There has always been a sentiment in our country to get small.

When the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock their first thoughts were about who belonged and who did not. Clearly no room for Catholics, Quakers and Jews. Native Americans should be eliminated or pushed aside.

When Andrew Jackson stretched out his hand to encompass the trans-Appalachian west, he saw no need to include the tribes who had been our first allies in the wars against Britain. Over and over again the land that remained for Native Americans was reduced by nefarious means until their residual populations were confined to reservations.

At the dawn of the 20th century the Red Scares sought to expel all those nasty anarchists who were masquerading as simple immigrant families. In World War II that occupation turned on the Japanese enemies among us all up and down the West Coast. We were briefly tempted to fashion a world order based on peace in the League of Nations, but we rejected that commitment to this behind our oceans until history came calling at Pearl Harbor.

And it is not just on foreign affairs. Populists have long railed against pointy-headed intellectuals. Who needs all this science research? All these programs around the world to combat AIDS and hunger.

So, let us get small again. Let us close down the bureaus at the State Department. Let’s defund scientific research. Let us close down agencies that educate our children or protect our air and water. Let us drive out all these horrible immigrants that have contributed nothing to our society.

Finally, let us shrink the democracy that has forced us to grant due process and voting rights. Let us shrink the number of people who can vote and the choices that they can make. Let us get rid of this fuss about separation of powers. We have a president, let us leave it at that.

And as we get smaller, our rivals will grow. They will take our place on the world stage. They will surpass us in science and technology. They will leave us with the outdated factories we seem to crave as their robots construct the 21st century. We can go back to being the sleepy small towns we claim to adore, a backward land of closed minds and closed borders.

But at least we will be small. Real small.

David Parrella lives in Buckland.