Dear Donald, Are You Making America Great Again?

When you were nominated to be the Republican candidate for the 2016 Presidential race, I was sure that Hillary had won. You were loud, obnoxious, rude and inexperienced. You didn't have a clear platform to stand on. It seemed that you could talk your way out of every question. Every diversion led back to one theme though, that while you didn't have exact plans for how you were going to "Make America Great Again". Well, Mr. Trump, it has been almost eight months since you have become the President of the United States. You sure have done a lot of things, but make America great again? I'm not sure that's one of them.

Let me explain first, that I am a proud American. I support our military. I believe in the second amendment. I believe in limited government. I am a registered Independent because I do not believe that party affiliation is more important than the facts or the platform that a nominee stands on. I am willing to hear both sides, and I am willing to vote for both sides. I believe in our system, I believe in democracy, so you will not hear the phrase "not my president" come out of my mouth. Because unfortunately, for better or worse, you ARE my president, Mr. Trump. This is what the American people (or at least the majority of us) voted for. So here is my real issue, I do actually want to make America great, but I'm not exactly sure that's what you are doing.

When the phrase "Make America Great Again" comes out of your mouth, here are a few of the things that I actually hear:

Make America A Patriarchy Again

Make America at War Again

Make America White Again

Make America Prejudice Again

Make the Rich Powerful Again

Make Women Ashamed of Their Bodies Again

Make it Hard for Minorities to Succeed Again

Make Solar Power Obsolete Again

Make Oil Poison Our Wildlife Again

Make Our Relationship With Other Countries Turbulent Again

I could go on, but you get the point, don't you Trump? I want you to make America great, but you're not. If anything, you are driving us backward instead of forward. So rather than just berate you with what you're not doing, here are a few things that you actually could be doing to make America great again.

Stabilize the Economy

So this is something that you've actually done fairly well up to this point. By some miracle, every time you say a crazy thing on Twitter, or fire one of your advisors, or make friendship bracelets with Putin, the stock market has managed to stay fairly stable. Maybe it's because we're not shocked anymore, and the market is a reflection of that. Everything you say is crazier than the next, so we've built up an immunity. Great job, Wall Street. So how about the economy succeeding despite you, you actually add some value to it? You've praised yourself on job growth, but in reality what YOU have actually done has been immaterial compared to most of the work done by your successor (he who must not be named). You're a business man, right? Show us. Show us how you can make us great again by putting us in the black.

Bring Our Troops Home

I'm not naive, President Trump, I understand that war is sometimes a necessity. Unfortunately, we are still in an era where some things cannot be solved without war, and we have to protect ourselves from the enemies both on our soil and outside of it. But at what point are we causing the war, instead of defending against it? I've heard the argument "If we don't stay over there, then they'll just attack us here." And maybe this is true. But we are also notorious for trying to "help" countries that do not want to be helped. If our men and women are overseas protecting us from enemies, that is their duty, that is what they signed up to do. But if they are overseas so we can police other countries, that just not something I can understand, or agree with. Please, Mr. Trump, make the right calls, listen to your advisors, and choose the correct ones. You are not experienced in this area. Let someone advise you who is. And think about if you are protecting the American people, or using them to make a power play with other nations.

Protect Equal Rights

This is something that is truly American in nature. Equal rights? In some countries, equal rights are realistic as aliens. But here, in America, we are founded on the idea of equal rights, and a democratic system. People come to America to be free; to be free from a dictator, to be free from Apartheid, to be free from oppression. When did we start oppressing our own people? LGBTQ people. Minorities. The poor. Women. When did we get in the business of removing people of their rights, instead of freeing them? Please, Mr. Trump, protect equal rights because reigniting the American dream that anyone, no matter race, color or creed, can be successful will truly make America great again.