Gaslighting an entire nation

 The Republican Convention was an exercise in mass gaslighting.  Its premise was that anything negative in Trump's past was a malevolent contrivance of the Democrats.  The speakers at the Tuesday night session of the convention sounded as if they were nominating him for sainthood.  And there were shots of him with his bandaged ear as evidence of the mockery and abuse he suffered in his quest to redeem the nation from its diminished plight.

The Trump slogan [Make America Great Again] has always puzzled me.  When was it that America was so notably great?   What characterized its greatness?  When and how did it lose those characteristics?  Just what characteristics will restore its greatness?  Or has it always been what it is?

The whole MAGA business is a baseless contention.  There are no facts that stand up under scrutiny that define the greatness.  Some of the momentum of the civil rights movement has declined, but the MAGA people are behind that setback.  The right wing is in a frantic frenzy to destroy the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts (DEI) to extend the civil rights principles into matters of employment and everyday life.  It has had some success in that regard.

The United States from its inception has strived to meet in practice the words of its founding, to achieve liberty, equality, and justice for all.  But there has always been a significant portion of the population that has no real interest in those qualities.The current push for equity has involved more women getting into positions of authority usually held by men.  I have not witnessed that process from the inside because the jobs I have held were in places where women were already in leadership positions--in journalism and education.  I do understand, however, that men dominated the executive suites in the nation. And that includes the White House.  That may soon change, as we've seen women become contenders for the presidency. Women are now the  top officers in some corporations, and that fact marks an achievement in behalf of  gender equality.  It doesn't, however, signify an advance in social equality, as corporate officers cling to authoritarian roles in their exercise of executive function, no matter what their gender.

During what we refer to as the civil rights era, we made important strides toward addressing racial and social discrimination.  Those gains were apparent at the Democratic Convention with the number of prominent black people participating and the nominee for president being a multi-racial woman.  Much of their efforts were to refute the MAGA efforts to return to a past that was short on human rights and catered to the privileges  of a wealthy few and excluded others on a racial and social basis.  The rallying cry of the Democrats is "We won't go back!"

The irony is that the GOP, under the marshaling of Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Illinois) exerted leadership in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 over the obstruction of a block of Democratic senators.  The MAGA folks think greatness was a time when a select few had power and privilege over ordinary Americans.  The current Democrats are defining just what Trump and his ilk mean by "greatness."  America's greatness is in its arduous efforts to achieve equality and attain liberty and justice for all.  Trump represents a setback in the progress we've made.  And a number of Republicans who worked for him and spoke at the Democratic Convention explained that.  

Trump speaks of America's failures as a nation, but he is its most significant one.  

The flag of a failed democracy.