The article gets worse from here, thankfully it's short. Like Mr. Klein's intelligence. The problem is that this "collective" versus "the individual" mindset isn't just Mr. Klein's bright idea. To use one of President Obama's favorite lyrical instruments, this "false choice" of collectivism versus individualism, is the stock in trade of the left. This idea is the root of what Obama was talking about when he was promising hope and change. Hope for all of those folks who don't push themselves to reach a higher level in life, change for those who do.
Call it "The Myth of American Unexceptionalism."
On the foreign policy front, President Obama has operated from a position of equanimity with the rest of the world's nations. In many ways, Obama actually positions the US as a bad actor in the international community - America has to gain forgiveness for it's actions from the rest of the world. Obama doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, unless by exceptionalism you mean exceptionally bad.
The truth could not be farther from reality. America has had it's foibles, we've certainly made mistakes. But on the whole, the international "community" if you could call it that, has a lot more to apologize for than we do. Never mind the miles long list of positives America has contributed to the world, as well as the less quantifiable benefits of our democratic nation's mere presence as a the sole superpower.
The leftist will stop me right here and make the tired claim that the "last eight years" have destroyed America's reputation abroad. But this common refrain cannot survive even a modest study. How exactly is that true and who is doing the judging? France's Sarkozy was friends with Bush, and may have a man crush on Obama. Germany's Merkel has been a long time ally with the US, pre-Obama and now post. The UK's alliance with the US has been unshakeable, and looks to continue that way for years to come, even if we do give their leaders thoughtless gifts. So who hates us really? Russia? Spain? Bitch, pleeeze.
Despite this, President Obama went on his apology tour and made clear that the dastardly actions of the past administration will not be carried forth in Obama's new America. The crowds liked it but in terms of yield, there has been no benefit thus far. On the other hand, Obama's relinquishing our role as the sole superpower and defering to a dysfuntional U.N., the resulting loss of America as a true beacon of hope and an inspiration for freedom and democracy, will have it's costs, both in terms of America's direct interests, as well as the progress of democratic progress throughout the world.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
Bang-up article, OA. You hit on some vitally important points and raise the question which I actually think that real liberals on the left ought to be thinking about.
Liberalism and all the writers and people who inspired the movement, celebrated the individual and individual accomplishment. Surely some on the modern left must realize how incompatible the current dominant ideology is with actual liberalism.
Dave
2 - Baritone
You should perhaps take a moment and remove your red, white and blue glasses and step down from your hyperbolic perch. One would gather from your writing that Americans are the one and only beacon of light and life in the world. That all others are doomed to lives of uninspired drudgery - lives spent in a colorless world enveloped in a gray mist of sadness and unrealized dreams and potentials.
But you know what? The sun does in fact shine beyond our "shining" seas. People not of our special ilk somehow manage to live well and work at good jobs. People who are curious, innovative and inspired. People who have ideas, some that even come to fruition. They do this in spite of the fact that they live in more or less socialist societies in countries having national health care. (The horror!) Perhaps Americans are just too greedy and stupid to figure all that out.
You refer to health care as an "industry." Therein lay the problem. Health care should not be concerned with the bottom line.
Being the only so called "super power" carries with it obligations. Being the supposed "beacon" of freedom and democracy also carries with it obligations. All too often we have left those obligations behind in pursuit of power and influence no matter the cost to others.
You just can't imagine how anyone cannot see us as the guys in the white hats. You can't imagine that many see us as bullies, as arrogant, condescending and presumptuous.
It would help us all if there were a few less people like yourself so convinced of our near divinity that we can do no wrong. "My country right or ... yada, yada, yada.
We are NOT exceptional. We are all "unique" in that like snow flakes, no two are alike, but we're still just snow flakes. Being unique does not imply exceptionalism - at least not in a necessarily positive way. Jeffrey Dahmer was, I suppose, exceptional.
As to "American Exceptionalism" when applied to the country as a whole and when considered in its more or less original conception, there is some case that can be made about its being "exceptional" in the world. But most of that exceptionalism exists primarily on paper.
