I’ll begin by thanking Karen Murphy Ballash for responding to my request (Nov. 13) for an explanation of when America was great and what made it great back  then. As I read her letter (Nov. 30), I see points where I agree and points where I disagree. She writes that America was great when the country was founded. I certainly agree that the basically “democratic” system of government created in 1787 was “inspired genius,” but it also had fundamental flaws.  The Constitution sanctioned slavery. There was no freedom and free will for slaves. It took a civil war and a million deaths to reverse that travesty. Women did not get the right to vote for another hundred years. Ms. Ballash is overlooking  a pretty big “but …” when she says that Americas was great when it was founded.Ms. Ballash thinks that I do not love America enough — an uncalled for and self-righteous insult. But more to the point, it is precisely because I love America — and am proud to be an American — that I am willing to face up to America’s misdeeds, past and present.  I refuse to turn a blind eye to the tragic injustices that America has created or allowed. Slavery may have been outlawed by the 14th Amendment, but discrimination  against black citizens continued under Jim Crow laws and continues in the attitudes of many Americans. Women suffer economic discrimination to this day, as do many minorities. Native Americans had their way of life intentionally destroyed. Many Japanese Americans were deprived of their freedom. As Americans, we must learn from our history never to repeat these kinds of wrongs.I do agree with Ms. Ballash that vigorous, unrestrained  freedom of speech under the First Amendment is critical to American democracy and sets us apart from the abuses of authoritarian regimes. Will MAGA supporters like Ms. Ballash join me to speak out if the incoming Trump administration tries to punish the speech of its critics (as it has threatened to do)? I hope so.  As to hate speech, I don’t like it — hate is contrary to what is great about the American spirit, but I believe that we must rely on Americans to reject it rather than prohibit it. Like Ms. Ballash, I have ancestors male and female who served America in its times of need. Their hard work and integrity also helped build our country and I am as proud of them as she is of her ancestors. I definitely agree that the sacrifice of Americans during World War II to free the world from Nazi and Japanese tyranny made America great.  Will incoming President Trump stand up to the tyranny of Vladimir Putin? Or will he forfeit America’s greatness?I was particularly struck by Ms. Ballish’s emphasis that her “proud, hardscrabble” ancestors “refused all forms of charity.” Today, it would be hard to find a bigger basket of largesse than the United States tax code with its thousands of exemptions/loopholes procured by lobbyists for the elite. Beyond the tax code, the government offers countless economic subsidies to special interests that are of questionable benefit to the country as a whole.  Does Ms. Ballish think that these forms of government largesse should be repealed? If so, I would join her on a lot of them, but somehow I don’t think repealing these gifts to the economic elite will be on incoming President Trump’s agenda.As discussed above, there are a number of the tenets of Make America Great Again identified by Ms. Ballash that I agree with. However, in the end, I have two broad concerns with the MAGA movement.First, MAGA supporters are focusing only on what they think makes America great.  They are turning a blind eye to the things about America that are not great. They don’t seem concerned about fixing the things that diminish America’s greatness.  Second, while Donald Trump has been the great proponent of the MAGA doctrine as explained by Ms. Ballash, I have serious doubts that he will actually deliver on the things that Ms. Ballash thinks make America great. If he doesn’t, will Ms. Ballash and other MAGA supporters hold him accountable? We’ll see.Ed RutanPinebrookThe post Still unsure on MAGA appeared first on Park Record.