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Do you believe in American Exceptionalism?

Do you believe in American Exceptionalism?

  • Total voters
    61
"Be true to your school!"
-Brian Wilson-
 
They say you can put a dog on a throne. But if you throw a bone on the floor, he will leap from the throne to get the bone. The US had a chance to be truly exceptional. Right at the point when the USSR removed troops from Germany, we could have worked with them to form a harmonious world order, as was Gorbhachev's vision. Using the tremendous power of the Federal Reserve, we could have educated our citizens and created a sustainable energy infrastructure. Instead, like the dog on the throne we decided to trumpet to the rest of the world that we had won the cold war, that we were in charge now, and that we would unilaterally dictate a new world order. Now we are drowning in debt, have increased the hatred of Muslims around the world, and have wasted money and precious American lives, with nothing to show for it. Doesn't sound so exceptional to me. It's the same story of empires that have come and gone by over extending themselves out of greed and arrogance. You can put a dog on a throne, but if you throw it a bone, he will show his true colors.
 
The question as I see it, is "Our we exceptional?"

Yes, of course we are. Of the top brands in the world, the vast, vast majority are from American companies. We still own IT. We invented National Parks. We are the strongest country on earth. I can go on.. I don't think we are the greatest country on earth, because by many measures other countries outperform us and besides "greatest" is completely subjective. However we are certainly exceptional.
 
Capster78 said:
I don't think there is anything wrong with bragging. As long as your bragging does not entail a sense of unwarranted or damaging nationalism. There is a difference between being proud at the things America is really good at, and having a sense of nationalistic exceptionalism where almost everything the US does is better then anyone else, even when it does it worse then other countries.
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I didn't say there's anything wrong with being proud of achievements or even mentioning it. But the word "exceptionalism" sounds like we're saying, "everyone else stinks in comparison." We may have set enviable standards, but plenty of other nations have definitely added some cultural benefits to the world.

Being born an American doesn't automatically make anyone great. I think we have to continually work hard at being the country that believes in people.
 
grip said:
I didn't say there's anything wrong with being proud of achievements or even mentioning it. But the word "exceptionalism" sounds like we're saying, "everyone else stinks in comparison." We may have set enviable standards, but plenty of other nations have definitely added some cultural benefits to the world.

Being born an American doesn't automatically make anyone great. I think we have to continually work hard at being the country that believes in people.
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I would agree with everything you said. But being proud of your country and what it has achieved, which in my case is the US, is not US exceptionalism.
 
Capster78 said:
I would agree with everything you said. But being proud of your country and what it has achieved, which in my case is the US, is not US exceptionalism.
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I agree there's nothing wrong with being proud of your country. But the term, 'American Exceptionalism' implies some sort of superiority over everyone else. Though, I believe the US has had "exceptional" achievements in comparative world history, we're also broadly a young nation made up of immigrants.

Along with our natural resources, we may have had a more inclusive ideology at one time that benefited our successes but that's all eroding now.
 
MildSteel said:
That's the problem in this world. Everyone thinks that they are the exception and they try to impose their exceptionalism on others. It's a very dangerous concept.
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I guess that's my problem with the term "American exceptionalism" .
It seems as if the pundits who are most fond of the term, imply that our exceptionalism requires continuous warfare.
Dennis Prager is the worst.
Having said that, many aspects of our country are exceptional....so I'm voting yes.
 
grip said:
I agree there's nothing wrong with being proud of your country. But the term, 'American Exceptionalism' implies some sort of superiority over everyone else. Though, I believe the US has had "exceptional" achievements in comparative world history, we're also broadly a young nation made up of immigrants.

Along with our natural resources, we may have had a more inclusive ideology at one time that benefited our successes but that's all eroding now.
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Thats true, but the definition of American Exceptionalism has been expanded to simply being proud of being American. You see people exclaiming those who make the claim the US is the most powerful military in the world and you will have that be defined as American exceptionalism. Even if the truth of such a statement can be argued and backed up with mountains of evidence. You will hear American exceptionalism thrown at someone stating America is the best country in the world. There is a lot of evidence that it is the best country in the world. There are a lot of countries that may be better off financially, or may have more freedom of speech, or may have less crime... ect ect.. But A good argument can be made that no other country does things as well across the board as the US does. We may not be at the top of the list in every category, but if you look at those lists, we hold high positions in almost all categories. Where most countries hold high positions in some categories, and very low positions on others. So to simply label someone who can back their assertions up with evidence as being an exceptionalist only amounts to sourness some may have of those facts, or otherwise called, jealousy.
 
Capster78 said:
Thats true, but the definition of American Exceptionalism has been expanded to simply being proud of being American. You see people exclaiming those who make the claim the US is the most powerful military in the world and you will have that be defined as American exceptionalism. Even if the truth of such a statement can be argued and backed up with mountains of evidence. You will hear American exceptionalism thrown at someone stating America is the best country in the world. There is a lot of evidence that it is the best country in the world. There are a lot of countries that may be better off financially, or may have more freedom of speech, or may have less crime... ect ect.. But A good argument can be made that no other country does things as well across the board as the US does. We may not be at the top of the list in every category, but if you look at those lists, we hold high positions in almost all categories. Where most countries hold high positions in some categories, and very low positions on others. So to simply label someone who can back their assertions up with evidence as being an exceptionalist only amounts to sourness some may have of those facts, or otherwise called, jealousy.
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I still don't like the term, it conjures the image of King Kong pounding his chest.
 
