In President Obama’s speech on Tuesday evening he mentioned that “America’s exceptionalism is because of its policies…this is what makes America different and exceptional." President Putin of Russia in today’s NYT Ob-Ed piece noted that America thinking that it is an exceptional country and encouraging such thinking could be dangerous. I think that he is implying that by bragging how great and wonderful we are as well as rich and militarily powerful, might get us into trouble with other nations.
First, I want to state that our President is so wrong about what makes this country exceptional and he should know better since he is a constitutional lawyer and supposedly well-read in our history! The American exceptionalism that is talked about by historians has nothing to do with our policies. It has to do with the foundation from which these policies are based on. However, if the congress or the President ignores these basic foundations, poor policies can be easily enacted as they many times are.
American exceptionalism has to do with our founding principles…..the philosophy enumerated in our Declaration of Independence and then written into the Constitution! From the Declaration of Independence is the sentence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And then the first words of the Preamble of the Constitution are, “We the people of the United States do ordain and establish…”
Our exceptionalism comes from the fact that not in the history of the world did a nation designate its people as supreme and dominant over its government as did we back in 1787. Previously in history, the leaders of nations such as dictators, tyrants, kings, queens, monarchs, pharaohs’, etc. held power over their people and the people held no rights and privileges except what was given to them by their leaders. This nation when it was formed, gave the people, all the power over the government, in its elected representatives. This was a first for human history! And this is what makes our country Exceptional!
The fact that President Obama doesn’t understand this is why Putin could say what he did and get away with it. In essence, we have two world leaders, one from America and one from Russia who are ignorant of our history and of our exceptional nature! And, as I have said in previous blogs, this is why I believe that our President is An Amateur!
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