I don't know about you, but I get tired of the reductionist argument thrown out by conservatives -- bloggers, politicos, whatever -- when discussing the concept, "American Exceptionalism."
America is exceptional. Or was, until the fall of the Soviet Empire and it began to mistake itself for some new Rome.
There is no question that as an experiment in representational democracy with an underlying free market economic system and the unheard of idea of "birthright citizenship", the United States established itself as a paragon of government virtue in the wake of the fading colonial empires of the United Kingdom and France and the like.
Yet conservatives continue to mistake disagreeing with the United States' constant use of "hard power" with an overall disdain for all that makes America great.
All through the middle- and late-20th Century -- even when the U.S. supported the worst dictatorships in South America, Africa and the Middle East -- the people of those countries for the most part aspired to have our political system, our freedoms, the chance to land on our shores and have children they could proudly say were American.
Evan Sayet, like many on the Right, continues to mistake American hard power with American Exceptionalism. As the wars of recent years has shown us, America's ability to project force to every corner of the globe (I've always like that phrase: "globes don't have corners, silly ...") while impressive, doesn't always guarantee victory.
Sayet also dredges up a rather contradictory group of idealized American traits that, in light of the GOP's recent revelation that it plans to use fear-mongering and race-baiting this election season, really in hindsight, are not paragons of American Exceptionalism: our "Judeo-Christian values and unequaled Protestant work ethic."
These are code words for an America that is long gone or at least suffering through its spasmodic death throes every night on the Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck shows. American Exceptionalism grew not from these alleged values, but in spite of them.
From the separation of church and state to the emancipation of the slaves to granting women the right to vote to the Civil Rights Act, the forces of the Right, viewing the world through the prism of "Judeo-Christian values and the Protestant work ethic", have repeatedly tried undermine that which made America a beacon: It's ability to welcome people from all over the world, to create a society that is a flawed but noble meritocracy and to renew its traditions with each new group of people landing on its shores.
That's what makes America truly exceptional. Or, rather, it used to.
參考來源： Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » The Culture War Divide: American Exceptionalism (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)
America is exceptional. Or was, until the fall of the Soviet Empire and it began to mistake itself for some new Rome.
There is no question that as an experiment in representational democracy with an underlying free market economic system and the unheard of idea of "birthright citizenship", the United States established itself as a paragon of government virtue in the wake of the fading colonial empires of the United Kingdom and France and the like.
Yet conservatives continue to mistake disagreeing with the United States' constant use of "hard power" with an overall disdain for all that makes America great.
All through the middle- and late-20th Century -- even when the U.S. supported the worst dictatorships in South America, Africa and the Middle East -- the people of those countries for the most part aspired to have our political system, our freedoms, the chance to land on our shores and have children they could proudly say were American.
Evan Sayet, like many on the Right, continues to mistake American hard power with American Exceptionalism. As the wars of recent years has shown us, America's ability to project force to every corner of the globe (I've always like that phrase: "globes don't have corners, silly ...") while impressive, doesn't always guarantee victory.
Sayet also dredges up a rather contradictory group of idealized American traits that, in light of the GOP's recent revelation that it plans to use fear-mongering and race-baiting this election season, really in hindsight, are not paragons of American Exceptionalism: our "Judeo-Christian values and unequaled Protestant work ethic."
These are code words for an America that is long gone or at least suffering through its spasmodic death throes every night on the Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck shows. American Exceptionalism grew not from these alleged values, but in spite of them.
From the separation of church and state to the emancipation of the slaves to granting women the right to vote to the Civil Rights Act, the forces of the Right, viewing the world through the prism of "Judeo-Christian values and the Protestant work ethic", have repeatedly tried undermine that which made America a beacon: It's ability to welcome people from all over the world, to create a society that is a flawed but noble meritocracy and to renew its traditions with each new group of people landing on its shores.
That's what makes America truly exceptional. Or, rather, it used to.
參考來源： Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » The Culture War Divide: American Exceptionalism (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)
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