“The charge that Obama threatens American exceptionalism is daft. He is, after all, fond of declaring, ‘In no other country on Earth is my story even possible.'”
“Things hit rock bottom when conservative Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker flayed Obama for not using the words ‘American exceptionalism’ in his 2011 State of the Union speech, even though he called America a ‘light to the world’ and ‘the greatest nation on Earth.'”
“American exceptionalism does not simply mean that America is different from other countries. (After all, every country is different from every other one.) It means that America departs from the established way of doing things. What makes America exceptional is our refusal to behave like the Old World.”
“As America and Europe have changed over time, so have the attributes that exceptionalists claim distinguish us from them. But for the contemporary right, there are basically three:
(1.) our belief in organized religion;
(2.) our belief that America has a special mission to spread freedom in the world; and
(3.) our belief that we are a classless society where, through limited government and free enterprise, anyone can get ahead.”
“Ironically, the people most responsible for eroding American exceptionalism are the very conservatives who most fear its demise.”
– Peter Beinart, February 3, 2014.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:
(1.) When churches got political, they quit spreading the Good News. People who reject religious affiliation today are neither atheists nor agnostics. Most pray. Americans aren’t rejecting religion. They are rejecting the unholy mixture of politics and faith.
(2.) In the years after WWII ended, Americans have seen that ‘spreading freedom’ usually means spreading war.
(3.) Americans have witnessed the rich get richer as the middle class quietly disappears. In the words of comedian Chris Rock, “You know what it means when they pay you minimum wage? You know what they’re trying to tell you? ‘Hey, if I could pay you less, I would. But it’s against the law.’
Each of these three trends are the results of conservative policy.
The young, having no memory of the more equal, more mobile America of popular legend, see today’s reality more clearly than the rest of us. Because they do, they are more eager to change it.