To the Editor:
Are we there yet? Is America (finally) Great Again?
Wall Street emphatically says, "Yes!" Deregulation has begun, Dodd-Frank is being rolled back and tax breeaks for the rich are coming. Banks are still too big and interconnected to fail, so Cowboy Capitalism is back, baby!
American children say, "Yes!" They now know that anyone can grow up to be president--even if you're a narcissist, a sociopath, mean-spirited, uninformed, undisciplined, a misogynist, a racist, a xenophobe, a bully, a serial liar, many times bankrupt or several times divorced. Is this a great country or what?
Our country's good friends Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdoğan, Abdel el-Sisi and Rodrigo Duterte, say, "Yes!" Moving from democracy to autocracy is the new fad, and the U.S. Constitution is so 18th century.
Straight white men, long accustomed to calling the shots in this country, say, "Yes!" African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Muslim-Americans, LGBTs, immigrants of color and women are on notice. Attorney General Sessions will oversee the reconfirmation of your second-class citizenship.
Unicorns say, "Yes!" Let's live in a fantasy world where tax cuts pay for themselves, climate change is not to be taken seriously, a free press is our enemy and accelerating income inequality is good for Americans.
OK, we are a deeply divided nation with a matching factious government. Yes, our leadership views the world--even allies--with suspicion, abandoning a century of global leadership and cooperation. So some cosmetic changes are in order: Change our name to "States of America" and our slogan to "American Alone." Great.
Allan MacDonald,
New London