I see that all the Republican candidates other that Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman are giving Obama grief about not saying that the U.S. is an exception nation. Refusing to say that the U.S. is exceptional would mean that Obama is unpatriotic, according these republicans. I take EXCEPTION to this because I think people who blindly believe that the U.S. is exceptional will be the people who lead us to disaster. I think THAT would be unpatriotic.
When has an empire ever NOT believe that it is exceptional, that its culture and morals are superior to those nations, tribes or ethnic groups who are less powerful than it is? I think Obama is right when he pointed out that the Greeks, Egyptians and Romans all thought that they were exceptional. I know the Chinese did. Who would call themselves the Middle Kingdom if they were not egocentric? What do all these once powerful nations have in common? They turned out NOT to be exceptional and are no longer powerful.
Yes, we are a better people than those of the previous great empires. For one, we stopped slavery after about a hundred years. Our women can vote, unlike those of other empires. We had civil right movements in the 1960s, less than 200 years after our founding. I would think that if we are really exceptional, we would be farther ahead given that we could have learned from thousands of years of world history. Some say that our constitution and our freedom is what set us apart from these old empires. But didn't the British have their Magna Carta? Were they not a freed people in the 19th and 20th century? It can be argued that the British empire in its heydays was more dominant than we are today. I am sure the British felt that they were exceptional and look where they are at today.
If there is an advantage for the U.S. over other empires of the past, it is that we get more immigrants than all those other empires. Immigration brings in fresh talent and immigrants push the native born to do better. Can you imagine if we did not have Jewish, Italian, Irish, German, Indian and Chinese immigrants? I do not think that we could have maintained our status for so long. As long as we continue to welcome immigrants, our chance of remaining a great country will be good.
Yes, we are a great country. The best in the world today. Otherwise, immigrants would not be flocking over here. But we are not exceptional. We will not stay great unless we become greater. Instead of patting ourselves in the back, we should try to improve ourselves. We have a high infant mortality rate compare with other rich nations. Our life expectancy is lower than most of the rich nations. We have poor public high schools. We have a rich-poor gap that is widening. We have a high murder rate, especially with guns. We have a huge drug problem. There is a lot of work to be done. I think the politicians who think that we are exception will not lead us to improvement but will lead us down the road to mediocrity as previous great empires have gone.
Monday, December 05, 2011
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You really sound angry in this one.
ReplyDeleteHere I was ready to read about your bowl picks but I get this!
I really like your thinking here and totally agree with you on each point.
I am glad that I'm not the only one who thinks this way or have thought about it.
I had been thinking about the rich-poor gap recently and wondered if this would lead to the eventual downfall of this country.
I'm not saying that it will happen right away, but in 10-20 years, we might be able to point to the last decade as the beginning of the end.
I personally believe that a country is as great as its people. When you have a small percentage of people who make most of the money, it causes many problems.
People with lesser means become desperate and there's a strain on the economy.
I do not blame or hate the rich but I do think that this gap (and believe me, I see it widening), will either cause a revolution or economic disaster.
The rich cannot bring the economy back. The middle class needs to have the means to get the economy going and to have that consumer confidence that's been missing.
When there is instability in a country, that's when it loses its power. We're already seeing it with the debt crisis, housing sales are down and the downgrade in credit.
I hope I'm wrong and hope that things will change. But now is not the time to continue with the old world thoughts that we are this untouchable empire. Those days are gone and the sooner we realize this, the better.
-LBOAYM
There is plenty of time for my bowl picks. After all I have to do extensive research first!
ReplyDeleteAbout the rich-poor gap, I think what we have is unchecked capitalism. Capitalism has provided great wealth for us but I think the inadequacy of regulations is bringing us down. We never did learn from the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s. We never learned from the Envron scandal. Now we are not learning from this banking and mortgage fraud. Who has been sent to jail in the last three years? The Republicans accuse Obama of class warfare. But they are not interested in regulating their rich donors which would ensure that class warfare would not occur. If capitalists don't regulate themselves, it would lead to socialism taking over.
I think in the next 30-40 years the U.S. will still be no.1. So these people who claim the U.S. is exceptional will not be proven wrong in our life time. But what will happen to our grandchildren?