That slogan hits because it’s vague on purpose — “great” depends entirely on who you were and what you value.
If we’re being honest, there’s no single moment when America was “great” for everyone at once.
Here’s how people usually mean it, broken down a bit:
Economically
- Some point to the 1950s–60s: strong unions, rising middle class, cheap housing for white families.
- But that prosperity leaned heavily on exclusion — segregation, redlining, limited rights for women, Indigenous peoples, and minorities.
Militarily / geopolitically
- Others mean the post-WWII era, when the U.S. was the dominant global power.
- That came alongside Cold War fear, proxy wars, nuclear anxiety, and interventions abroad.
Socially / culturally
- For some, “great” means a time of traditional norms and clear hierarchies.
- For others, those same eras meant legal discrimination, silencing, and violence.
Politically
- Some romanticize the Founding era — but that system explicitly excluded most people from voting and counted enslaved people as fractions of a person.
So when someone says “make America great again,” the uncomfortable follow-up is:
Great for whom? And at whose expense?
A more honest take is this:
America has always been a work in progress — moments of real achievement mixed with deep injustice. Its best periods weren’t perfect; they were times when it expanded who counted.
That’s why many people hear MAGA not as nostalgia for prosperity, but nostalgia for lost status or power. |
