More Greatness: A New Gilded Age?

More Greatness: A New Gilded Age?

The United States of America will commemorate its semiquincentennial anniversary on July 4, 2026. Across the nation, celebrations are planned in major cities and small towns. A search of the internet yields “something for everyone” even as plans shape up for celebration of the 250th anniversary coming from the White House. The site quotes the President: “The story of America makes everyone free.” That is not the experience of everyone, when all are not free.

As discussions about celebrations ramp up, and events are being advertised, there are many wrestling with the language of celebration at a time when intentionality is being exercised to re-create an era in the United States when civil and human rights were challenged. The idea that the history of the United States is one of freedom denies the experiences of many, while lauding the history of supremacy, bigotry and hatred.

The quest to “make America great again” is confounding with the accompanying roll back on rights which are being taken with the stroke of a pen, the complicity of the Supreme Court and the Congress. The attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs that promote and highlight the achievements of people of color and the historically marginalized have resulted in changes on university campuses and in schools.

The White House website boasts: WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN AGE! That Golden Age, also known as the Gilded Age followed Reconstruction and was marked by a high influx of European immigrants, rapid wealth gain due to industrialization, poverty, economic inequality, and the rise of Jim Crow laws. It was also a time of political corruption influenced by grafting. We are there, gilded and pretending to be golden. Welcome to the Gilded Age!

Gilded versus golden is an important distinction. Golden pertains to something that contains gold or is superb. The word implies a high value. Gilded refers to being covered with gold or having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth. A second gilded age is upon us.

The centering of narratives of Christian supremacy are the underpinnings of a nationalistic current sweeping through communities where immigrants are being targeted, and the presence of ICE terrorizes individuals through stereotypes and racial profiling. This new age is one where fear is used as a tool to suppress. Look or speak different and you can be disappeared. The immigrant is the enemy, the obstacle to greatness and plenty. This is the lie of this new age, the creation of the idea that without immigrants, citizens of the United States, specifically Europeans and those of European descendants will return to the joys of some faded yesteryear.

Except, there is nothing faded about the legacy of the past which continues to haunt the present. The history and oppressions of Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Africans, African Americans, Asians, Asian Americans, Eastern Europeans, non-Christians, women, disabled people, the poor, people with mental illnesses is also a part of the history being glossed over in the shiny assumptions presented of this greatness. The labeling of people, the retraction of rights, the weaponizing of faith, the willingness to bypass the truth for stories based on misinformation and disinformation is a part of this new age. The presentation of greatness is the glitz that hides the reality of cruelty, oppression and dehumanization of communities that is a part of the reality of life in the United States.

Meanwhile, the poor and the hungry multiply. As “greatness” is projected for the masses the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. Spending cuts are targeting programs that have traditionally assisted “the least of these.” Private for-profit prisons are making money on a new group of people targeted as not belonging. Voter rights are being changed along with redistricting that ensures the votes of the demographic minority no longer count as they have. This greatness feeds on greed to perpetuate itself. This greatness hungers for power and supremacy at the expense of the planet, and people and their thriving.

In this new age, no one is safe or secure outside of the established norms of a white “Christian” nationalist framing. Being a person is not enough. Being Christian is not enough. Being a citizen is not enough. White Christian nationalism is an exclusive ideology that decides who is in and who is out, who is valued and who is deemed unworthy. Greatness is identified for certain people, for this particular nation state, and for a particular set of people with an identified set of beliefs. All else become “other” – outside – unworthy. All is covered with language and attitudes that gild the truth of oppression.

Over at the Department of War, the Secretary of Defense announced in December 2025 his intention “to make the Chaplain Corps great again,” prioritizing religious liberty and practice in the military by executing a “top-down cultural shift, putting spiritual well-being on the same footing as physical and mental health.” To acquire this greatness, the Secretary is hosting prayer services, quoting scripture to justify actions of the US military and has now cut the list of faith codes in the US military. The new list culled Christian denominations even as it retained traditions besides Christianity. Christianity is also a target in the accommodation of greatness, a Christianity which supports hatred and nationalism.

This can be added to the February 26, 2025 Executive Order Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias, the July 28, 2025 memorandum Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace, and the Establishment of the Religious Liberties Commission. All three support an exclusive Christianity while purporting to be supportive of religious freedom. These strengthen the voices of oppression rather than making room for all.

The suppression of voices and opinions that challenge the current administration is normalizing to the detriment of all. The return to what was does not represent the teachings and ministry of Jesus who fed the hungry and advocated for the poor, ministry that was against the Empire of his day and the religious zealots who were unconcerned with the needs of the people and content in ensuring their place and commitment to the cruelty of the day.

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