What's 'American exceptionalism'?

It’s just the American form of nationism.

I see. It’s just weird how there’s a geographically-specific term when there’s already a more readily available generic word available.

Like, we don’t have Canadian Awesomenism.

There’s a notion that America occupies a special place in the family of nations, and that more is expected of us when it comes to leading the world.

It’s nationalism on steroids. I concur with Laureth, but also think it goes to the next level, in that we believe we are immune from certain conditions because we are Americans.

Examples: because so many people want to immigrate to the US from other countries, we become appalled when other countries view the exportation of American businesses to their countires as detrimental—Coke, KFC, McDonald’s, Starbucks, DisneyWorld, ConAgra. We fail to give credence to the validity of foreign nationals not wanting to be Americanized.

We are the richest country in the world, yet by 2003 numbers, 8% of our children live in extreme poverty, 3.5 million people are homeless each year, 39% of them children. 60% of all new homeless cases are single mothers with children. The average time a family is homeless is 6 months, but has steadily been increasing because municipalities don’t have the resources to provide services.

The CIA estimates that 14,500 to 17,000 people are trafficked into America as slaves each year.

You get where I’m going with this. We have all this going on, yet people turn out in droves to protest chickens who are raised as a food crop having their beaks removed. We watch reality TV shows that have nothing to do with reality.

“It was a society that believed in its future, felt that it was different and better than others, and was certain that this superiority was the result of its past and the greatness of its ancestors, and that Rome was under the special care of Heaven.”

”…[the Romans felt] that the war they were embarking on was not of their making but their enemy’s, that their action had their gods’ approval, and that their gods were concerned for the welfare of their city.”

”…to make Roman was a blessing to mankind, and a duty to Rome herself.”

– from The Failure of the Roman Republic by R. E. Smith

It’s a form of national parochialism?

Alfreda, I think in a word, you are right, Charity begins at home. If we stop with the space travel, women and children could eat and have a place to live. Good start for a new president, huh?

Huh? Sorry, americanandfree, I have both conservative proclivities and the ability to connect the dots, and will not bite on that one. I can, and do, like to “separate the pigs from the chickens,” as my elderly neighbor likes to say.

Funding the space program has long-term implications, and the government is essentially the entity we would want funding it. There are myriad of solutions to address homelessness and slave trafficking, beginning at the baser level of ethics and morality, and progressing up through state and local collection of child support payments, or, more churches working with community support programs. The two are in no way connected. And the President has bigger issues at hand.

My point, which you seemed to have missed, or didn’t miss but are uncomfortable with, is that the United States is not perfect. We have lots of serious issues that we seem to think we can pom-pom or flag wave our way past, and by failing to acknowledge those problems, diminishes our credibility. We have a lot of obligations that are come with the job of leader of the free world, and the credibility of that role is predicated upon our citizenry taking an active level of participation in making America meaningful. You can either demand respect or earn respect. It’s not an entitlement.