Despite all our problems, some American politicians these days are talking about a thing called "American Exceptionalism." It's the idea that America is fundamentally different from and better than other countries, which means we won't take kindly to having our healthcare system compared to Canada's, and we won't follow the same candy-ass United Nations rules as the Republic of Mozambique.
Or, maybe we will follow the rules.
We'll see how it goes.
The point is, we are different. We are better. We are exceptional.
That's hard to prove, of course, and it reminds me of how my WWII-veteran dad used to worry about all the praise that Tom Brokaw had heaped on his generation. "Ladies and gentleman," Dad imagined the public address annoucer saying in heaven, "please welcome Thomas Dwight Murray, a member of … 'The Greatest Generation!'" He thought he'd have a hard time looking Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln in the eye.
Not as humble as my dad—it's a generational thing—and I've been contemplating the idea of … David Murray Exceptionalism. I can certainly make a case.
I am not perfect, but I haven't done that much really horrible stuff in my life. Well, maybe some stuff. Put it this way: There is a lot of bad stuff that a person can do that I haven't even come close to doing!
Secondly: My mother always described me as "a genius," "sensitive" and "a dear lamb." My mother was a fantastic person and a great judge of character. (My father occasionally told me, "The world does not revolve around David Murray." But that was only a scientific fact, not some kind of moral judgment.)
And my parents haven't been the only ones who have said wonderful things about me. When I was about 10, a barber told me I was mature for my age. My first boss told me I was a "lively writer." My wife once said, "You don't know a stranger." That's about the nicest thing you can say about anybody, I figure.
But more to the point, I feel exceptional. Sitting around the drinking table, I find I often have insights that others don't have. Also: I'm wonderfully well-rounded, a fan of professional football and Amadeus Mozart! And, unlike some people I know, I'm always open to learning new things. You see, I believe in lifelong learning.
There is more—there is much more—but I'm sure enough of myself that I feel no need to toot my own horn.
You don't have to agree with my David Murray Exceptionalism Theory of course. But what I will no longer do is hide the fact that I believe it! When you think about it, what theory would you expect me to ascribe to, You Exceptionalism?
As Mike Huckabee says about American exceptionalism, "To deny American exceptionalism is to deny the heart and soul of this nation."
Similarly, to deny David Murray Exceptionalism is to say my mother was a liar.
I wouldn't go there if I were you.
David Murray Exceptionalism is second only to Craig Jolley Exceptionalism. BTW, Huckabee is exactly correct.
Craig
Yeah, I was sold this bill of goods as an impressionable, optimistic, and let’s face it, self-absorbed, arrogant youth.
Now I realize that the 200-year run has been good, but the United States one day will take second place, then third place in the list of all-time great nations.
Who will take our crown from us? I have my thoughts, but time will tell. It has for every “great nation” that proceeded us.
We continue to look at the positive and extol our virtues and strengths. But the cracks are evident.
It’s my belief that a greater, more wonderful existence awaits me after I die that lets me relax a little about what is happening here.
People who don’t share that belief hold on dearly to what treasures they think they own in this world: power, influence, wealth, beauty. But all of that will one day be gone.
Glad that I could share my thoughts and add this cheery note to your blog, David! I would plant a smiley icon here, but that would drive you completely over the edge, I think.
@Craig: How so? I honestly don’t understand what Huckabee is saying. I think I can love what is wonderful about America–I can BE what is wonderful about America–without claiming that it is superior to every other nation.
@Tom: Well, my WWII dad often said toward the end of his life, “You know, we really are becoming a half-assed country.” And by “toward the end of his life,” I mean the last 25 years of it.
That was his long view of the situation.
As for me, I won’t make or defend such a claim, either. Like “American exceptionalism,” it’s too general to mean anything at all, really.
How is it that every other country on the planet, many with similar or greater natural resources, and many thousands of years head start, fall behind the U.S.? I mean the U.S. is generally recognized as the most powerful country in the world in many respects. How did this happen after only a relatively brief time span?
You would think that it would have required a much longer runway. I think it goes back to that fact that the founding fathers designed a unique experiment in terms of governance, instilling and supporting rugged individualism.
I’ve never forgotten the story a friend of mine told me after coming home from almost a month in Russia trying to a business. He related that whenever he went out in public, to resturants, bars, waiting in line for the trains, etc. he was ALWAYS identified as an American immediately.
He first thought it was because of his clothes but decided that the local business people he was with dressed as well and in some cases better than he did. He next thought it was because of his accent or poor command of the language, but then realized that locals were asking his companions who “the American” was even before he spoke a word.
This started bugging him so one night when everyone went out to the bar to celebrate a sale, he asked a women how people could tell he wasn’t Russian and more importantly always identified him as American. What gave him away?
Her answer floored him. It was his eyes, she said. All American’s eyes expressed a light of confidence, assurance. A look of freedom that wasn’t present in any other nationality.
Being the skeptic he is he didn’t believe it. But for the rest of his trip, whenever he ran across someone who picked him out as an American he would ask how they identified him. He said that although it wasn’t 100 percent, the number of people who had a similar explanation led him to belive that there is something very different(and IMHO superior) about us that is reflected in our very eyes.
Craig
As a country, we’ve been exceptional. But then, so was Great Britain in its day, as well as Greece, the Roman Empire, etc.
