The Myth of American Exceptionalism

From my primary "I Protest" Substack (March 2022) at donaldjeffries.substack.com

Donald Trump’s recent forays into Manifest Destiny rhetoric demonstrate how powerful the lure of American Exceptionalism is. Very few leaders are ever willing to question whether America really is exceptional. Unless it’s to simply call us “racist,” or “White Supremacists.” No wonder they hate us for our freedom.

The American elite is not only absolutely corrupt and largely incompetent. They have a paternalistic, condescending streak which causes them to justify any action based on their alleged concern for others. In reality, they are addicted to empty virtue signaling, which hides their selfishness and snobbery from those who aren’t awake.

Abraham Lincoln wanted to force those pesky secessionists to see the better angels of their nature. His troops killed about one quarter of the young males in the South in an attempt to do this. Thirty years later, other American imperialists followed his horrific precedent in the Philippines and Cuba. I’m not sure what we proved in those countries, other than that the Union Army’s barbaric “scorched earth” policy of waging war was now an official part of U.S. military strategy.

I’m working on Hidden History 3: More From the American Memory Hole now, and the descriptions of the atrocities committed in those wars, as well as the invasions into countries like Haiti and Mexico during the Wilson administration, foreshadowed what we would see decades later in My Lai, Abu Ghraib and the like. And our leaders proclaimed we were the “good guys” each time. Bombing Dresden, and killing some 37,000 babies and toddlers alone, was justified. We’re America. We’re fighting for freedom. Those babies and toddlers weren’t free. Raping untold numbers of German and Japanese females. “The Greatest Generation” was just enjoying the fruits of their labor. To the victor go the spoils, which apparently include rape and robbery.

American exceptionalism holds that we are a unique nation, and a unique people. How many times have our laughable politicians stroked the egos of our unthinking voters? “The American people are the greatest!” “This country is the greatest in the world!” “The American people have never backed down from a challenge!” In this case, “challenge” always means that you’re going to have to give up a right, or more money. It is probably more often referred to as “sacrifice.” Our leaders are always asking us to sacrifice, while none of them are ever required to.

When people brag about how great America is, I ask them how they quantify greatness. While we are certainly the wealthiest country, that wealth is distributed so unfairly that the bottom half of Americans have literally nothing- collectively, less than one percent of the wealth. We definitely have the world’s most powerful (and expensive) military, but we haven’t won a war since WWII. We claim to be “free,” yet every day people are “cancelled” by the poisonous “Woke” authoritarians in charge, fired and ostracized for things they’ve said or written.

Are we great in terms of healthcare and life expectancy? Our Medical Industrial Complex is the most expensive healthcare system, but it is hopelessly bloated, ineffective, and more often than not deadly. Our life expectancy has been going down for the past few years, and last I checked ranked somewhere between 30th and 40th in comparison to other countries. We do lead the world in things like childhood cancer rates, and obesity. USA! USA!

The American Exceptionalism mindset meshes wonderfully with social justice warriors. They are addicted to giving unsolicited advice, and have no tolerance for differences in others. So of course most of what Arab societies, for instance, do is repulsive to them. They want to stop them from covering the faces of females and worshiping Allah so vigorously. Be like us! We’re free! We know best. They delude themselves, and us, into believing that the populations in other countries really, really crave the new American Way. They love transgenders! Black Lives Matter!

This arrogant perspective was encapsulated in the 2009 film The Blind Side. Black youth is struggling, but is rescued by a White liberal family from the fate of the ‘hood. Black youth just happens to be huge, and a perfect lineman for the local college powerhouse football team. White couple, in a remarkable coincidence, happen to be wealthy alumni boosters of said football team. What a marriage! No wonder why Louis Farrakhan and other Black leaders were so offended by it.

In the same vein, these far-flung and mostly nonwhite nations are struggling, too. They need a White family of virtue signalers to put them on the straight path as well. America 2.0 is that collective White family, ready to bring freedom anywhere and everywhere, even if it means we have to kill all the inhabitants to do so. Sure, our troops, which we continuously thank for their service, were supposedly recorded raping Iraqi boys in front of their screaming mothers, according to reporter Seymour Hersh. They’re going through hell over there! How else are we going to make them listen? Make them accept our freedom?

Considering our embarrassing infrastructure, which hasn’t been upgraded since the Eisenhower administration, our Banana Republic-style elections, our cities full of homeless defecating in the streets, and corruption at every level of government and business, exactly what are we bragging about? Beating the Nazis eighty years ago? Dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? We’re still the only nation to use nuclear weapons on another. We’re number one! And yet we have the audacity to justify foreign intervention because some “rogue” state might have a nuclear program.

America has become like the drunk, obese guy at a party, who lies incessantly about being wealthy and powerful, when he actually works the counter at Dunkin’ Donuts. Who also sees himself as sexy and desirable, and lets every female in his vicinity know it. Who displays his startling ignorance about various subjects at the top of his lungs. That is present-day America; drunk with power, ugly and uninformed. A bully and a brute, while waving the flag of political correctness. Wielding power with uniform inconsistency, and never held accountable.

I don’t know- maybe other countries think they’re the best, too. I just doubt that anyone claims they’re the greatest quite as often as our clownish leaders, or our citizens, the majority of them cognitively unaware of the madness and tyranny engulfing them. Many people have advised me over the years, “If you don’t like America, then why don’t you move somewhere else,” a variation on the popular Vietnam-era theme of “love it or leave it.” This is often accompanied with “you won’t find anywhere else better in the world.” Well, I haven’t lived anywhere else, so maybe I’m not qualified to judge. I can only assess how the quality of life and standard of living here, has markedly eroded during my lifetime.

Looking at the international literacy rates, healthcare systems, abuse of law enforcement, or infrastructure, among other things, there is nothing exceptional at all about America 2.0. We don’t exactly shine in comparison to other countries in terms of anything that’s truly valuable. You won’t find America near the top of the rankings for countries with the best overall quality of life. Domestically, our “exceptionalism” has created a stressed-out, unattractive, unsympathetic, financially struggling bunch of emotional basket cases. I don’t feel like I’m experiencing something exceptional.

America is long overdue for a large dose of humble pie. A figurative punch in the nose. We’ve been forcing much smaller nations to hand over their lunch money for far too long. And now, we can’t wait to wade back into another quagmire and help non- democratic President Zelenskyy keep all opposing political parties from existing. Waving the Ukrainian flag makes you feel virtuous. And, of course, exceptional. Nothing is “trending” more now that “I Stand with Ukraine.”

Woodrow Wilson had his WWI conscientious objectors. FDR had his Japanese, Germans, and Italians to lock up in our own concentration camps. LBJ and Nixon had their draft dodgers. Biden has his “insurrectionists,” which remain unconstitutionally held behind bars now for over a year, denied all the basic rights which we, as Americans understand are exceptional. Unique as compared to any other country. We don’t have political prisoners here. We have “insurrectionists,” and they must be hidden from the rest of the world.

So welcome to the new American Exceptionalism. It’s a far cry from G.I. Joe and the once vaunted ACLU. We have Rachel Levine. And Lori Lightfoot. And Snoop Dog. We have fifty seven genders, and critical race theory. Our skyrocketing illiteracy is pretty exceptional, too. Not many “First World” countries can boast about that. We have the Fresh Prince delivering a scripted slap to one of our standup comedians who are now shackled with countless impediments to being funny. And that slap created the kind of “buzz” that can only happen in a truly exceptional society.