US Conservative said:
I'd argue that the USA is exceptional by nearly all measures. Historically, militarily, culturally, socially, scientifically, agriculturally, and industrially.
No other nation comes close across these measures, and the continued flooding to our shores of the worlds immigrants suggests others see it this way as well.
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And I would argue that those days are passe. We've seen it completely come apart at the seams in less than a decade. Thank you liberals for electing that goofball community organizer.
 
radioman said:
I guess that's my problem with the term "American exceptionalism" .
It seems as if the pundits who are most fond of the term, imply that our exceptionalism requires continuous warfare.
Dennis Prager is the worst.
Having said that, many aspects of our country are exceptional....so I'm voting yes.
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That is precisely the problem. It's like you have this bully that you try to tell, look people don't like it when you bully them around. Then the bully responds by saying that, you are wrong, they are just jealous of me because I'm exceptional. It's total BS.
 
HogWash said:
And I would argue that those days are passe. We've seen it completely come apart at the seams in less than a decade. Thank you liberals for electing that goofball community organizer.
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So, if our "exceptionalism" can be dismantled in six short years, by a goofball, maybe we weren't all that exceptional.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Hell no. What makes us so much "exceptional than other countries"?
Ill let one of the greatest current TV shows to explain the rest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q49NOyJ8fNA
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A fascinating and illustrative post. What are we looking at here? A posted display of inappropriate anger and rage, negative emotionalism. "How dare you say my own country is better than other countries?!!" Damn you!

Posts such as this reveal a self perception of the angry, raging "Other."

Always important to keep in mind on the internet that, regardless of elaborate measures to the contrary, one actually never knows anything about the person posting. You never know location, motive, gender, age, absolutely nothing. Over a series of time, sometimes the content of the posts are a giveaway. Best to never trust the representations online.
 
HogWash said:
And I would argue that those days are passe. We've seen it completely come apart at the seams in less than a decade. Thank you liberals for electing that goofball community organizer.
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I admit the almost embraced decline by neo marxists and other leftists is disturbing to see.
 
RDS said:
It's not American Exceptionalism but Immigrant Exceptionalism.
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Good point, there are specific traits in immigrant groups that benefit the US greatly. And immigrants outperform others even of the same cultural background. But, this is also seen in other nations as well.
 
NoC_T said:
Where we concede that any large group of people, sufficiently motivated, can achieve broad cultural exceptionality, what does a national perspective mean, unless to imply that certain nations have a monopoly on ability?
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The problem is finding "any large group of people" to do that. I'd argue that those who exhibit such traits could be considered Americans living abroad.
 
Anyone who has traveled at all outside of the United States would know that many countries enjoy greater freedoms than the US does today. There was a time of US Exceptionism....and we are still a great country....its just that we aren't the only great country out there....and many are passing us every day.
 
Fiddytree said:
He contradicted himself in this speech as opposed to countless other speeches he has made. Check out the speech he made upon the passage of the ACA. Then watch Boehner's speech the same night. Both Obama and Boehner accepted American Exceptionalism, but came with differing opinions as to whether or not the ACA fulfilled that or not.

Should you request it, I could try to find them both again. I used to have them on stand-by to discuss American exceptionalism in classes.
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Ive seen him say what you state. He did the other day in his West Point address. But here he is, in europe saying the opposite.

Have we dropped the bar so low that we now must count the number of contradictory claims our President makes and pick whichever was made the most?
 
PirateMk1 said:
You asked. I was courteous and answered. There a problem with that?
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Just the whole crying because every possible political lean HAS TO BE mentioned in a straightforward general poll. I would have picked an answer, or move on, but to each his own. :shrug:
 
radioman said:
So, if our "exceptionalism" can be dismantled in six short years, by a goofball, maybe we weren't all that exceptional.
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**** happens...and sometimes an idiot in charge can sink the Titanic.
 
US Conservative said:
Just the whole crying because every possible political lean HAS TO BE mentioned in a straightforward general poll. I would have picked an answer, or move on, but to each his own. :shrug:
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You don't want an answer or comment, don't ask a question. You get what ya get. Whether you like it or not.

You didn't have a answer that fit me or several people. There's always the answer OTHER, that way you don't have to read to my "crying" as you put it. Other is a good catch all.
 
grip said:
I didn't say there's anything wrong with being proud of achievements or even mentioning it. But the word "exceptionalism" sounds like we're saying, "everyone else stinks in comparison." We may have set enviable standards, but plenty of other nations have definitely added some cultural benefits to the world.

Being born an American doesn't automatically make anyone great. I think we have to continually work hard at being the country that believes in people.
Click to expand...

The definition of exceptionalism was defined immediately in the first post. One wonders if you bothered to read it.
 
PirateMk1 said:
You don't want an answer or comment, don't ask a question. You get what ya get. Whether you like it or not.

You didn't have a answer that fit me or several people. There's always the answer OTHER, that way you don't have to read to my "crying" as you put it. Other is a good catch all.
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Other is amorphous, and the reason I made the poll was amongst other things to compare views and their association with political lean. Picking "other" would have been equivocal and therefore unhelpful.
 
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