Thursday, June 30, 2011

A Politically Incorrect Perspective On American Exceptionalism

A Politically Incorrect Perspective On American Exceptionalism: "As Americans race off to enjoy this weekend’s Independence Day festivities, whether this was or remains an exceptional country has become a defining question for our times. Dueling worldviews compete to define our past so to steer our future.

Our own president, the manifestation of political correctness, traipses around the world apologizing for the country that so favored him. He famously mocked the idea of American exceptionalism, deriding her as indistinct from Britain or Greece. Before we decline a la Greece, we ought to think back to what made this nation transcendent.

On one side my ancestors helped hack a great nation out of vast, mostly uninhabited wilderness. The other side sailed here fleeing feudal oppression. Both families came seeking better lives. It wasn’t easy. My mother’s ancestors braved rough seas, hostile Indians and the great unknown.

My father’s came to a strange land with a different language, culture and customs. None were promised a Rose Garden. By sweat, blood and tears they made the better lives they sought. Most Americans’ ancestry reveals similar hardships and successes.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ..."

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