American Exceptionalism

I recently saw a clip of Karl Rove criticizing President Obama for not believing in "American Exceptionalism." That term, of course, means different things to different people. But the basic idea is that America and Americans are "exceptional," in one way or another and, because we are exceptional, America has a special role to play in world affairs.

Exceptionalism, or a belief in the superiority of one's "kind," is a universal phenomenon. Much of the time, it remains an unspoken assumption among the members of a population. And when it is stated, it is usually stated indirectly. "God Bless the USA" - when spoken by an American, or displayed on a car bumper - translates roughly as "we're better than anyone else."

Here's a little secret. I've long believed that America, as a nation, is superior to every nation on earth. Individual Americans fall along a wide spectrum ranging from truly extraordinary to vile. But America, as a nation, is, or at least was, exceptional.

But given that Karl Rove has publicly endorsed government sponsored torture - or what amounts to it - and participated in an administration that lied and/or scared the nation into invading a country that was not threatening us, and criticized every Supreme Court Decision limiting the Bush Administration's power to detain "suspected terrorists" without due process, I'm pretty sure Karl Rove understands that term in a very different way than I do.

America, as I understand it, is a social contract. America is an agreement of a population to govern themselves according to certain key political ideals - the rule of law, due process, equality before the law, political equality, governmental respect for individual rights, respect for property rights, liberty and justice for all, and so forth.

We have never lived up to these ideals perfectly - we have never even fully understood what they require of us. But we have tried live up to these ideals. And to the extent that we have lived up to them, we have prospered and benefited ourselves and the rest of the world like no other nation before us.

Karl Rove speaks of "American exceptionalism" and yet endorses state sponsored torture, indefinite detention without due process, government spying without judicial warrants, and so forth.

Come to think of it, so does 47% of the population of this country.

Devotion to a political movement or agenda (or to a leader) often overwhelms devotion to overarching political ideals. We've seen that time and time again. It is very dangerous when people overwhelmed in this manner come to control the power accumulated by those who came before them and who remained faithful, albeit imperfectly, to our overarching political ideals.

Karl Rove is no patriot. His understanding of America and American exceptionalism is very different from mine. He doesn't love our country. He loves power, pure and simple.

Joe H