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American Exceptionalism

Do you believe in American exceptionalism?


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Catz Part Deux

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Do you believe in American exceptionalism?

American exceptionalism: an old idea and a new political battle

The proposition of American exceptionalism, which goes at least as far back as the writing of French aristocrat and historian Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s, asserts that this country has a unique character.

It is also rooted in religious belief. A recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution found that 58 percent of Americans agreed with the statement: "God has granted America a special role in human history."

Gingrich says Obama fails to understand that "American exceptionalism refers directly to the grant of rights asserted in the Declaration of Independence," and that it is a term "which relates directly to our unique assertion of an unprecedented set of rights granted by God."
 
Gosh. I wonder how the responses to this poll are going to come down.
 
Certainly not. While this is a common talking point among the far right, especially people like Rush Limbaugh, they act like just because someone is an American, they must be automatically exceptional. Exceptionalism only works if the people in question do things that are actually exceptional and today, I don't think that describes your average American, nor the nation as a whole. We've become complacent, we've become spoiled and some people, like the aforementioned Limbaugh, just sit around and pat everyone on the back for being wonderful when we've done nothing to deserve it.

We could be exceptional. We're just not right now. We need to earn it.
 
Yep -- I think we ARE exceptional.

We have a long history of taking in people from all over the world, and shaping them into a melting pot society that has led the world in innovation. Sure, we have our warts, and it is easy for resentful or unhappy people to focus on those warts, but the preoccupation with fault finding by the resentful can sure get tiring at times.
 
The US would still be exceptional without the special pieces of paper. Geography, immigrant culture etc.
 
not as defined by gingrich. god doesn't favor america, it's plain stupid to believe so. if he did, perhaps he should think again about which countries really need his help.

Well, Gingrich is certainly full of sh!t, but I wish more liberals would be proud of the good things about this country. Just as it isn't difficult to find things to complain about, neither is it difficult to find lots of things that ARE exceptional.

One of my biggest complaints about the way the left has travelled the last few decades is that it fails to articulate a positive liberal vision for this country, as the anti-American Chomsky style reactionary voices drown out those by reasonable people.
 
Well, Gingrich is certainly full of sh!t, but I wish more liberals would be proud of the good things about this country. Just as it isn't difficult to find things to complain about, neither is it difficult to find lots of things that ARE exceptional.

One of my biggest complaints about the way the left has travelled the last few decades is that it fails to articulate a positive liberal vision for this country, as the anti-American Chomsky style reactionary voices drown out those by reasonable people.

i AM proud of our country, mostly. many of our people are exceptional........and we have done exceptional things. but god has nothing to do with it.
 
There are some things that America does REALLY right. However, a lot of them are stuff we only do in theory. Our dedication to personal freedom is abridged constantly. We are all about limited government, but let them control all sorts of things they shouldn't and get away with things they shouldn't be allowed to do. (Guess who got frisked in an airport this weekend?) We also only halfheartedly pursue equality and equal justice for all. We do all these things, and we care passionately about them, in at least a theoretical sense. But we don't work nearly as hard as we could on them.

So yeah, America is pretty exceptional, but we have a looooooooooong way still to go.
 
i AM proud of our country, mostly. many of our people are exceptional........and we have done exceptional things. but god has nothing to do with it.

That wasn't a comment about YOU, liblady -- just the tendency among the reactionary, illiberal portion of the left.
 
That wasn't a comment about YOU, liblady -- just the tendency among the reactionary, illiberal portion of the left.

i don't think they are many, though. they do give mainstream liberals a bad name. what makes america great is that those people, as well as right wing idiots, don't go to jail for their opinions. yet.
 
yes, America is exceptional; especially when considering the nature of our founding. today we tend to take the advancement of representative and Liberal government around the world as a given; forgetting that it was widely derided at the time as an experiment doomed to failure.
 
yes, America is exceptional; especially when considering the nature of our founding. today we tend to take the advancement of representative and Liberal government around the world as a given; forgetting that it was widely derided at the time as an experiment doomed to failure.

But isn't that just the movement of the world? After all, we really weren't first. I believe much of this has its roots in the Magna Carta. Right?
 
There are some things that America does REALLY right. However, a lot of them are stuff we only do in theory. Our dedication to personal freedom is abridged constantly. We are all about limited government, but let them control all sorts of things they shouldn't and get away with things they shouldn't be allowed to do. (Guess who got frisked in an airport this weekend?) We also only halfheartedly pursue equality and equal justice for all. We do all these things, and we care passionately about them, in at least a theoretical sense. But we don't work nearly as hard as we could on them.

So yeah, America is pretty exceptional, but we have a looooooooooong way still to go.

I don't think my answer is up there. America is exacptional in some ways, and some areas, but not so much in others. While I prefer this country, I see no reason why others might prefer theirs.
 
Gosh. I wonder how the responses to this poll are going to come down.

What do you believe that you contributed to this thread via this comment. Do you believe the poll options are somehow biased?
 
But isn't that just the movement of the world?

it certainly is now. however, there have been two major nations that have been the catalysts that created that movement: and those two nations are Britain, and the US.
 
American exceptionalism is about ordinary people being free to do extraordinary things. It's about being founded on this principle, that people can government themselves. Each sovereign person, by governing his own actions, respects the rights of others; can best decide his own course.
 
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American exceptionalism is about ordinary people being free to do extraordinary things. It's about being founded on this principle, that people can government themselves. Each sovereign person, by governing his own actions, respects the rights of others; can best decide his own course.

Do you believe that this is more true in America than in other western nations, like Sweden or Australia?
 
it certainly is now. however, there have been two major nations that have been the catalysts that created that movement: and those two nations are Britain, and the US.

Do you believe that the U.S. has done more for democracy than nations like Australia and New Zealand?
 
Do you believe that this is more true in America than in other western nations, like Sweden or Australia?

Historically, yes. America achieved this state early and has maintained it. Along the way it has exported this concept to other parts of the world. A great example of liberty at work vs not, would be East and West Germany. There were identical Germans on both sides of the border with identical histories at the end of WWII. After 60 years, the difference were stark. The fact that America has done this far longer than others and achieved its dominance in the world is exceptional.
 
I chose "other", the cowards way out.
We have the exceptional people here as other nations have tolerance problems; however, if we slip into the same abyss, and this is all too possible,
then we will lose our edge.
The Republican divisive victories several weeks ago do not, IMO, bode well.
 
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