Is this what it means to “make America great again”?
Does a great nation spurn loyal allies and genuflect before tyrants? Does it seek to swell its size and wealth while cutting lifelines to those sick and starving abroad? Would a great nation embrace oligarchs, both domestic and foreign, while belittling and mistreating the most vulnerable? Would it hunt down homeless migrants and ship them without due process to foreign hellholes? Would it exalt kissing up while kicking down? Would it toss friends to wolves?
America’s true greatness always has stood on its goodness. Yes, we have sinned, often grotesquely — with centuries of slavery, Indian genocide, land theft and foreign invasions. The Vietnam and Iraq wars stain our national conscience, as do Jim Crow, segregation and Japanese internment. But when we have sinned, we also have repented, even if grudgingly and late.
When instead we have done good, we have shown our true greatness. By rebuilding Europe with the Marshall Plan; by enabling a dignified and healthy old age with Social Security and Medicare; by lifting barriers to the polls with the Voting Rights Act; by opening our doors to those of all colors and creeds who seek only to build a better life for their children. And, yes, by showing empathy toward the suffering and shunned.
Being good in all these ways has not made us chumps. We can be at once both generous and self-interested. Our soft power abroad draws on our most generous and noble acts and traditions. Our moral capital has won us tangible capital in both trade and military alliances. Holding true to our democratic traditions has drawn to our side the world’s wealthiest and most powerful democracies.
Why on earth would we scorn the friendship of Canada, the EU, Japan and South Korea for the meager recompense of Russia’s battered economy and beleaguered military? Why would we betray Ukraine, which has stood bravely against aggression?
Nor does being good mean being weak. Our military might empowers us to defend our ideals while supporting others who adhere to those same ideals. But being mighty is not an end in itself. Nor is being vast or rich. If we seize Greenland, Gaza or the Panama Canal, or bring our friends to their knees with massive tariffs, we may make ourselves richer in material terms even as we forsake our highest ideals.
Those ideals, the true roots of our strength, have made America good. And only by being good again can we be truly great.
George Fisher is a professor at Stanford Law School. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of his employer.