And with respect to Americans - we are Americans owing to nothing more "exceptional" than the accident of our birth. Not a one of us had a hand in the creation of this "exceptional" nation - nor even in conceiving of the "idea" of this nation.
B
3 - STM
OA: "America is the greatest country in the history of mankind".
Bullshit.
4 - Jordan Richardson
If there's anything America needs, it's an even bigger ego!
5 - STM
They just need to get their hands off their tonks
6 - Ruvy
OA,
There are things here that I see that you do not wish to see.
In foreign policy, the United States has not been a benefactor, EXCEPT when it went to war against the Nazis 68 years ago. Even then, the Americans refused to bomb the Nazi concentration camps, and when they liberated Italy, they also liberated the Sicilian Mafia to once again rain terror on Sicilian peasants. Since 1898 Americans have blindly raped the planet, backed by a blind view that caused them to expect everyone else to be grateful for being raped. That is where you get your own moniker, whether you realize it or not - "the Obnoxious American". America has betrayed ally after ally, friend after friend, until now you are paying the price.
You are broke, in debt up to your eyeballs to an evil regime that enslaves million, the Red Chinese, dependent on a monster of your own creation, the Saudi Thugdom of Wahhabi murder, so dependent in fact, that instead of overthrowing the evil bastards in Riyadh who flew a plane into the World Trade Center, your sitting president had a shit fit to destroy another former ally instead, Saddam Hussein of Iraq. And that shit fit has reduced you to penury.
Your nation needs universal health care. Any civilized human being with a brain on his head (who doesn't live in the United States) can see this plainly. But ironies abound, don't they? Now that there is finally something of a consensus agreeing to this, now that you finally have a leader willing to enact such a program (I remind you that the first bill to enact universal health care in the United States was submitted by Congressman Meyer London (Soc. - NY) in 1904!), YOU ARE TOO DAMNED BROKE TO PULL IT OFF!!
The land of your birth is falling apart around you, and as soon as the world economy reacts to the rampant printing of unbacked currency going on - another 18 months or so - the world will see inflation like it has never seen. If the economy of the world is still functioning, that is.
Mexico, the land that you Americans halved and emasculated, is sending you the latest version of Montezuma's revenge - the swine flu. It is only a matter of time before this flu, a disease that nobody has the solution for, or a mutation of it, starts killing in the thousands and finally millions. Flu season starts in October, by the way, and there is NO known antidote for swine flu.
The final ironies that I notice here are these. You feature a book by a Jew, your criticize an article by a Jew, and you, a Jew yourself, cannot see that whatever blessing G-d may have bestowed on the United States has been cancelled. On this the 61st anniversary of the renewed of a Jewish entity in the world, I remind you to look east homewards, and to abandon the Babylon in the West - before it abandons you as it falls.
7 - Clavos
Cheer up, B-tone, you still have your ass-kissing, bowing-and-scraping, "Mea Culpa" president doing his best to destroy whatever tattered remnants of the notion of exceptionalism are still left out there.
And if OA continues to insist on writing these disgusting, reprehensible screeds, you can always send him to a government school to be re-educated.
8 - The Obnoxious American
Baritone,
You've totally blown my mind. Wow, I didn't realize just how I wasn't seeing the full picture, thank you (end sarcasm).
Do you really think that I believe the world only sees us as the guys with white hats? I never ever suggested that. Why must you degrade my intelligence as not even realizing our sins, as opposed to responding to the points in the article. I even say in the article we've made our mistakes (it's even in my byline) but on the whole our presence on the world scene has been a positive for the world. Care to dispute that? I dare you to name any other country that has contributed as much good to the world as the U.S.A.
I never said that nothing exceptional happens beyond our borders, never said there aren't exceptional people outside of the USA - I work with people all over the world on a daily basis, I get to see it first hand. That doesn't change the point of my article. Part of the reason why others in the world have such an existence is because of the US. Ask yourself where would Europe be without the US? Where would China be without the US? In one way or another, we've set an example, or got directly involved. America has changed the course of history for the better on virtually every other continent in the world. The world without the U.S. would be a much darker place right now, regardless of how determined you are to not see that.
