• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Do you believe in American Exceptionalism?

Do you believe in American Exceptionalism?


  • Total voters
    61

US Conservative

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Messages
33,522
Reaction score
10,826
Location
Between Athens and Jerusalem
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Conservative
American exceptionalism is the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other nation states.[2] In this view, U.S. exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming what political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset called "the first new nation"[2] and developing a uniquely American ideology, "Americanism", based on liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, populism and laissez-faire.[3] This ideology itself is often referred to as "American exceptionalism."[3] American exceptionalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Statue%20of%20Liberty%20Crown%20with%20American%20Flag.jpg
 
Last edited:
As an ideal, yes. Our values as Americans are great. Maybe not the best, that's hard to judge, but certainly great. But being American doesn't make us better. It gives us something to strive for. Too many Americans trade on our past accomplishments and fail to make future accomplishments a reality. As Americans, we are called to something greater. We must live up to that ideal.
 
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



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.
 
Last edited:
Once again, another poll that excludes so many Americans. I am neither right nor left, but feel I have the best of both parties beliefs in that I am a Libertarian.

I do not believe in American Exceptionalism. I believe that any nation, bordered on two sides by vast oceans to protect it from other competing powers, blessed with untouched mineral and food reserves since the beginning of time, and inhabited mostly by one people speaking a common tongue (and suppressing those that didn't), was bound to become what our nation has become, even if a great number of that population might fall into the range of those that are considered backward, psychotic, or more.
 

I have lived and worked in a number of countries and found that there is definitely a different quality to basic attitudes on how to approach questions. Having said that, it is important to remember how little homogenous cultures are looking at them in detail.
 
Once again, another poll that excludes so many Americans. I am neither right nor left, but feel I have the best of both parties beliefs in that I am a Libertarian.

I do not believe in American Exceptionalism. I believe that any nation, bordered on two sides by vast oceans to protect it from other competing powers, blessed with untouched mineral and food reserves since the beginning of time, and inhabited mostly by one people speaking a common tongue (and suppressing those that didn't), was bound to become what our nation has become, even if a great number of that population might fall into the range of those that are considered backward, psychotic, or more.

The definition of Libertarian is not moderate, and within libertarianism there is a left and right. I can't seem to think of any other nation that fits your criteria, pray tell what other nations you might be referring to. If there are none, well perhaps that makes us the exception.
 
As an ideal, yes. Our values as Americans are great. Maybe not the best, that's hard to judge, but certainly great. But being American doesn't make us better. It gives us something to strive for. Too many Americans trade on our past accomplishments and fail to make future accomplishments a reality. As Americans, we are called to something greater. We must live up to that ideal.

I dont know that American exceptionalism implies that our nation is superior. My question was merely if the US is the exception across most of the parameters that compose a nation.
 
I dont know that American exceptionalism implies that our nation is superior. My question was merely if the US is the exception across most of the parameters that compose a nation.

It only is if we make it that way. That is an enduring process, not a default status. Being exceptional is not something one can rest on their laurels about. It must be striven for every day. There are people who still think we're superior because of World War II. Those people are idiots and are bringing the country down. Being exceptional today does not make us exceptional tomorrow. We must earn that every day. I think that we can, because our ideals are exceptional, but we fail to live up to them far too often.
 


But there’s a reason. There’s a reason. There’s a reason for this, there’s a reason education SUCKS, and it’s the same reason it will never, ever, EVER be fixed.

It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it, be happy with what you’ve got.

Because the owners, the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the BIG owners! The Wealthy… the REAL owners! The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions.

Forget the politicians. They are irrelevant. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice! You have OWNERS! They OWN YOU. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls.

They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don’t want:

They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. Thats against their interests.

Thats right. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table and think about how badly they’re getting ****ed by a system that threw them overboard 30 ****ing years ago. They don’t want that!

You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork. And just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly ****ty jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they’re coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you sooner or later cause they own this ****ing place! It's a big club, and you ain’t in it! You, and I, are not in the big club.

By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table has tilted folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care! Good honest hard-working people; white collar, blue collar it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-working people continue, these are people of modest means, continue to elect these rich **** suckers who don’t give a **** about you….they don’t give a **** about you… they don’t give a **** about you.

They don’t care about you at all… at all… AT ALL. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Thats what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick thats being jammed up their assholes everyday, because the owners of this country know the truth.

It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

It has been and will always be about this:
136814057.GUeERtFf.money.gif
 

Why don't we ask old Teddy what he thinks? ;)

"I would think no more of a man who does not love his own country more than any other country than of a man who does not love his own wife or mother more than the wives and mothers of any other man. A strong and sane nationalism is the only possible basis for internationalism." - Theodore Roosevelt
 
It only is if we make it that way. That is an enduring process, not a default status. Being exceptional is not something one can rest on their laurels about. It must be striven for every day. There are people who still think we're superior because of World War II. Those people are idiots and are bringing the country down. Being exceptional today does not make us exceptional tomorrow. We must earn that every day. I think that we can, because our ideals are exceptional, but we fail to live up to them far too often.

Agreed that resting on ones laurels is not enough, and we should constantly strive to improve. But to this point, the US has and is absolutely exceptional.
 
Why don't we ask good old Teddy what he thinks? ;)

"I would think no more of a man who does not love his own country more than any other country than of a man who does not love his own wife or mother more than the wives and mothers of any other man. A strong and sane nationalism is the only possible basis for internationalism." - Theodore Roosevelt

A stark contrast to our current POTUS.
 
Why don't we ask old Teddy what he thinks? ;)

"I would think no more of a man who does not love his own country more than any other country than of a man who does not love his own wife or mother more than the wives and mothers of any other man. A strong and sane nationalism is the only possible basis for internationalism." - Theodore Roosevelt

Nationalism & patriotism are different than exceptionalism though, man.
 
Nationalism & patriotism are different than exceptionalism though, man.

This is true. My father came here from Greece where there is plenty of both, but I'd hardly call them exceptional. Their cultural and philosophic views forever changed the world, and during the golden age they indeed were exceptional, but not across the board and certainly not recently.
 
When I think of something being exceptional I have trouble thinking the US or for that manner any country qualifies. The US today strives to have a social policy like Europe and a military policy like Ancient Rome. Neither of which I find exceptional or desirable.
 
I think Michelle Obama is a member of the DP community.

I noticed one vote for < Im a left leaning American, no. >

I wonder if Barack will be voting ?
 
No poll option for me. I am an American, yet neither left or right.

Anyway, yes I do believe in American exceptionalism, and it has a lot to do with why we are where we are in the world, though I think we have been losing our sense of purpose slowly but surely for several decades now. The gap is closing, which means we are regressing, and personally I blame our own over-regulation. One of the reasons we did excel is that people were left alone so they could excel, and now we keep putting roadblocks and arbitrary and artificial limits on what people can do, and it's not serving us well at all.
 
I would like to vote right leaning yes, but there no longer is American exceptionalism. Liberalism has pretty much destroyed everything that makes America great, with politically correct policies.
 
Why don't we ask old Teddy what he thinks? ;)

"I would think no more of a man who does not love his own country more than any other country than of a man who does not love his own wife or mother more than the wives and mothers of any other man. A strong and sane nationalism is the only possible basis for internationalism." - Theodore Roosevelt

Emphasis on the "sane." People can get out of hand with their nationalist feelings and it CAN get straight up nasty and ignorant. *cough* Europe*cough*
 
Back
Top Bottom