Make America great again? When exactly was that time of greatness? It appears now it was post-slavery to pre-Trump. In that 150-year period of true greatness, America decisively took on the world’s most critical threats.
America overcame slavery, fascist dictators, worldwide disease and famine. It created a true American middle class with Social Security, Medicare and labor reform. It preserved magnificent natural wonders by creating the National Parks system. It cleaned the water and air with sound environmental regulations.
America was never without faults, but the world always looked to it as the one bastion of hope during impending catastrophe. Now, the most devastating scenario is imminent. The climate is dangerously changed, making the planet progressively unlivable.
What is America doing to address this greatest threat to the human race in millennia? Deny and run. Its leaders, the Donald Trump Republican Party, choose to weaken environmental regulations, promote polluting fossil fuel energy over renewable types and unilaterally reject the Paris climate agreement.
This is not the great America that never shied from challenge. If America is truly to be great again, it must rediscover its legacy of bravely taking on the world’s greatest challenges, not selfishly running from them.
James Frank
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