The U.S. government is, as a matter of policy, ripping children from the arms of their parents and putting them in fenced enclosures. The U.S. president is demanding that law enforcement stop investigating his associates and go after his political enemies instead. He has been insulting democratic allies while praising murderous dictators. And a global trade war seems increasingly likely.
What do these stories have in common? Obviously they’re all tied to the character of the man occupying the White House,. But there’s also a larger context, and it’s not just about Donald Trump. What we’re witnessing is a systematic rejection of long-standing American values – the values that actually made America great.
America has long been a powerful nation. In particular, we emerged from World War II with a level of both economic and military dominance not seen since the heyday of ancient Rome. But our role in the world was always about more than money and guns. It was also about ideals: America stood for something larger than itself – for freedom, human rights and the rule of law as universal principles.
Of course, we often fell short of those ideals. But the ideals were real, and mattered. Many nations have pursued racist policies; but when Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal wrote his 1944 book about our “Negro problem,” he called it “An American Dilemma,” because he viewed us as a nation whose civilization had a “flavor of enlightenment” and whose citizens were aware at some level that our treatment of blacks was at odds with our principles.
And his belief that there was a core of decency – maybe even goodness – to America was eventually vindicated by the rise and success, incomplete as it was, of the civil rights movement.