The Myth of American Exceptionalism

[wood_artist]

The current brawl over the content of the AP History course created by the College Board has raised the ire of conservatives who want only to sing the praises of American Exceptionalism. In short, in their world, America, well more correctly the United States of America, is just better than everyone else. The country, and its people, are

Comments

[gretchen_marie]

I JUST had this conversation with a friend yesterday... my opening statement was, "You know what's wrong with this country? Exceptionalism, that's what!"

(Mind you, there are lots of things wrong with this country, but this is the root of some fairly big issues.)

Another way in which we are exceptional: Our incarceration rates. The best in the world!

[wood_artist]

Yup. We're not all that special, although I have no problem with promoting the idea of having pride in the country and some of the things we've accomplished. We should be proud of those things, but we should also honestly understand where we have fallen short...and continue to do so.

I really hate the idea that something that works elsewhere can't be used here because we're somehow different. Single payer universal health care works in lots of places...and they have been outcomes, lower costs, and nobody goes bankrupt trying to stay alive. But..."that won't work here." Bullshit!

Germany decided after the Fukishima melt-down to close all their nuclear plants. They had many. They went after solar in a big way, and now they generate something like 40% of their power that way. When I hear "it won't work here" the first thing I think about is that all of Germany is further north than almost all of the United States. In other words...bullshit! We could do it if we just wanted to.