I love my country so much, but actually using exceptionalism as part of a foreign policy position is just crazy. It is just asking for trouble, resentment, and worse. It's like being confident as a person. Be confident. Think internally that you're better at X, Y, and Z than other people, but to tell everyone else that you think you're better at X, Y, and Z and they can therefore expect you to punch them whenever you feel like it? Not a good way to get along in the world. EDIT: So I'm saying that, begrudgingly, I am agreeing with the basic sentiments of rhadamanthus, sad to say.
We are the only country on Earth founded based on a proposition, an idea, on self-evident truths. Free peoples and free markets make our system and our country exceptional. Civil rights, property rights, individual liberty. Adherence to and defense of these principles makes our country exceptional and unique in the world.
I forgot where, but there was an empirical study that said, based on natural resources, etc - the only country that can really claim to be "exceptional" based on historical circumstances and expected outcomes is Japan. Though it's a kooky concept to begin with really.
This was from yesterday. Got a little chuckle from it... <embed style="display:block" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:thedailyshow.com:428982" width="640" height="360" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="window" allowFullscreen="true" flashvars="autoPlay=false" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" bgcolor="#000000"></embed>
Yes. We were an educated people unleashed on an underpopulated verdant continent, protected by two oceans, instilled with a sense of self-reliance and democratic rule respecting the opinions of the populace both majority and minority. That's pretty rare.
American literacy - http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-literacy-america At the current state of our political climate, it seems that the only opinions being heard are from the special interest groups who has the ability to elect/re-elect these gov't officials. Your view of America might have been valid a number of decades ago.
So most of us let logic guide us, and the answer is no. So who is Obama talking to when he employs exceptionalism? Reasonably, we could say some voters at home who soak up the nationalistic notion, bringing them (the POTUS might hope) closer to accepting military action in a far-away country that is not threatening us. Is that the idea? Because it's such a dead-end piece of rhetoric for the international community.
Earth is the sample size. I'm just saying that time and circumstance favored development in North America. We were founded with a very high minded democratic system, always leaned toward managed capitalism, have abundant natural resources and attracted a particularly ambitious immigrant migration. You can't say that about any of Africa, Europe or Asia.
The world will be better. when we stop being a rogue nation who feels like international norms just apply to other lesser nations More specifically it will be better when Americans learn to view their own nation realistically. It won't be so easy to fool the American people into unjust polices at home and abroad. The default and largely unexamined position that our policies are always the realistic best possible or at worst due to honest mistakes is not helpful.
