Every nation strives for greatness. America is only one country, among many, founded on the concept of achieving “greatness” to an extent. When George Washington and the many other Founding Fathers broke away from Great Britain, the path to greatness was riddled with bloodshed, built upon a history of what many colonists perceived as unfair taxation and laws. Yet at that time, they were not striving to make America great again, so much as delivering a message to Great Britain and the rest of the world that America had every intention of continuing and expanding on a greatness it had started to achieve.

Greatness, however, always depends on the perspective of those who get to enjoy the bounty of that greatness. Before the American Revolution, America was great, both for the British as well as for many Americans. That greatness was not enjoyed by the tens of thousands of Native Americans kill and summarily displaced from their homes, or the millions of African slaves in bondage. Yet still, it was great for a large many.

For the early Americans enjoying the greatness of a burgeoning and growing New World, the feeling of greatness declined when the heavy taxation and woefully unjust laws began. Far from just too much tax on tea, the British Crown had actually enacted 4 separate pieces of legislation that were responsible for the Revolutionary War: the Sugar Act of 1764, the Currency Act of 1764, the Quartering Act of 1765 and the Stamp Act of 1765.

The Sugar Act placed high taxes on a host of goods produced in the American colonies, most notably sugar and molasses. Although sugar was still a comparatively small part of the U.S. economy at the time, the tax’s impact was still significant and a blow to many sugar cane farmers in the Southern colonies.

The Currency Act, which made it illegal for the American colonies to print their own currency, threw the quickly-growing American economy into turmoil. Instead of giving an equal exchange of British notes to the new American currency, the Bank of England instead traded one British note for two American ones. This effectively destroyed the wealth that many business owners had acquired.

The Stamp Act placed a heavy tax on all forms of paperwork. Anything that was printed was taxed. Given how much paper was used in the colonies at the time, this was an effective way of collecting a large amount of taxes from almost all individuals in the country.

The Quartering Act was one piece of legislation so insulting to the pre-Revolutionary War Americans, it even made it into the U.S. constitution as the Third Amendment. This act forced American colonists to house and feed British soldiers, regardless of the expense.

Taken together, it should come as no surprise that the early Americans, many of whom, at that time, had never actually been to England, perceived Great Britain as an interloper in their affairs, turning their greatness into poverty and subservience. Their way of life was threatened, and their response, violent uprising, was not their first option, but the one they turned to when they reached the point where words seemed to fail.

A Parallel in Germany

In his poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T.S. Eliot wrote

“I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

…And in short, I was afraid.”

Eliot hits on a point of human nature that is as hard to ignore now as it was when the Founding Fathers first signed the Declaration of Independence. Those who live to see their “greatness flicker” are unlikely to take it lightly. It causes fear. Fear will always enact the “fight or flight” tendencies in humans. Those who believe they can do something will typically choose to fight, while those who believe the end is inevitable will choose “flight.” This was true in the former for the early Americans. It was true as well, to noticeably relevant degree, in Germany leading up to World War II.

It’s easy to forget that the same marginalization that the early Americans felt due to Great Britain, both from unfair laws and unfair taxation, happened to Germany after the end of World War I. With the passage of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was required to pay $12.5 billion in reparations. In today’s terms, that’s $150 billion, large amount to be sure, but for Germany’s economy at the time a near impossibility. The amount was so egregious that even British Economist John Maynard Keynes believed it would ruin the German economy. Germany did not make their final payment on this debt until 2010, some 90 years later.

While the debt did not completely destroy Germany, it did have a similar effect as to what happened in early America. It created a strong drive toward nationalism, and it birthed the motivation many needed to lash out at those who created the situation in the first place. While Hitler was able to twist and warp these sentiments for his own nefarious purposes, the Treaty of Versailles and those countries that drafted it were no less to blame for creating the situation in the first place.

Post-war Germany was forced to watch the moment of its greatness flicker. But there was more to it than that. Those who stole the nation’s greatness after World War I proceeded to stomp and parade on its weakness, taunting it for its failures. Germany, like many other nations before it, sought to correct that error, first through words, and then through violence.

Make America Great Again

It’s easy and convenient to label those who support Donald Trump as “anachronistic” or “racist” or “bigoted.” Indeed, for many of those who either support Hillary Clinton, or who simply do not see the allure of Trump’s message, his campaign’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” appears to be nothing more than a desire to return America to a time when minorities were in the margins and Americans of European descent had little to worry about other than an increasingly belligerent Russia.

Yet the hard truth is that many older Americans, and many younger Trump supporters, are not spurred by racist sentiments, but nostalgia for the greatness of America as it once was from their own, fully real perspectives. Older, white Americans may remember the economic boom of the post-war 1950s with a significant amount of fondness. They may remember the excitement of American industry and the growth of the American economy at the time. Although that America was not “great” for minorities, it was certainly great for the largest percentage of Americans. In the 1950s, the U.S. unemployment rate was among the lowest it had ever been. Good paying jobs were plentiful, America was safe and respected worldwide. America was, for many, a great place to be.

But what about for those Americans who were not around in the 1950s, but who still support Trump? Much of the “greatness” they seek lies not in a return to an economic boom they never experienced, but to an America that looks more like what it did before their time, or when they were younger. One in which conservatives were not alienated. One in which the family consisted of two parents of opposite gender. One where unborn children were not wantonly disposed of because they were unwanted. One in which alternative lifestyles were not openly paraded on television and in the media. One in which America was both feared and respected overseas, and where, at home, American interests came before those of individuals who are new to the country.

If that doesn’t sound like a “great” America to you, that’s simply a matter of perspective. One does not necessarily have to believe that those ideals are right for the country. One needs to understand and respect that those ideals are important to a very large proportion of the country. Taking a step back, one should also recognize that the culture that our media presents no longer represents any of those ideals, at least not positively. Is it any wonder that so many people find solace and hope in Trump’s message?

Before you write off Trump’s supporters, it may be a good idea to look at the past. Those who feel economically disabled (most of Trump’s supporters do), and culturally disabled (most of Trump’s supporters do), are pushed toward the “fight or flight” reaction. Do not assume, however, that a Trump vote is the end-all for the “fight” mentality, or that Trump supporters will choose “flight” should Trump lose. It may be a dangerous error as well to believe that Americans have evolved past more violent ends to political and cultural marginalization. Many may see the final option — the same course taken by the Founding Fathers and Germany — as the only reasonable course of action that remains.