I was thinking about “MAGA”—Make America Great Again. There’s a lot in those four little words. “Make”—to compel, to force. “America”—the nation being compelled. “Great”—worthy, estimable. “Again”—repeating the past. Force the nation to be worthy again by repeating the past. It’s why Kamala Harris’s “We’re Not Going Back” is such a perfect response in frame and tone.
Whenever I hear “Make America Great Again” I always think, “when was America great before?” 2014, before gays could marry? 1973, when women couldn’t get credit cards or checking accounts? 1966, before interracial marriage was legal? I know some celebrity recently (Brian Cranston?) had some video up in a similar vein. Just keep going back as you push that Price is Right range finder on the timeline of civil rights progress.
I worship the late George Carlin and can only imagine the bump-stocked rapid fire monologue he’d deliver on the riff “when was America great before?” So, to fulfill my imagination, I built a table to be able to generate an appropriate Carlinesque response, cataloguing advances in racial, gender, LGBT, Native, disability, and Labor equity chronologically, to generate an aggregate response to any given year a MAGA might select. You just pin them down to a year and read the column on the right until you reach their year. Example follows…
“I see your hat says Make America Great Again. Can you tell me when was America great before?The fifties, you say? Like, what, 1950? Okay, so, America was great back in 1950 when gay marriage was illegal; women couldn’t serve in combat; gays couldn’t openly serve in the military; it was easier for businesses to illegally underpay women; gender/orientation/disability attacks were punished less; gay sex was illegal; states could ban protections for gays; rape and sexual assault got less law enforcement; businesses ignored parents of newborns; the military asked recruits and rejected them if they are gay; public accommodations ignored disabled people; businesses could discriminate against pregnant women; women couldn’t get bank accounts or credit cards; women couldn’t get abortions (oh, wait, scratch that one); homosexuality was deemed a mental illness; schools could discriminate against women athletes; race/religion/ethnicity attacks were punished less; businesses could discriminate by gender in job ads; businesses could discriminate against older workers; interracial marriage was illegal; racially discriminatory voting practices were legal; public accommodations were racially segregated; businesses could pay women less; buses, trains, and planes were segregated; government workers couldn’t unionize; women didn’t have birth control pills; gay (not indecent) media was banned from the mail; schools were racially segregated; and gays were officially banned from government jobs? Is that really when America was great for everybody or just for straight white businessmen. Straight white businessmen.”
Man, I miss George Carlin.
