Thursday, August 6, 2009

American Exceptionalism and its negative impact on our world image

I know regular readers are probably tired of me beating the drum that America's government officials, all the way up to the President need to stand accountable in the legal system for their actions, but I'll keep at it. Why you ask, because . . . .

As we send murderous, crusading civilian units around the world to accompany our invading armies -- while ushering a regime of torture wherever we go -- and then announce we will only Look to the Future, Not the Past, when their crimes are exposed (despite our best efforts to keep them concealed), do we actually expect anyone to take these sermons seriously? (H/T Glenn Greenwald)

The United States is NOT an exceptional country. Despite what so many neocon commentators claim about our superior way of life, the people we elected to lead us made choices that defamed our ideals and trampled on the very notion that we have anything to teach (anymore) about the rule of law. Instead, I think we need to look to others, like Pakistan, and ask what have they done to overcome internal tyrrany. Then we need to apply those lessons here in the U.S.

And a little humility wouldn't hurt us either.

2 comments:

jg said...

I'm reminded of my mother-in-law's method of making anything palatable: wrap it in bacon. This works for everything from chicken, to hotdogs, to asparagus. Substitute bacon for flag.

jg

Philip H. said...

Sadly, yes. And some days the Democrats tread perilously close to this for me . . .