This Is An Interesting Question

[Rev. Rye]

Yeah, I'm likely to think the closest thing we had to a time we were truly great was In the postwar years, when we won WW2 (even if a lot of the credit for actually defeating Hitler really deserves to go to the Soviets, in a battle campaign largely consisting of "who can run out of fresh-faced boys willing to die for their countries first") and, of course, the postwar prosperity and the explosion of new technology.

That said, it was imperfect, and just ask any woman or a member of a racial minority about that (although the aforementioned previous paragraph might have helped them raise their consciousness and fight) As far as they're concerned, as Carole King once sang, "these are the good old days." And yes, that can be really depressing.

And why do I get the feeling the people who want to "make America great again" don't care about ANY of that?

[brewer]

Tired of america bashing, moving on.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Tired of america bashing, moving on.

I think the thread is a little more even-handed than that.

[brewer]

Tired of america bashing, moving on.

I think the thread is a little more even-handed than that.

Agreed. Maybe it's just Min's bashing. YAWN

[Minimalist]

There is a saying that those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it, MH.  A little introspection is good for the soul.  'Murricans hate introspection they prefer slogans.  That's why we have a moron in the white house saying "make America great again."

It is not so apparent when it was ever great, which was Rushdie's point. 

I also find it curious that so many people jump to 1945 as our period of "greatness" when in fact we were the only major country to emerge from the war pretty much intact.  Is that "greatness" or merely the last man standing?

[Rev. Rye]

I'm sure we had other nations who were intact; they just didn't get involved in the war. Ireland, for example.

[pocaracas]

I'm sure we had other nations who were intact; they just didn't get involved in the war. Ireland, for example.

Portugal, too.... sadly, we were keeled in a dictatorship that would last until 1974... but it is said that much nazi gold found it's way here...

[Rev. Rye]

As with Switzerland; though apparently, Switzerland did manage to mobilize within four days when it seemed likely that the Nazis would invade. However, Hitler did something he almost never did: back down on a threat.

[Minimalist]

I don't think Ireland or Portugal were leading world economies at the time.  Although both were generally smart enough to avoid getting involved in the war.

[pocaracas]

I don't think Ireland or Portugal were leading world economies at the time.  Although both were generally smart enough to avoid getting involved in the war.

But they were great in the eyes of their leaders.

A nation, to be great, need not be a leading world economy. Only needs to be self-sufficient, live in a dictatorial regime that shuts down borders and keeps the people in ignorance of the outside world, feeding them propaganda about how bad the rest of the world is and good our country is, all while the civilizational and technological gap between the country and the rest of the world widens and widens.