By Triandous Hobson

Opinions Writer

  There has never been a time when America was truly great. From the time when it was founded until today, there has always been a problem or flaw with our society.

  Maybe I’m wrong, so let’s check the facts. 

   In 1776, America was founded. It was built on truth, justice, and freedom. Many fought for the idea of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

  A group of men got together and decided to build a society based on progress and creating a country free of prejudice.   

  After all, many came to the New World to escape religious persecution. It sounds like an amazing country, and it would have been. 

  However, most thought it was acceptable to dehumanize and murder others. 

  Slavery certainly didn’t make America great. 

  Andrew McGill, a reporter for The Atlantic, wrote, “A person’s age plays a role in when they think the United States was at its peak.” 

  The time period that you were born in contributes to your view on society. 

  If there were injustices, you wouldn’t really know because you just figured that’s how life was at the time.

  The New York Times conducted a poll in which over 2,000 people were asked to name the single year America was at its greatest. 

  Democrats believed that over the last twenty years things have started to shape up, while Republicans believe that the late 1950’s and the mid-1980’s were the times that our country was best during.

  President Trump, when asked by the New York Times when he thought America had the right balance, answered that it was during periods of military and industrial expansion, at the time of the 20th century, and again in the years after World War II.

  He said, “If you look back, it really was, there was a time when we were developing at the turn of the century which was a pretty wild time for this country and pretty wild in terms of building that machine. That machine was really based on entrepreneurship.” 

   He also made sure to say, “The late ‘40s and ‘50s. We were not pushed around, we were respected by everybody, we had just won a war. We were pretty much doing what we had to do.”

  Ah yes, the good old 1950s,  the golden years. Where everybody loved colored television, just not colored people. 

  Where every man had a job, and there weren’t confusing things like gender fluidity, women’s rights and equality.  

  I get it, people are nostalgic. However, the country hasn’t changed much. 

  There still exists milkshakes, racism, and sexism in our society today.

  Maybe that’s my issue with the whole catchphrase. 

  We have a president that’s getting closer to reaching the end of his first year in office, and he’s done nothing great at all. America is seen as a joke, we have no plans to get better,  and no innovation or drive. 

   The focal points of Trump’s presidency have solely been outlined with discriminatory policies. 

   I don’t think America was ever truly great. We have tried to be better, though, until Trump. 

   If Trump believes that the 1950s were so great, we are doing a great job backtracking. There wasn’t unity then. There isn’t unity now.

   I thought the whole ideology of America was to be accepting of others and new ideas.

   Rather than pretending we’re aspiring to reclaim “greatness,” I’d rather have our president be honest and say, “Everything is alright if you are white.”