Can America Make Things Again?

“We can’t go back to the way we were.”
You’ve probably heard this before—usually used to shut down conversations about rebuilding manufacturing in America. The idea is that when factories left, we lost our drive, and now we’re stuck reselling things or hoping TikTok is a career path for our kids.

But if manufacturing is really gone, someone forgot to tell China, Vietnam, and Mexico. We’ve convinced ourselves we’re too “advanced” to make things, while the rest of the world is still busy producing real products—like smartphones, heart pills, and steel.

There’s still a market for things. So why can’t we make more of them here?

We didn’t forget how—we just got used to other countries doing it cheaper. In the process, people lost jobs, towns emptied, and we were told to retrain for work that doesn’t exist—or pays less than a coffee shop gig, without the tips.

Tariffs won’t fix everything. Rebuilding our manufacturing base takes more than taxes. It takes real investment, strong leadership, a better education system, and a renewed focus on workforce readiness.

We don’t need to go back—we need to move forward with the strength that built this country.
That means reclaiming industry, embracing automation, treating workers fairly, and maybe even bringing back unions. And if that’s too much to ask, maybe we need to look back—just long enough to remember what we’re capable of.