Let me say up front, these are honest questions. I'm not trying to troll either side of the political aisle. I see the MAGA hats on one side of the political aisle and I hear the Democrats asking questions that I'm going to repeat. I'm just after your real input.
I hope that those who oppose Trump will allow this discussion with as little interruption as possible. Thank you in advance for well thought out responses.
1) When do you think America became great?
2) What made America great?
3) When did America begin to lose its greatness?
4) What are the reason (s) you think we are not a great nation today?
5) How can we measure the idea of greatness?
1) When it was founded.
2) The creation of America based on Constitution and Bill of Rights, a country created on ideas, rather than race, or ethnic identity....and the ability of any individual to become American by embracing the ideas set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
3) In the 1960s as the left began to take over the Universities, Hollywood, and the government bureacracy.
4) We are still the greatest nation on earth but if the left is allowed to turn us into a socialist country, we will no longer be great.
5) By how free our people are.
Not to be overly critical here, but Congress had but one and only one area of authority over foreigners. It is found in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution. It states as follows:
"
The Congress shall have Power To...establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization..."
Within months of the ratification of the United States Constitution, Congress carried out that duty and this is the relevant section of our
FIRST Naturalization Law:
"
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof..."
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization” (March 26, 1790)
naturalization laws 1790-1795
Realistically, the United States
WAS founded on race. It's a part of our culture. Almost all, if not all, the
earliest state constitutions required a person to be a
white Christian in order to be able to vote or hold public office. Many of the earliest Charters, Compacts, etc. alluded to this as well.
Many of our political leaders, including JFK and Ronald Reagan like to quote from a 1630 sermon delivered by John Winthrop aboard the Arbella as it sailed to the New World. While they like to invoke the part about America to be like a shining city on a hill, I'm sure none of these men ever really READ that sermon. I'd like to quote some of it for you:
"
First, in regard of the more near bond of marriage between Him and us, wherein He hath taken us to be His, after a most strict and peculiar manner, which will make Him the more jealous of our love and obedience. So He tells the people of Israel, you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your transgressions."
https://www.casa-arts.org/cms/lib/PA01925203/Centricity/Domain/50/A Model of Christian Charity.pdf
Our founders believed that they were the biblical Israelites sent here to build the New Jerusalem and to be a blessing to all nations. Our laws are a combination of Bible law and the Anglo Saxon system of jurisprudence. We did
NOT build a nation that tried to amalgamate other cultures and races into ours. As a matter of
fact, it was not until
1967 that interracial marriage was decreed "
legal" (and then only via an illegally ratified Amendment to the Constitution.) Wikipedia states:
"
Anti-miscegenation laws were a part of American law, in some States:since before the United States was established."
Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States - Wikipedia
To deny the racial origins of our culture and its influence on our nation is academically dishonest. I guess that is why I don't understand the whole MAGA concept - as this is one issue where they say the same words you say, but at the end of the day they do not practice it. That is why they want a wall between America and the southern border.
See, here is what is puzzling to me:
1) The MAGA concept is all about our culture, heritage, etc. and that we should be protected from so - called
"illegals." Hopefully, you will clear this up for me. In the Declaration of Independence, it states:
"
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Now, let me quote for you how our Courts interpreted
unalienable Rights:
“
By the "absolute rights" of individuals is meant those which are so in their primary and strictest sense, such as would belong to their persons merely in a state of nature, and which every man is entitled to enjoy, whether out of society or in it. The rights of personal security, of personal liberty, and private property do not depend upon the Constitution for their existence. They existed before the Constitution was made, or the government was organized. These are what are termed the "absolute rights" of individuals, which belong to them independently of all government, and which all governments which derive their power from the consent of the governed were instituted to protect.” People v. Berberrich (N. Y.) 20 Barb. 224, 229; McCartee v. Orphan Asylum Soc. (N. Y.) 9 Cow. 437, 511, 513, 18 Am. Dec. 516; People v. Toynbee (N. Y.) 2 Parker, Cr. R. 329, 369, 370 (quoting 1 Bl. Comm. 123) - {1855}
“
The absolute rights of individuals may be resolved into the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, and the right to acquire and enjoy property. These rights are declared to be natural, inherent, and unalienable.” Atchison & N. R. Co. v. Baty, 6 Neb. 37, 40, 29 Am. Rep. 356 (1877)
Sooo... If the government did not create Liberty; if Liberty was, indeed an
unalienable Right, we would have NO constitutional basis upon which to keep foreigners from entering the United States
to partake of opportunities willingly offered. Or maybe you can make an argument for creating quotas for keeping foreigners from taking advantage of opportunities willingly offered by Americans?
2) In my understanding of American history,
Liberty was an
unalienable Right;
citizenship, on the other hand was a
privilege that was granted by men subject to the limitations set by law
3) Today the dynamics are bass ackwards. We allow more people to become citizens than we allow to come here and work as temporary workers. Adding insult to injury,
MOST of the rest of the people on the face of this earth have an identity that we deny to ourselves. China is over 90 percent Han Chinese; Japan claims to be the most racially pure people and according to my research:
"...
the population of Japan appears largely homogenous with the final population statistics comprised of a 98.5% contribution from ethnic Japanese people."
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/japan-population/
North Korea according to my research:
"
North Korea actually boasts one of the most racially homogeneous societies in the world. Of the total population of approximately 25 million people, 99.8 percent are ethnically Korean. Less than one percent of North Koreans are identified as not being Korean."
North Korea Ethnic Groups | Study.com
Zimbabwe is 99.7 percent black. So, how come it is so hard for the American people to embrace their racial heritage? Slavery? Did we invent slavery? How come other countries are not held accountable? The liberals want
YOU held accountable.
This is the most puzzling aspect of trying to understand the whole MAGA concept. I'm sure that you've read United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney's legal reasoning as to our racial heritage in the Dred Scott v. Sanford case. If you have not read it, I urge you to do so. Many blacks have and that is why they really don't like white people. Study the case if you haven't read it:
Scott v. Sandford
Anyway, thank you for a well thought our response and I hope you will take the time to clear up this differing viewpoint about our racial heritage.