Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiNonbinding this and that, deadline lah-di-dah, Bush/Cheney are going to ignore the mandate of the midterm elections and every pressure from Congress on Iraq, because Bush/Cheney know their opponents' bark has no bite. And that's because those opponents have yet to renounce the Bush/Cheney vision of US supremacy in the world. In fact, mostly, they share it.
William Pfaff writes about US Manifest Destiny in the New York Review of Books: "It is something like heresy to suggest that the US does not have a unique moral status and role to play in the history of nations," he writes. Bush/Cheney tap into a belief that's as old as the state itself. (Pfaff quotes Paine: "The case and circumstances of America present themselves as in the beginning of the world… We are as if we we had lived in the beginning of time.")
Belief in US "exceptionalism" is the hop-skip-jump that led to US intervention in Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Central America--and now Iraq. It's the "exception" that okays the breaking of global rules, from the Geneva Convention, to the conventions against torture to the chucking-out of Habeas Corpus. Like Dirty Harry, Bush knows Americans believe "good" cops can break the rules if they're on a mission to save the world from terror, evil, tyranny.
Neo-cons came up with the chilling phrase "The New American Century," but even their critics accept the concept. In his testimony to Congress on global warming, Al Gore referred not once but a handful of times to the US "unique" role to save the planet.
At the risk of being burnt at the stake I'd like to suggest that this month provides a special chance to review all this stuff about specialness. March 25 marked the 200th anniversary of the British Parliament's abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. (A US law took effect in 1808.) To take a second look at the foundations of the country is to be reminded of the reality behind the rhetoric.
The New World wasn't so new. Ask the people who lived here. Slavery wasn't a new beginning. It was ancient. The first place to throw off slavery was Haiti in 1801, sixty-three years ahead of the United States. That makes Haiti special. Does it give Haiti a unique role in the world, to invade other countries and pursue a Project for a New Haitian Century?
We've got the brawn, but does that give us the right or the responsibility to rule the world? The problem isn't this deadline or that. The problem is the ideology of supremacy. The same ideology (that some are by nature better, or more valuable than others) that undergirded slavery in the first place.
Laura Flanders is the author of BLUE GRIT: True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians, forthcoming April 9, from The Penguin Press.
© Copyright 2007 The Nation
13 Comments so far
Show AllOf interest is that the 'Big Satan' (America) and the 'Little Satan' (Isreal) consider themselves God's "chosen" people. When we step away from all this nationalistic fervor perhaps we could evolve into humane humans. Darwin had it right about mental & physical evolution, but can the neo-con neolithic types be forced out of the way long enough for us to evolve socially? Events are on the horizon as catastrophic as the asteroid strike 65 million years ago, but remember it was the progressive little mammals that survived, NOT the aggressive large dinosaurs. Keep in mind lemmings, while small mammals, are doomed to extinction since their ingrained herd instinct comes in conflict with their progressive ability to think for themselves. A few good lemmings can turn the herd from the disasterous cliff Bush & Co., and an errant nationalistic attitude of God given superiority, are heading us toward. You can lead, follow, or get out of the way. Just don't stand IN the way, though.
Truly every expanding empire saw its own culture as the ideal culture for all people. It is a combination of pure pride and pure greed that drives this notion.
And now America will liberate the entire world and get filthy rich in the process. Woo hoo!
Does anyone remember how Jurassic Park ended?
I believe it is possible that Cheney and Bush have souls, greedy ones at that, but they are convinced their evil war is the lesser of two evils. Smart and greedy people are very good at rationalizing evil.
I believe Dubya is smart. His good ol' boy persona is an important part of his PR-researched act to connect with the common people.
Could Dubya be that dumb or is he trying not to seem like the elitist Washington insider that he truly is?
The Dubya Conspiracy. Catchy, eh?
Do a little research on the goals of the PNAC and the Vulcans who advised Dubya's foreign policy pitch in 2000. The policy his advisors proposed publicly was the polar opposite of what they advised Dubya to pitch us on the campaign trail! Why?
Could they have planned the whole thing to change after 911? The same guy who could care less what the world was up to in 2000 suddenly became an expert on the differences and destinies of Sunnis versus Shiites after 911. Go figure.
