Posted on 01/06/2019 1:39:53 PM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
As a presidential candidate, the mogul told Republican primary audiences that George W. Bush had lied the United States into Iraq; that said war had done a “tremendous disservice to humanity”; and that America could have saved countless lives by investing $5 trillion in domestic infrastructure instead. As commander-in-chief, Trump has suggested that there is no moral distinction between the U.S. and other great powers; that American foreign policy in the Middle East is largely dictated by the interests of arms manufacturers; and that the U.S. judges foreign regimes by their utility to American economic interests, not their commitment to human rights.
But if Trump’s descriptions of geopolitics echo Noam Chomsky, his prescriptions owe more to Attila the Hun. The president does see the invasion of Iraq as a criminal waste — but only because the U.S. failed to expropriate the region’s oil fields. He does imply that, in the eyes of the American state, Raytheon’s profits count more than journalists’ lives —but he sees that as a good thing. And when Trump suggests our country isn’t “so innocent,” he isn’t imploring neoconservatives to hold America to higher moral standards, but rather, to hold foreign autocrats to lower ones.
(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...
Hmmm... I didn’t click the article, I could See where it was heading.
What a say nothing article on a misconception... American exceptionalism is not our place among nations, but our respect for the smallest of minorities... the individual.
Correctomundo! It makes everybody on the damned planet want to live here.
We are the only country ever founded upon the principle that people have rights that precede government, and with which no government may interfere.
That is what makes us exceptional.
Wow. Those Swiss must be heck of terrorists then.
The effing horse dung coming out the mouth of these depressing communists...
A lot of Americans like to eat that sht , however
The world has the freest, safest trade in all of history because the exceptional US Navy keeps it that way. Can you imagine what it would be like if every country had their region under their control? Much like the Barbary pirates. China would demand taxes to transport. North Korea could give up any notion of transporting by sea.
While we’re on the subject of exceptional, name the other countries who have freed a different nation, occupied them, rebuilt them and then...turned them over to self rule. (I’m waiting. Take your time.) None? Yeah, I think that’s the answer.
Respect for the individual is an important part of “American Exceptionalism” but it is far more than that in my opinion.
American Exceptionalism is about living under the form of government that we do, which allows (or at least, did allow) the highest number of individuals the right and the environment to reach their maximum potential. The fact that this is open and encouraged from top to bottom in our society opens up our economy to the turning of ideas into capital, which creates wealth and security.
There is nothing racial about this, there is nothing inbred into Americans from a biological point that creates this. It is the political, business, and cultural brew that is “American Exceptionalism”.
And that is one of the key reasons we should fight opening our borders to anyone who wants to come in.
In times gone by, when people came to America, they weren’t coming here to take over the country or leech off of it. Legal immigrants might have brought their culture with them and celebrated it, but they were largely coming here to be Americans, to be part of “America”.
Today, many immigrants both illegal and legal are less interested in being Americans and being a part of “America”, and more interested in making America “theirs” with their corruptions, languages, and laws. You see this with Muslims who want Sharia Law, and Mexicans who demand Spanish be included everywhere from street signs and hospitals to legal forms.
That is why we should get a handle on this. “American Exceptionalism” is positive and real regardless of Leftists who want to make it a “Neocon thing” or an imaginary construct. If it didn’t exist, people all over the world would not be trying to get here.
Based on NY Mag's average web traffic, or lack thereof, you were not alone.
I did click on the article. Wasn’t about to slog through the whole, overlong screed but I did skim though it. It was an expression not of American exceptionalism, but American self loathing. Our country is “This hateful sociopath, immune to all human sentiments save fear and greed, devoid of all principles save a will to power, incapable of seeing the world from anyone’s perspective but his own...”
We did this in Iraq AND in WWII. We have much to rightfully be proud of. I think we can all agree that “nation-building” will not work in the Middle East or in a number of other places, but completely carpet bombing a country in less than a total war footing (as the Soviets did in Afghanistan) not only does not work, but is dishonorable.
We spent blood and treasure trying to create a catalyst, a seed of representative government in an area of the world with precious little of it in an attempt to change the dynamic, but the fact that Iraqis did not grab that opportunity with both hands is not a reflection on our behavior and actions.
They had to do that themselves and didn’t.
Levits? Is he a Jew? What would his Euro cousins that lived thru the Holocaust think about liberation and American Exceptionalism?
Trade is making the US poorer and not richer. We run a $850B/yr trade deficit...
American Exceptionalism is real!
That’s why most of the whole d@mned world wants to move here!
Is our southern border choked with American refugees headed south muttering “America sucks! Sure will like it better in Mexico!”?
Are our airports full of Muslims waiting flights out “It’s back to the Dar al-Salaam for me! Get me away from these infidels and their bacon!”?
America is exceptional only to the extent that it acknowledges the Lord. America today sadly acknowledges only money and power. We are on a downward slope.
THE UNITED STATES IS EXCEPTIONAL. For now...
“the fact that Iraqis did not grab that opportunity with both hands is not a reflection on our behavior and actions”
Yes it is. It was entirely predictable that they would react in exactly they way they did, and wishful thinking to believe otherwise. You don’t invade countries based on wishful thinking.
If you could put what nymag prints in a bag I would never need to buy fertilizer again for my garden.
“We are the only country ever founded upon the principle that people have rights that precede government, and with which no government may interfere. That is what makes us exceptional.
Excellent Post Sir or Mame.
The desperate from Europe came to the USA over 200 years ago. They fled poverty and tyranny. They were not exceptional with the exception of their thirst for freedom and a chance to make their lives better.
Our brilliant forefathers gave them The Constitution of The United States. That document released these people to become anything they could be. Yes, today we are an exceptional nation and The Constitution is why.
Lose The Constitution and we become the Europe of old.
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