Great Again?

Six American soldiers this Saturday were transported to Dover from Kuwait where they perished in drone strikes in their makeshift tent/trailer center. 40,000 to 50,000 US soldiers are based across the Middle East – 11 of 18 of their bases are air unprotected, makeshift facilities.“Great Again”? Loss of life in the Middle East commenced last Friday, February 27, in a war without Congressional approval or any prior communication with the people of this nation. Is this “Great Again”?

Regardless of the lightened descriptors of hostilities, conflict, in Iran there rages a war – called such by Trump, by his Secretary of Defense.At least in 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizing President Johnson to use “all necessary measures” to repel attacks, serving as a functional, though not a formal authorization of war. 58,000 Americans lost their lives in the Vietnam War lasting from 1964 to 1973, through Presidents Johnson and Nixon. Is this – unsanctioned war – 6,000 miles out of range - with an unclear purpose an example of “Great Again”? Making America Great Again?

500,000 to a million Americas live and work in the Middle East as engineers, consultants, technologists in energy, in defense, in business development. 10’s of thousands of Americans are traveling in the Middle East at any given time.These Americans, at risk with the avalanche of missiles and drones, were given no advanced or real-time communications, initially offered no assistance beyond “move out.” Eight of the key embassies in the region are without an ambassador, have stood vacant for years. Is this “Great Again?”

In his brilliant best-selling “1929,” economist Andrew› Sorkin draws parallels of 2025 to the extreme excesses of the 1920’s that led to a stock market crash, a decade of depression. Income inequality in the US is currently the greatest since the Gilded Age.The wealthiest 1% of Americans hold about $55 trillion in assets – roughly equal to the combined wealth held by the bottom 90% of Americans.The “big, beautiful bill,” passing the GOP-dominated Congress in the summer of 2025, gave tax breaks to corporations and billionaires while removing health care for millions.White House doors, White House favors, White House pardons, and access to White House related moneys are wide open to those who give millions to Trump campaigns, to reconstruction of partially demolished sections of the White House, to the naming/renaming of landmarks. “Great Again”- is it the redistribution of wealth back to the levels of the corrupt 1920’s?Is it demolishing sections of the White House.Great Again?

1936 was the last time the US experienced net negative migration – more Americans migrating out of the US to other countries than in. The only other US instance of negative migration was in 1936, with the migration during the depression of Americans to Russia. In 2026, migration of Americans out is to Mexico, Canada and to Europe -a diversity of Americans representing a range of ages, families with and without kids, and the young choosing international colleges and universities over American.American migrants are leaving to counter lessening incomes, to expand social coverage, to access lifestyle advantages, and some to just be away from Trump.According to the Wall Street Journal, 180,000 + Americans left in 2024 – more in 2025 with more expected in 2026. Migration out comes with the increased demand for locating alternative places to live outside the US, international relocation companies burgeon.Americans leaving the US - Great Again? The loss of population, the loss of students. Great Again?

The demographics of the US was enviable just a year ago to Japan, Russia, Greece and numerous others nations whose populations are in decline. The US did not have a declining population when it welcomed immigration – a long-extended welcome.Yet today in the US there is a reframing of immigration to a negative concept.Immigrants legal, illegal, a few criminals are relentlessly pursued by ICE while other immigrants are self-deporting leaving a needy work force depleted in services and agriculture in particular.Great Again?

Additionally, the US birthrate is in decline – the needed 2.1 birth per woman for population replacement is down to 1.6. Birthing in the US has become riskier as women are not protected from pregnancy complications, from life-endangering situations with doctors who are reticent to intercede for the life of the mother, the life of the child. Fear and questionable restrictions came with the repeal of Roe vs Wade.Is this progress, is this Great Again?

1,000 children have been infected, died from long eradicated measles. Vaccines are villainized by a questionable lead as Secretary of Health and Human Services.An unhealthy nation isthat Great Again?

Make America Great Again fits and looks good on a baseball cap.It is worn with intensity this ball cap.But what is its meaning? What is America Great Again?What is the essence of this slogan:a billionaire President unbound for his and his family’s wealth, billionaires tax free, common folk precluded from health care, Americans leaving “the shiny city on the hill”, Americans deployed willy-nilly in Venezuela, Greenland, Iran, or America reneging on its promises of support to Ukraine, its NATO partners?Tell us please what is “Great Again”? How do we know it when we see it? Is it Constitutional?

Kathy Herald-Marlowe lives in Sharon.