“Dear Mr. President,
You opened your 2nd Inaugural Address with the words: ‘From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world’. ‘America’, so you said, ‘will soon be greater, stronger, and far more exceptional than ever before’. Most likely, you are aware of the fact that exactly 249 years ago, in the month of January 1776, that memorable year when the united States of America declared their independence, it was Thomas Paine, one of your most prominent Founding Fathers, who wrote: ‘The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind’. Now that the world has become aware of what the ‘America’ of our times means by making its imperial cause the cause of all mankind, it behooves mankind to politely and respectfully ask you: What do you mean by ‘America’ when you tell the world that you want to Make ‘America’ Great Again? Whether your country will deserve respect all over the world will entirely depend upon the measure in which America’s cause is truly in alignment with that of ‘all mankind’.
Checking some premises
Perhaps, the question – ‘What do you mean by ‘America’ – may sound stupid. After all, isn’t it so that ‘everyone knows’ that ‘America’ stands for the 50 United States of America represented as stars on your American Flag! And that this is the Flag that not only symbolizes today’s U.S.A. as a poltical entity, but which also defines that specific entity’s alleged greatness. In that regard, you know that in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, the greatness of the U.S.A. is defined as ‘the Republic for which it stands’ and as ‘one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’. But, with all due respect, if this truly the ‘America’ you seek to make great again, allow me to suggest that there may be some premises you may wish to check first.
‘America’s’ greatness as an idea
“You see, if this is the ‘America’ that must be made great again, the logical question is: did it ever exist or has it always been a utopian fiction, an ‘idea’? A vision, that was conceived and promoted by some of your fellow-‘Americans’ soon after the ‘American’ colonies, represented as the 13 horizontal stripes on the Flag, had declared their independence. In other words, ín your opinion, was ‘America’s’ greatness ever fully realized and, if so, was it then lost, wherefore it must be realized again? Or, absent its realization, would you agree with me that the idea of ‘America’s’ greatness has always remained an ideal? If so, how did that idea come to be ‘unmade’? And, must it be brought to life again, so that, once fully rekindled, you will organize its realization?”
No indivisible nation
“Without a doubt, you know more about ‘America’s’ history than this ‘Dutchman of old’. But, having studied a considerable body of ‘America’s’ historical records, I guess that we can both agree that ‘America’ as it is defined in the Pledge of Allegiance never really existed. For one thing ‒ and, to my mind, this is the key point ‒, there never was nor is there today one indivisible American Nation. As noted by political scientist James Piereson in ‘The idea of an American nation – On the genesis of the American nation-state’, an essay published in 2020 in The New Criterion review, the United States seems headed ‘toward pluralism without consensus […] and towards animus among racial, religious, regional, and national groups’ . [i] In light of these developments, Piereson defines the U.S.A. as ‘nation-state without a national idea’, which, if I may say so, leaves the reader with the inevitable conclusion that, lacking a ‘national idea’ and an indivisible nation, ‘America’ isn’t a ‘nation-state’ but a ‘state’ held together by enforced Federal power. On the rhetorical question whether it is ‘still possible to restore the ideal of a single American nation?’, Piereson answers: ‘That remains to be seen’.” (emphases added)
The 10th Amendment
“So, if, as Piereson contends, an ‘American nation’ was and still is an ideal that must be restored, that, in your words, must be made great again, it must have somehow shrunk, shrivelled or atrophied some time ago. If it’s still alive, it must be given sufficient amounts of attention and support for it to become great again. If the Pledge of Allegiance is to be your guide in making ‘America’ great again, your task at hand is to turn it’s several definitions of ‘America’ into a unifying thread that all ‘Americans’ will accept and endorse: a Republic for which it stands, one indivisible Nation under God, liberty and justice for all. Apart from the fact that it seems inconceivable that all Americans will wholeheartedly accept and endorse such a unifying thread, you are well aware of the fact that the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, that you pledged to support, defend and bear true faith and allegiance to, provides that: ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people’. If ‘nation’ means what it means and not something else, one indivisible ‘American’ nation can only become a reality when the States unconditionally and irrevocably relinquish their ‘reserved’ powers and hand them over to a truly National Government. Although ideas do have consequences, the idea that the States would unmock themselves for the purpose ‘nationalizing’ the U.S.A. will probably remain a utopian one forever and ever.”
A wise and frugal Government
“Permit me to proffer that there was a time when ‘America’s’ true greatness wasn’t just an idea, but that it was a ‘palpable’ reality that did exist in real life. I’m referring to the period when the United States still had a Federal government that was limited and respectful of the Constitution, which specifically defines the definite powers that Government may exercize only for certain well defined special purposes, while leaving the delegating States in full control of what Thomas Jefferson described as ‘the residuary mass of right to their own self-government’. [ii] This is the ‘America’ that was still great when, on 4 March 1801, in his First Inaugural Address, President Jefferson stated: “Still one thing more, fellow-citizens — a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.” If, Mr. President, you would succeed in making and keeping the ‘American’ Government ‘wise and frugal’ again, you will not only make ‘America’ but also the Cause of America great again, and, in doing so, worthy of becoming the Cause of all Mankind … again. And thus, your ‘good Government’ will be able to close the circle of all mankind’s felicities.”
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[i] https://newcriterion.com/article/the-idea-of-an-american-nation/
[ii] See: The Kentucky Resolution; Thomas Jefferson, 1798. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-30-02-0370-0002