There is a saying that goes something like this, if you run into a jerk in the morning, he’s probably a jerk. If you run into jerks all day, you are the jerk. To hear the Trump administration explain it, we’ve been running into jerks all day. Americans have been ripped off by every country in the world since WWII. We’ve spent the last 80 years getting swindled by the Europeans. The Asians joined the party about 50 years ago and even our neighbors to the North and South have been picking on us for the last few decades. There is a problem with this description. It’s false. The richest most powerful country in the world has not been, “looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far.” We should reject the narrative that characterizes us as victims.
When I hear of the American dystopia created by “unfair” trade, I look outside and wonder if I’m living in the same country. To be fair, the streets of Sanilac County are not paved with gold but the grocery stores are stocked, the gas tanks are full, and opportunities exist for those who seek them. These are privileges recognized by few people throughout time. It takes stupendous historical illiteracy to confuse a peaceful and prosperous nation with one that has been ravaged for decades.
The American Dream promises life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s alive and well. Our youth inherit a land of plenty. The class of 2025 is filled with ambitious graduates. As a member of the Sanilac County Community Foundation, I review their scholarship essays. They plan on becoming engineers, nurses, teachers, farmers, mechanics, and everything else imaginable. If they study hard and play by the rules, they will succeed. It would be a shame to convince them their futures were stolen. Furthermore over 1 million legal immigrants move to the USA every year. Millions more are standing in line behind them. America is a magnet attracting ambitious people from all over the world, not a hollowed out ruin filled with victims of international trade.
As Kid Rock sings, “You get what you put in and people get what they deserve.” When we fail, the most likely location to find the culprit is the mirror. For those of us struggling, the solution lies in our hearts and minds with the help of our friends and families, not the manipulation of tariff rates and trade imbalances. When we think of ourselves as victims, it relieves us of the responsibility for our own actions and conveniently places the blame on shadowy figures. Americans are traditionally problem solvers, not whiners. Let’s keep it that way. To be clear, life isn’t fair. Kindergartners learn that but cultivating outsized grievances for minor injustices distorts our view of the world.
We are not being “looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered.” If we were, we wouldn’t need Donald Trump or JD Vance to tell us. We do need to renegotiate certain trade deals, but let’s do it as equals with our trading partners, not as crybabies. Anyone who tries to convince us that running a trade deficit is the same as being violated is selling grievance. Don’t buy it.