American Exceptionalism

Judge denies Pittsburgh man’s
request to legally change his name
to “Boomer the Dog.”

For a very long time, probably at least from Alexis de Tocqueville, we have heard about American exceptionalism in one form or another. This has to do with the belief that somehow America holds a special niche in the world because of its political and religious institutions, because it was built by immigrants, because it was in de Tocqueville’s time the only truly functioning democracy and so on. Others have argued for exceptionalism because of its geographical location, protected on two sides by huge oceans and with friendly powers on both borders. Still others believe it was selected by God to be exceptional. Hitler believed it was doomed because of the mixture of Jews and Negroes that he believed to be inferior races. But by and large America has been considered exceptional, you know, the great “beacon on the hill,” the “thousand points of light,” home for the huddled masses, and all that. Certainly America itself has believed it is an exceptional nation. It became exceptional primarily after WW II when, unlike most of Europe, it was not decimated and became the great superpower when compared to those nations who actually experienced the devastation and killing first hand. It has remained that way ever since, and now, especially since the collapse of Russia. And of course it is true that in many ways America has been exceptional, but American exceptionalism needs a closer look.

America has been exceptional in some ways that are by no means anything to boast about. For example, we have been exceptionally greedy. With some 5% of the earth’s population we have traditionally used 25% of the earth’s resources. To maintain this exceptional life style we have had we have traditionally and shamelessly exploited the resources of others. We have done this by means of economic imperialism backed up by the use of force. We have quite an exceptional military with a budget that exceeds that of all the rest of the world combined. We have been exceptionally arrogant and paternalistic, looking down on others and insisting that we always know best . We have certainly been exceptionally militaristic in recent years, involved in more wars than any other nation. And also in recent years we have exceptionally argued that we have the right to attack any nation we want merely on the suspicion that they might someday be a threat, a position regarded by the rest of the world as a war crime. And although we were in the forefront of the Nuremberg trials and the establishment of international laws having to do with war crimes, we apparently believe these laws do not apply to our own war criminals.

Finally, in recent years I believe we have established ourselves as exceptionally stupid. Our country is rapidly disintegrating. Our educational system is basically a joke, our infrastructure has been neglected for years, our economy teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, our middle class is disappearing and unemployment is rampant, large numbers of our citizens are on food stamps that are being reduced, some of our long-term unemployed have been thrown to the wolves, we are the only major country on earth that does not provide universal health care, and we are in debt virtually beyond our means. All of this could be easily remedied as the reasons for it are quite clear. If we were not involved in utterly useless “wars,” and did not maintain military bases all over the world to presumably defend our “empire,” and did not provide tax breaks for the filthy rich and the huge corporations that don’t even need them, we could probably revive our country and place it once again at the apex of greatness. Apparently we are too proud to admit we are overextended, too proud and stubborn to admit we have been defeated by nations armed with little more than slingshots and rocks, and unwilling to share the enormous wealth that actually exists in our country. We continue to believe in unregulated capitalism even though its failure is right before our eyes. We abhor socialism, a concept that we take to mean anything that benefits anyone but the obscenely wealthy and powerful. We allow our country to be run by dishonest politicians bribed by the corporations and the wealthy to do their bidding, uninterested in governing and beholding to special interests dedicated to making profits and letting the citizens fall where they may. We cannot even do the things that we know are obviously “right,” such as doing away with the completely absurd DADT, allowing Gay marriage, and ending the ridiculous and failed “war on drugs.” We appear to be paralyzed, unable to do even the basic things we need to do, usually because of some minority or other that can impose their will on the majority. Our government has become divorced from the needs of its citizens and interested only in its own survival year after year. Even global warming, the greatest danger facing us at the moment, an unprecedented danger that has been scientifically established as real, is largely ignored in the pursuit of short-term profit. Our nation is being sacrificed by the greed of a few and the disinterest and ignorance of the many. American exceptionalism boils down to nothing more than exceptional, even deliberate and conscience stupidity. Basically we have brought it on ourselves. Whoever first wrote, “Tomorrow is canceled due to lack of interest,” must have had us in mind.

LKBIQ:
The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.
Gustave Flaubert

TILT:
More than half of all Mustangs in North America are found in Nevada.