On Health Care, it IS an industry whether you want to consider it one or not. The U.S. health care industry is largely responsible for extending the lives people all over the world, and enabling them to have socialized medicine that works to a degree.
"To a degree" being the key phrase. In the rush to socialized medicine, did you ever ask anyone from Canada or the U.K. how they like their care? Guess what - they don't like it very much. And guess what - it's not free either!
Bottom line, you take away the profit incentives behind medicine, and that means you take away invention and ingenuity. People are not going to work to discover new science just because they feel like it, and government ain't going to spend tax payer's dollars on a slim chance of some R&D effort being successful.
I'm not saying that socializing medicine will mean an end to all medical inventions, but it absolutely will reduce them, as well as reducing the choices we currently have. For what end goal exactly? There are other ways to reduce costs, other ways to get coverage for the people that need them. Why throw the baby out with the bath water?
In terms of us Americans - I agree you're not that exceptional, because you were blessed to be born here and you don't even realize it. Obviously, I had nothing to do with the founding of this great nation. But at least I understand why it was founded and am here trying to defend those founding principles, which is more than I can say for most on the left.
9 - Glenn Contrarian
OA -
Why is it that the more America turns against the right-wing policies that led us to this juncture - the worst recession since the depression and two ongoing wars (one of which was completely unnecessary) - the more the right wing claims they are the only true patriots, the only hope there is for America?
Here's the answer, by Samuel Johnson: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"
H.L. Mencken appended the saying thusly: "But there is something even worse: it is the first, last, and middle range of fools."
This can be seen not only in America, but in EVERY country that experiences upheaval. It seems that many in the right wing believe that patriotism is their bailiwick alone, and that all others are somehow pretenders.
But you know what, OA? You touched on health care. In your choice of whether to support UHC or not, your choice SHOULD be made with the evidence at hand - which countries have the longest life expectancy while spending the least amount of money to achieve that national life expectancy. All other talking points should be flatly ignored.
But you are ignoring the evidence at hand! On the list of countries ordered by longest life expectancy, America is in THIRTIETH place, behind Jordan and Bosnia, respectively. The TOP TWENTY-SEVEN countries ALL have universal health care of one form or another...and they ALL spend far less on health care per capita than we already do.
THAT, sir, is the crucial evidence. Bring out every single talking point you have, and I'll shoot it down. In the end, examine the OVERALL picture, the BIG picture, instead of saying "this person" or "that person". Try seeing the forest as a whole instead of looking at the problems with this or that tree!
If you want to call yourself a patriot, then have the intestinal fortitude to support what is PROVEN to work, what is PROVEN to benefit the population as a whole (including your precious uber-rich) for FAR less money out of YOUR pocket.
Being a patriot, OA, is supporting what is best for ALL Americans, and not just the Americans you happen to like.
10 - Clavos
Funny thing, Glenn.
I can't find the words "patriot" or "patriotism" anywhere in either OA's article or his comment.
In fact, I've noticed in the past that usually it's you who most often brings up that strawman.
11 - The Obnoxious American
Glenn,
Wrong, I'm not ignoring anything, in fact, in this very article you are commenting on, I link to another article that I wrote where I explore the WHO rankings and the issues around our life expectancy. I added this link within this article precisely so that readers would see WHY I ignore the WHO rankings and our life expectancy figures without having to read it here. To make it easy for you here is the link, again:
The Obnoxious American Loves Hillary/
You can disagree with me, but please try to understand my points before doing so.
In terms of your suggesting that I am claiming patriotism as my last refuge as a scoundrel, you don't know me, and you have no position to make such a claim about me. I live a law abiding, upstanding life. I contribute to society in a number of positive ways. My comments about the lack of patriotism are due entirely to the unpatriotic acts of our new president, and at the behest of the extreme left who seems to be able to drive Obama.
Perhaps my dislike for Obama is more extreme than most of the populace, but that's because I probably pay attention a lot more than most of the people polled. And what I see, an apologist who makes nice with dictators (even Gloria Borger on CNN had an issue with this) is not what I would call presidential and decrying our actions, especially in World War II as Obama did on his apology tour, is absolutely NOT patriotic, no matter how many other countries he also lambasts.
