (November, 2015). Trump’s plan for a Muslim database draws comparison to Nazi Germany. [Online]. Available: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-would-certainly-implement-muslim-database
(June, 2016). Donald Trump Transcript: ‘Out Country Need a Truly Great Leader’. [Online]. Available: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/06/16/donald-trump-transcript-our-country-needs-a-truly-great-leader/
Palmer, Doug AND Schreckinger, Ben (November, 2015). Trump vows to declare China a currency manipulator on Day One. [Online]. Available: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/donald-trump-china-currency-manipulation-215679
