American Exceptionalism

[Childlike Empress]

Inspired by this thread, I thought a poll might be interesting as some Americans didn't even know what the term means.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Don't you know Jesus gave us the Constitution?

 

[Childlike Empress]

OMG, that's horrible!

 

[Tricky]

Categories are bad. Second and third categories are not mutually exclusive, and indeed go hand-in-hand. (Also fifth and sixth.)

 

[Childlike Empress]

Categories are bad. Second and third categories are not mutually exclusive, and indeed go hand-in-hand. (Also fifth and sixth.)

I don't think so. First line in the wikipedia article:

American exceptionalism is the theory that the United States is different from other countries in that it has a specific world mission to spread liberty and democracy.

The line between Coffman and Obama:

Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense. To them, the United States is like the biblical "shining city on a hill," and exempt from historical forces that have affected other countries.

I don't think that the USA has a specific world mission to spread freedom and democracy, let alone is superior in any sense, and that's why I voted option 6.

 

[RandFan]

I voted #3 because I don't buy the premise. I do belive that America has in many ways been unique in the world. I would offer Alexis DeTocqueville's Democracy in America. That status began to decline from the beginning and it accelerated after WWII. Also, our "good" was counterbalanced by slavery and excess. I can't minimize what we did wrong but I think it would likewise be wrong to minimize the good that we did. America has been for a long time a prime destination for immigrants. It was that way for a reason. Thse reasons are not as strong now but sill significant.

I'm proud to be an America. I love my country. We have stood for and fought for freedom. Of course we have also installed dictators and overthrown the will of the people of other nations. For that I'm ashamed and sorry. But as awful as that has been, I believe that in the grand scheme of things we have been a net good for the world.

 

[Halfcentaur]

Don't you know Jesus gave us the Constitution?

I tried to facepalm upon viewing this painting and the artist's step by step defense of his painting, but my hand was unable to support the weight of my face as the tragedy that I perceived caused an anomaly in my room's gravity, and I soiled myself.

 

[balrog666]

American exceptionalism relates to the exceptional nature of the setup of the government, reserving ultimate power to the people, as opposed to kings, tyrants, dictators, et al.

Of course, that was 220+ years ago and the government has been corrupted and debased ever since by those seeking ever more power over their fellow citizens.

With any luck, Obama represents the nadir of that 160-year-trend ... or we will join the rest of the world as mere subjects instead of citizens.

 

[R.Mackey]

Actually I find the poll to be quite reasonable. Good show.

I do believe in American Exceptionalism, with some caveats -- I think the means for us to achieve this is through example, by trading and dealing in good faith, and not so much through force of arms or subterfuge.

I also think we have to continually renew our own commitment to our goal, and that even today we are well short of our potential. The United States of America has made many mistakes over the years, some of them flat out awful. No point sugar-coating it, better to acknowledge it and try to do better. There's lots of work to do.

I also work with a volunteer group that aims to do exactly this, through teaching (accurate) American history and heritage.

 

[lomiller]

American exceptionalism relates to the exceptional nature of the setup of the government, reserving ultimate power to the people, as opposed to kings, tyrants, dictators, et al.

This was already true of the country the US rebelled against in 1776.
By the time of the American Revolution, Parliament had been the ultimate governing body in the British Empire for something like 70 years. Certainly there was still lots of baggage, this was part of an ongoing evolution towards democracy that had been going on for 600 years.


The American Colonials were not looking for anything new, they were looking for something they already had before they emigrated. What they came up with was much cleaner and didn't have the same historical baggage but it duplicated the basic structure of British government almost exactly.

The slogan of "no taxation without representation" was not a statement of not wanting to he ruled by a King, in fact their King had no powers of taxation. Those powers belonged to Parliament in which they were not represented. To get that representation they rebelled and set up their own version in which they were represented. Meanwhile over the next 50-100 years the British Parliament system continued to evolve and eventually came up with a mechanism for the problem of how to address it's colonies desire for representation.

The US certainly does have an important place in the nearly 1000 year evolution of the modern democracy but it certainly didn't invent it from whole cloth the way some people believe.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

My favourite part of the Wiki article:

Baldwin claimed that the black underclass accounts for many of those few areas where a stark difference exists between the US and Europe, such as homicide and child poverty.

