As you may know, I get information from entities of many political stripes. I think it’s healthy to get multiple points of view. Every once in a while, I might even agree with an unlikely source. Don’t remember the particulars anymore, but Mike Huckabee said something in the populist/”COMPASSIONATE conservative” bent during the 2008 campaign that I didn’t dispute.
Anyway, I got this thing from Newt Gingrich, and it reads as follows:
The most important question in American politics today is whether America is an exceptional nation. This is the core question behind every debate we are having about how to solve our country’s most pressing challenges.
If America is a unique nation founded upon self-evident truths about the rights of man, then that belief imposes inherent limits on the size and scope of government.
If, however, America is a normal country, no different than our European cousins, then big government socialism that takes power from citizens and gives it to bureaucrats is acceptable.
We believe in American Exceptionalism – in creator endowed rights, limited government, and a responsible, self-sufficient American people. That’s why we have undertaken a major investment of time and effort in focusing every American on our history and our remarkable culture.
In another e-mail, Gingrich says that his “inspirational new book, A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters,” in which “Gingrich lays out a powerful defense for America as the Founders intended it” and “explains exactly what American Exceptionalism is (a set of core values reflected in our Declaration of Independence) and what it is not (nationalist hubris).”
Meanwhile, a recent Pew poll suggests that more Americans think that the U.S. is one of the greatest countries in the world than say it stands above all other countries.
So I ask you:
What do YOU think American exceptionalism is? Is it our founding declaration of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Is it that America, alone among the nations, is beloved of God? Is it the experiment that created a Bill of Rights? Is it the vast natural resources of a country this large? Is it jingoism? Is it “the last best hope for a mankind plagued by tyranny and deprivation,” as Reagan put it?
I ask because I don’t know. The term has become so fraught with political intrigue that it’s muddied the waters for me.
I once joked that American exceptionalism meant that we could take exception to soccer, the metric system, and single-payer health care.
All insights are welcome, from within and without the country.
I think that our Founding documents – the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution – are unique and the source of illustrious American Ideals. However, I think an objective-as-one-can review of the history of actual American behavior is anything but exceptional. There are shining moments, but all too often we behave just like any other petty, self-advantageous government, particularly since we reached the Empire stage of Pax Americana. This is the particular reason, I think, that Liberals are seen as so negative about our own nation, because of the gap between Ideals and actual behaviour.
I believe America is exceptional. No, we are certainly not without faults, but our history is full of exceptional events. One of our exceptional characteristics is that, despite whatever disaster occurs on our soil, we do not tend to whine to other nations for help. We do not expect handouts from other countries when earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis etc. devastate our land. We tend to take care of it within our own resources and American ingenuity. When was the last time any other country sent help to our shores during a disaster? Yet our country sends help to other countries at the drop of a hat. Our military is one of the finest in the world. Think what you want about the USA, but no one is risking their life trying to get OUT of the country.
I agree with Uthacleena, the texts of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence make us exceptional. The further we go from these documents the less exceptional we are, and we all become more like idiots who say things like this:
“If, however, America is a normal country, no different than our European cousins, then big government socialism that takes power from citizens and gives it to bureaucrats is acceptable.”
This idiot loves corporate socialism. He believes we should take power from elected government and give it to corporations. He believes every individual exists to support corporate profits.
But you can’t vote against corporations, you can’t pressure them to return some of your taxes like you can with government. The only way to fight corporations is with violence… like when the Patriots challenged the East India Company in Dec. 1773, throwing their monopolistic tea into Boston Harbor.
If Nasty Newt likes corporate structured societies, then let’s buy him a one way ticket to North Korea. And make sure he stays there.