As someone who spends a lot of time on the roads of West Texas, I often turn to right wing talk radio to get my hate on in order to stay awake for the long drive. I find it invigorating.
The other day, I heard Rush Limbaugh explaining to his audience for at least the thousandth time what American Exceptionalism really means.
As someone who spends a lot of time on the roads of West Texas, I often turn to right wing talk radio to get my hate on in order to stay awake for the long drive. I find it invigorating.
The other day, I heard Rush Limbaugh explaining to his audience for at least the thousandth time what American Exceptionalism really means.
Of course, for Rush it means what he thinks it means, which is a heady mix of jingoism and wishful thinking, a creative, well-researched, well-written retelling of history à la “Rush Revere”, along with a parochial worldview that assumes that only America has ever dabbled in things like capitalism, democratic political systems, and religious tolerance.
In short, his argument goes something like this: America is exceptional because, well, America. To be fair, it’s hard to argue with that. And for those for whom this is sufficient, it is very persuasive. This argument wins everywhere, as long as you are on Fox News.
Unfortunately, the phrase ‘American Exceptionalism’ wasn’t always a compliment, especially when it came to be commonly used by the American Communist Party during the 1920’s. And, for conservatives, it’s becoming more and more difficult to hold up America’s exceptionalism the more we discover about the ‘dark’ work that was done in America’s name after 9/11.
The inherent goodness of America’s Exceptionalism as an argument isn’t going to cut it for much longer, if it ever really has. It makes sense that Rush has to constantly redefine the phrase. To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, he keeps using those words, but I do not think they mean what he wants them to mean.
But maybe this is the only way that Rush and his audience can maintain their belief in the infallibility of anything America has ever done, or ever will do, especially when the government is in the hands of conservatives. For conservative thinkers, maybe the only way to maintain the facade of American Exceptionalism is to take exception to the exceptions of exceptionalism.
For instance, America is a Christian nation, except for when it comes to feeding the poor. See what I mean? If we ignore the the exceptions, if we vociferously, vehemently, reject the actual exceptions out of hand, they don’t exist, and then America can be whatever we need it to be. And it is always good, and Christian. Except when it’s not. But we’re not going to think about that.
This is fun. And easy. Let’s try another.
America doesn’t torture its prisoners of war. Except when it does. But let’s not talk about that. Talking about that makes us look bad. Which we’re not. Because America is awesome.
America has a democratically elected government. Except for when election officials create onerous voting restrictions and dump thousands of registered voters from the rolls shortly before an election. But at least it prevents electoral fraud. Except if you’re a Republican.
America is a country where the common person can have a voice in the political process, except for when even seemingly obscure campaigns can cost millions, and rich individuals and corporations can make unlimited, untraceable donations to political action committees.
America is welcoming of “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” except for when they come from Mexico. And only if they are willing to wait for 23 years to have their visas processed.
America is constitutionally bound to welcome all religions and accept their tenets as public policy, except for those religions that do not recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ and do not worship him as Lord and King.
America has the greatest health care system in the world, except for in terms of infant mortality, where we are 55th, behind countries like Cuba, Croatia, and Macau. But maybe we can creep up the ladder by getting rid of those dangerous vaccinations.
So, do not be alarmed, Rush. America is indeed, still exceptional. And we will always be, as long as we ignore the exceptions. Good luck with that.