So we are very similar, as long as we ignore what makes us different .

 

[Travis]

Of course America is unique. All nations are unique. Except Bulgaria which is a clone of Hungary.

 

[shuize]

Don't you know Jesus gave us the Constitution?

I'm not sure what is funnier about that link, the artist's own description of his work as "fine art" or the fact that he has taken "symbolism" to new levels and then, just to make sure you don't miss any of it, provides commentary on each symbol as you hold your computer mouse over each figure.

Some of the better ones:

Supreme Court Justice hiding his face in shame for having taken part in such disgraceful decisions as Marbury v. Madison and Roe v. Wade.

Immigrant holding his hand up in shock to discover the source of American's greatness is Christianity.

Politician ignoring Jesus to talk on his cell phone.

 

[angrysoba]

I'm not sure what is funnier about that link, the artist's own description of his work as "fine art" or the fact that he has taken "symbolism" to new levels and then, just to make sure you don't miss any of it, provides commentary on each symbol as you hold your computer mouse over each figure.

Some of the better ones:

Supreme Court Justice hiding his face in shame for having taken part in such disgraceful decisions as Marbury v. Madison and Roe v. Wade.

Immigrant holding his hand up in shock to discover the source of American's greatness is Christianity.

Politician ignoring Jesus to talk on his cell phone.

I like the smug professor clutching his Origins and Species and daring to sit on the top step which is obviously reserved for God/Jesus (and a load of miscellaneous historical figures).

 

[Virus]

I don't think that the USA has a specific world mission to spread freedom and democracy, let alone is superior in any sense, and that's why I voted option 6.

Hasn't America been very good for your country?

 

[Cleon]

"They say America First, but they mean 'America Next.'" - Woody Guthrie

 

[Tatyana]

This was already true of the country the US rebelled against in 1776.
By the time of the American Revolution, Parliament had been the ultimate governing body in the British Empire for something like 70 years. Certainly there was still lots of baggage, this was part of an ongoing evolution towards democracy that had been going on for 600 years.


The American Colonials were not looking for anything new, they were looking for something they already had before they emigrated. What they came up with was much cleaner and didn't have the same historical baggage but it duplicated the basic structure of British government almost exactly.

The slogan of "no taxation without representation" was not a statement of not wanting to he ruled by a King, in fact their King had no powers of taxation. Those powers belonged to Parliament in which they were not represented. To get that representation they rebelled and set up their own version in which they were represented. Meanwhile over the next 50-100 years the British Parliament system continued to evolve and eventually came up with a mechanism for the problem of how to address it's colonies desire for representation.

The US certainly does have an important place in the nearly 1000 year evolution of the modern democracy but it certainly didn't invent it from whole cloth the way some people believe.

History is fascinating, and there are very few things that happen in isolation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

 

[shuize]

I like the smug professor clutching his Origins and Species and daring to sit on the top step which is obviously reserved for God/Jesus (and a load of miscellaneous historical figures).

High school teacher = good. University professor = bad.

I don't know why, but every time I look at that picture I lhave to augh at the politician ignoring the second coming of Jesus to talk on his cell phone.

 

[balrog666]

This was already true of the country the US rebelled against in 1776.
By the time of the American Revolution, Parliament had been the ultimate governing body in the British Empire for something like 70 years. Certainly there was still lots of baggage, this was part of an ongoing evolution towards democracy that had been going on for 600 years.


The American Colonials were not looking for anything new, they were looking for something they already had before they emigrated. What they came up with was much cleaner and didn't have the same historical baggage but it duplicated the basic structure of British government almost exactly.

The slogan of "no taxation without representation" was not a statement of not wanting to he ruled by a King, in fact their King had no powers of taxation. Those powers belonged to Parliament in which they were not represented. To get that representation they rebelled and set up their own version in which they were represented. Meanwhile over the next 50-100 years the British Parliament system continued to evolve and eventually came up with a mechanism for the problem of how to address it's colonies desire for representation.

The US certainly does have an important place in the nearly 1000 year evolution of the modern democracy but it certainly didn't invent it from whole cloth the way some people believe.

Show me your inalienable right to own firearms ...

 

[seayakin]

I posted a discussion about this last year (see http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180487). I am in general agreement with what lomiller and randfan have said otherwise (and voted for 3).