Posted on 11/19/2011 7:53:18 AM PST by 68skylark
Is America exceptional among nations? Are we, as a country and a people and a culture, set apart and better than others? Are we, indeed, the “shining city upon a hill” that Ronald Reagan described? Are we “chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world” as George W. Bush said?
According to a report issued on Thursday by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, when Americans were asked if they agreed with the statement “our people are not perfect but our culture is superior to others,” only 49 percent agreed. That’s down from 60 percent in 2002, the first time that Pew asked the question.
Perhaps even more striking was that, among young people (those ages 18 to 29), the percentage of Americans who believed that their culture was superior was lower than young citizens of Germany, Spain and Britain.
Even if you put aside the somewhat loaded terminology of cultural superiority, Americans simply don’t seem to feel very positive about America at the moment. A Time Magazine/Abt SRBI poll conducted last month found that 71 percent of Americans believed that our position in the world has been on the decline in the past few years.
And an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey conducted earlier this month found that most Americans believed that we aren’t simply going through tough times as a nation but are at “the start of a longer-term decline where the U.S. is no longer the leading country in the world.”
We are settling into a dangerous national pessimism. We must answer the big questions. Was our nation’s greatness about having God or having grit? Is exceptionalism an anointing or an ethos?...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I would agree. But as a culture we have decided that government needs to be big. Even most conservatives live their lives this way while saying that government should be smaller. Where do most children go to school...government run public schools. Where do most elderly people receive a monthly check...government run social security. Where do most people receive health coverage...government run medicare and medicaid. Who is normally one of the largest employers in any given city in the U.S....the government run public education system. All this while we are told that the U.S. is a “center right” country. So, if the country tips to the conservative side and we still have elections, why is the government still getting bigger? I believe it is because as a culture we have allowed it to happen...why...because we have turned to the government for the “easy” fix instead of to God and family where we might have to take responsibility for our own lives.
Interesting take on 'exceptionalism' from the NYT. But, here is the bottom line: in most countries you can vote in elections, vote with your pocketbook, and/or vote with your feet.
I have traveled much of the world, and my feet voted for the U.S. So have millions of others from all over the globe. That imho, is one way to define American exceptionalism.
5.56mm
That's well put.
Not being very religious myself I might say the same sort of thing with a little different wording: What's exceptional about American is the quality of the ideas our country was founded on -- respect for freedom and the rights of the individual.
These ideas are exceptionally good, compared with the ideas that other countries use to organize themselves. These ideas make us an exceptionally good country -- at least when we follow them.
Call me a "bitter clinger," but that's my view and I'm sticking with it.
Obamaism is working.
I don’t think our culture is superior to others but I think our founding documents are. The question was poorly worded.
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