This is exactly right but how can this deep consciousness brainwashing be undone? My view is it starts the second an infant sees the flickering screen of the television between the crib slats. Its reinforced from the media to the schools to the workplace. I also refer to it as the Iron Triangle of exceptionalism, capitalism and racism that gets so inculcated into the national psyche. I worked with my own kids as best I could knowing what they would experience in school and outside of school. Perhaps that's the best we can do since the Matrix will defend itself and its corresponding mythology to the death. I do think that more and more people are beginning, if not to wake up, at least be disquieted enough to be almost conscious about their creeping feeling that something just isn't right with all of this. At that point fear of disturbing the status quo takes over and its very powerful. If we find people in this state, perhaps some good can be done along the lines of 'you know something just isn't right about all of this but are you willing to take the red pill?' To some people remaining ignorant resolves them of a responsibility to force change which is very scary. Others, perhaps, would rather face the truth about our society and its foundations, painful as it is, and live in the real world. Somehow, those of us who are deprogrammed need to find and help those people (and all of us) stay sane.
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
What a concept!
I'd say that the root of American exceptionalism is hypocrisy:
"What's wrong for them to do is right for us to do."
WMD is a perfect example. Terrorism is also another. (See Nicaragua v. USA)
To not be hypocrites we must first abide by:
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
The US is in a unique position to change the course of history. All it has to do is stop all military spending and ask all other countries to do the same. All we are doing now is being the same as every other empire in history has been.
The Unique Role of the U.S. is a fact, however, like it or not.
As the nation with the most consumption and producing most waste, the US is unique. As the largest possessor and purveyor of arms we both promote and enforce our uniqueness.
One has to admit, the U.S. has used its "Unique Role" to devastate much of the planet, punish movements for workers' rights and clean water all over the globe.
For this exceptionality to persist it has been required to dilute, dumb down, and de-fund the educational system for masses of American people not to care. It has required massive shifting of funds and of the rules for access to the airwaves to help Americans not to notice what our "uniqueness" hath wrought. We are unique in our ability to use science and technology to convince people not to trust science.
Ah, yes, one could go on and on...
Adsosletter,
The Straussian approach is that the Nietzche supermen in control should be able to tell the hoi polloi whatever is necessary in order to get them to go along while the supermen secretly know what is best for the nation and pursue those policies in the dark. Wolfowitz and a few other neocons certainly held that view. There are so many flaws in this approach that it is difficult to know where to begin, but what may be the greatest shortcoming is that the lack of transparency and the acceptance of deception provide great cover for pure criminals like Cheney and Perle to pursue policies intended simply to increase their power and fatten their bank accounts at the nation's expense.
so...go see South Pacific...then read a couple books...can't hurt.
The root of American Exceptionalism is ethnocentrism, a frailty common to all human cultures. This is perpetuated through socialization/enculturation that starts in infancy. As the musical play South Pacific observed, "You have to be carefully taught how to hate and fear"--words the writers were put under intense pressure to remove, but to thier credit preserved. Not even the "enlightenment" of a college education can dent this dogma at the foundation of Empire, which as noted has been present since the creation.
KIVALS,
isn't that the basis of Straussian/neo-con/Machiavellian theory: that it is not imortant that the leadership/"ideology" actually be "moral/righteous" but only that the public believes them to be so?
A few good books to start with:
REDEEMER NATION--by Tuveson
THE WAR FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS: PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY, THE GREAT WAR, AND THE RISE OF THE MESSIANIC NATION--by Gamble
GOD'S NEW ISRAEL--by Conrad Cherry
VISIONARY REPUBLIC: MILLENNIAL THEMES IN AMERICAN THOUGHT, 1756-1800--by Bloch
and, just to wrap it all in modern apocalyptic thought (which is a strong component here):
WHEN TIME SHALL BE NO MORE--by Boyer.
and
THE END OF DAYS--by Gorenberg.
There are many, many more; these just happen to be the ones on the bookcase in front of me.
Pick one, and put it on the nightstand, next to the kama sutra... :)
One has to be incredibly ignorant of the history of civilization, the history of the human race, the history of the planet, and the history of the universe to believe in American exceptionalism. However, I suspect that most who propagate such beliefs, just as most who promote right-wing economic policies, do not actually hold such beliefs themselves, but use them as justifications for self-interested activities to reduce resistance by the confused and ill-informed.