12 - The Obnoxious American
Clavos,
True enough, I never even actually said the word patriotism. What I have been talking about is exceptionalism, specifically the idea of individual exceptionalism which is what America has been based on, which led to American Exceptionalism.
And American Exceptionalism isn't the same as patriotism, though both may manifest similarly.
American Exceptionalism is a fact, and it has yeilded real benefits in the real world, like for example, not living with a Nazi Europe right now, or sparking the industrial revolution which has brough millions, perhaps billions all over the world, out of poverty.
Patriotism by comparison, is a feeling someone has. And frankly, I care a lot less about feelings than I do about exceptionalism. Because everyone is patriotic for their country. But someone in the group is going to be exceptional. It can be us, or it can be someone else. Our choice to make here.
13 - Dr Dreadful
It is only a matter of time before this flu, a disease that nobody has the solution for, or a mutation of it, starts killing in the thousands and finally millions. Flu season starts in October, by the way, and there is NO known antidote for swine flu.
Isn't that what you said about bird flu, Ruvy?
There's no 'antidote' to any virus. Once infected, you just have to let the disease run its course. There are drugs and treatments, of course, that can manage the symptoms and in some cases kill the infection. Tamiflu works just fine.
There are also strategies, which are as we write being put into effect, to help restrict the spread of the disease.
The problem with this particular strain is that we're playing catch-up: as you observe, it's not flu season and not enough of the right drugs are stockpiled right now. But to claim, with barely-disguised glee, that there's absolutely nothing we can do about swine flu is just complete and utter bollocks.
14 - Dr Dreadful
I dare you to name any other country that has contributed as much good to the world as the U.S.A.
How far back d'you want to go? I'll give you Britain, France, Germany and Italy for starters.
Of course, it does rather depend on what you regard as Good.
15 - Baronius
Ruvy, I raised some questions about the Allies and bombing during WWII on the thread of your "We Will Not Forget" article, comment #22. You never replied. That's odd, considering most of your recent comments have been about that particular subject. I'm no historian. My understanding is that my comment #22 is accurate, but I could be wrong. Still, the longer you go without correcting it or even replying to it, the worse your credibility is on this topic.
16 - The Obnoxious American
Doc,
I thought someone might ask that question, thankfully it came from you. And you're right, looking at different periods in the course of history the world was vastly changed for the better by many countries. Being selfish, I'm more interested in our lives, so I'd ask you to look at recent history, the last 100 years or so. I think you will agree that humankind has made leaps and bounds in the last 100 years that is unprecidented in the preceeding history.
Would I be overstating things by suggesting that 50% of the advancements of humankind happened prior to the last 100 or so years, with the remaining 50% of advancements coming within the last 100? I don't think so. And what was a major driver in those advancements? Playing our role in WWII enabled the society we enjoy today. Playing our part in the end of communism enabled the society we enjoy today. Our mere presence has inspired capitalism in China of all places. Not to mention the actual tangible inventions we've contributed.
Perhaps my belief in exceptionalism has pissed off some of the more extreme lefties here, but let's forget party affiliation and Obama for a minute and just consider what the last 100 years would have looked like if the U.S. was not on the scene. America is nothing short of exceptional.
17 - The Obnoxious American
Not sure why we are talking swine flu here, and frankly I am pretty happy with the Administration's response thus far. But one thing that really annoyed me with Obama was on his recent campaign stop yesterday, he spoke about the swine flu:
"But one thing is clear - our capacity to deal with a public health challenge of this sort rests heavily on the work of our scientific and medical community. And this is one more example of why we cannot allow our nation to fall behind."
Obama went on to say:
"Federal funding in the physical sciences as a portion of our gross domestic product has fallen by nearly half over the past quarter century. Time and again we've allowed the research and experimentation tax credit, which helps businesses grow and innovate, to lapse.... And we have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas."
