April 29, 2012 11:17 PM UTC

Exceptionalism, Unvarnished

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• by: botw

In advance of a campaign in which we will hear a lot about how President Obama believes the United States is an unexceptional, mediocre nation for which apologies must constantly be given, it’s worth thinking about what exceptional means.

The author E.L. Doctorow has a not-to-be-missed Op-Ed in the NYT.  You can find it here:

http://tinyurl.com/6wmvj9f

Doctorow cites a lot of examples of what to do if you strive to create an unexceptional nation, including:

Suspend the counting of ballots in a presidential election

React to a terrorist attack by invading a non-terrorist country

Using that war as a justification, order secret surveillance of Americans

Torture terrorism suspects

Create deficits so large that governments must cut back on essential services

Inject religious precepts into public policy to cut back on basic womens’ rights

Pass laws allowing concealed weapons and killing anyone by whom you feel threatened

Portray unions as un-American

Portray global warming as a conspiracy of scientists