Having been exceptional doesn’t guarantee that we will forever be so. In fact, odds are that the mantle will be passed, and the city on the hill will be looking up to a city on the mountain.
I agree that, in my brief encounters with you, you have been exceptional! (Greetings from Glynn Young, by the way. Here’s a topic you might want to weigh in on: http://su.pr/3262Hk )
Mostly, America rose so far so fast because we were developing as a nation at the same time the industrial revolution was taking place, and we had all kinds of cheap labor pouring in to take the controls of our huge machines, built with our vast resources. (No, Craig, not a lot of other countries have resources like this country did in the 19th century.)
Our dominance continued through the 20th century after we used all that machinery to bomb Germany and Japan into smithereens, and while most other economies were on their ass because of the war we didn’t have a lot of competition in until the 1970s.
That’s the sort version.
Is American dominance over? I’m not into predictions, but it is true that past performance does not guarantee future results, wouldn’t you say?
As for your unbelievably silly, jingoistic, laughable anecdote:
It makes me wonder very seriously how much you yourself have traveled abroad. I’ve been around a bit, and nowhere was my travel an exercise in looking with my bright eyes into the hopeless eyes of others.
Why don’t we test your bushy-tailed friend’s hypothesis about eye brightness, and compare some photographs. If he’s right, we ought to be able to tell the American from the dull-eyed Italian, the gaping Greek, the lidded Lithuanian.
Shouldn’t we?
David,
You are correct I am not as well travelled abroad and I admit that there is an Ugly American flavor to my sentiment. However,
my friend was simply reporting what those he came in contact with told him how they perceived Americans.
Not a scientific study by any account. But I don’t believe he was making up what those people were telling him nor can I fathom what might have been the motives of all those people to tell similar stories if they were all lying.
You are right, we benefited greatly from the industrial revolution. But I am not aware that other countries were prohibited from taking similar advantage of the same benefits. Why did we advance faster and further than those where the industrial revolution first started?
Your comment about WWII validates the argument doesn’t it? I’ve often wondered what would have happened if we had followed a similar path as other countires and had not been in a position to prevail.
I personally am fearful that America’s dominance might be waning, but also believe it is self-inflicted. I prefer to believe – and am comforted by – the picture painted by the stories of those unknown Russians as hopeful reasons why we might remain, to Peter Faur’s reference that city on the hill.
I also am encouraged by the passion for this country that is expressed by a couple of other friend’s parents who immigrated, became naturalized citizens and started successful businesses. I sometimes become chagrined to realize they believe in this country more than many (most? myself?) who have inherited the benefits of America as a birthright.
“I also am encouraged by the passion for this country that is expressed by a couple of other friend’s parents who immigrated, became naturalized citizens and started successful businesses. I sometimes become chagrined to realize they believe in this country more than many (most? myself?) who have inherited the benefits of America as a birthright.”
Well, now you’re getting somewhere. I believe America was founded by and for people of great hunger and ambition, and over the generations it has (naturally) become a place full of less hungry, less ambitious people. Who try to keep immigrants out because they sense that they can’t compete with them.
David:
Move.
Steve C.
David:
Move.
Steve C.
David:
Move.
Steve C.
Where? I love it here.
Dave, where was your exceptionalism on new year’s eve when we were playing Cranium?
@Kirst.: I was exceptionally dumb.
Oh, good. Then by all means stay.
Nobody likes the European lifestyle more than me. The relaxed pace, the smaller cars, the attention to food and wine and culture . . . I am an ex-pat in waiting.
But there’s a reason why people from all over the world come to America to make a life. There’s a reason people with medical and law degrees are driving cabs over here.
This IS an exceptional country. Not perfect by ANY means, but what country is?
And I get a little tired of people (not you, necessarily David, but others, including our President, unfortunately) who have benefited greatly from the American system, and now want to sniff at it and put it down.
So glad you’re staying. America would be a little less exceptional without you.
Steve C.
Oh, good. Then by all means stay.
Nobody likes the European lifestyle more than me. The relaxed pace, the smaller cars, the attention to food and wine and culture . . . I am an ex-pat in waiting.
But there’s a reason why people from all over the world come to America to make a life. There’s a reason people with medical and law degrees are driving cabs over here.
This IS an exceptional country. Not perfect by ANY means, but what country is?
And I get a little tired of people (not you, necessarily David, but others, including our President, unfortunately) who have benefited greatly from the American system, and now want to sniff at it and put it down.
So glad you’re staying. America would be a little less exceptional without you.
Steve C.
Oh, good. Then by all means stay.
Nobody likes the European lifestyle more than me. The relaxed pace, the smaller cars, the attention to food and wine and culture . . . I am an ex-pat in waiting.
But there’s a reason why people from all over the world come to America to make a life. There’s a reason people with medical and law degrees are driving cabs over here.
This IS an exceptional country. Not perfect by ANY means, but what country is?
And I get a little tired of people (not you, necessarily David, but others, including our President, unfortunately) who have benefited greatly from the American system, and now want to sniff at it and put it down.
So glad you’re staying. America would be a little less exceptional without you.
Steve C.
“I get a little tired of people … who have benefited greatly from the American system, and now want to sniff at it and put it down.”
Okay, Steve, the president and I will try to keep this in mind.
Thank you, David.
We appreciate it.
Steve C.
Thank you, David.
We appreciate it.
Steve C.
Thank you, David.
We appreciate it.
Steve C.
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