We're talking about the swine flu, something that has existed for a lot longer than even Obama and it originated from Mexico, the U.S., the Bush administration, did not cause this. And we HAVE effective science to deal with this. So WHAT IS OBAMA TALKING ABOUT, and why does he use every crisis as an opportunity to blame the prior administration, the history of America, and then ask for more government spending? Scary stuff.
18 - Dan(Miller)
Although the site remains subject to problems due to "backend issues" (I assume that the problems are not anatomical) according to the trouble page I got many times yesterday and again a few minutes ago, I will try another comment.
[idiocy begins]
Many good and useful ideas come from outside the United States, and it is terribly arrogant for the U.S. not to adopt them all. In Muslim countries, for example, pigs are considered unclean animals and [the devout] do not eat pork because of religious restrictions. One Islamic militant Web site carried comments Wednesday saying swine flu was God's revenge against "infidels." Perhaps the U.S. should, along with Egypt, slaughter all pigs to prevent the further spread of swine flu. Of course, "Global health experts said the mass slaughter of pigs is entirely unnecessary and a waste of resources." However, it is important to do something, even if it is quite ineffective, regardless of the cost. Change is good! The United States must be purged of the arrogant notion that even the silliest of ideas from abroad are not worth trying. Exceptional?? Ha ha! The United States is no better and is often far worse than any other country.
[idiocy ends]
Dan(Miller)
19 - Glenn Contrarian
OA -
You ignore the stats because they come from the World Health Organization (WHO)? Here's a news flash: they're NOT from the WHO!
The life expectancy stats on the Wikipedia are from the CIA World Factbook, and the spending stats are from the World Bank.
But I'm not surprised - you're not the first conservative I've seen do his level best to dismiss offhand the evidence presented without even attempting to verify its veracity.
In other words, the conservative maxim seems to be "if the evidence says something against conservative orthodoxy, the evidence MUST therefore be false!"
20 - Glenn Contrarian
OA -
Here's another set of examples of how grossly inefficient our system is versus those countries with Universal Health Care - but of course you'll dismiss this one, too....
21 - The Obnoxious American
No Glenn. Ready the link I posted. I cover this topic extensively in that article ("The Obnoxious American Loves Hillary" written way back in 2007). Or you can keep arguing with your imaginary version of me. Your choice buddy.
22 - Dr Dreadful
Obnox @ #16: You're right that the US has taken the lead over the last century or so, and that many of the developments which make our world a nicer place have had an American hand in them.
However, three points. I think the pace of recent change is largely incidental to our discussion here. It's the result of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, which began in Western Europe, and to which the US - as in a lot of things ;-) - was a late arrival. So the US has been building on the earlier achievements of others, just as every other world leader throughout history has.
Second, it is entirely possible that the pace of human development may be even faster over the next hundred years - and may not be led by America. In the year 2109, do not be surprised to see Chinese or Russians or Indians pointing at how far the world has come thanks to their nations' contributions, and how exceptional that makes them.
Third, you have to look at how much of America's influence over the past century has been due to its size. Two of the countries with larger populations than the US have spent most of that time working on elaborate ways of being unpleasant to their own people, a third has been struggling to come to terms with the idea that it is a country and not a mass of squabbling principalities, and the fifth largest has only recently got bored with its national hobby of having a revolution every five minutes. So the US has been in a unique position solely because of its size and stability. It would be interesting to try and analyze significant achievements per capita of population of various leading countries, and see where the US stands by that measure.
23 - The Obnoxious American
Doc,
I agree with your insightful points. And a bit terrified of the next 100 years if China or Russia, and not the U.S., is in the superpower role for all the obvious reasons.
24 - Baronius
Dr, 1) The US definitely is part of the European tradition. No denying that.
2) If demographic trends continue, the last Russian will have died fifty years before 2109.
3) America has been able to outpace other countries because of its size and stability, yes. But those aren't accidents. It takes a unique country to remain stable when you're that big.
25 - Dr Dreadful
Baronius:
1) I'll come back to that;
2) Russia has significant immigration - don't count on it;
3) Your observation here is answered by your observation in 1).