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I can understand why we want to get rid of the crazy man in Libya. Nobody can agree on how to spell his name. Not The New York Times. Not The Washington Post. Not The Boston Globe. It would be so much easier if they had a John Adams in Libya that was ready to take charge and hold free elections. Think how much easier it would make life for proofreaders everywhere. I will refrain from using the name of the dictator of Libya in this column, if only because of indecision. Why can’t the Middle East be more like America? Isn’t that similar to a song from “My Fair Lady” sung by Rex Harrison? Has the rest of the world not heard of American “exceptionalism”? Exceptionalism is a code word for superiority.
Many countries through history have declared themselves “exceptional.” Germany does it every so often and then declares war on the rest of us to prove it. We Americans truly believe we are exceptional. Our politicians fight over which one thinks we are more exceptional. At this moment, Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin have staked their entire political careers on the belief we are exceptional. The evidence isn’t empirical; it is a question of faith. Texans believe Texas is even more exceptional than the rest of the nation. I spent a little time in Texas and found the only thing exceptional about Texans is how exceptional they think they are.
Texans are not the only ones to believe exceptionalism begins at home. The Irish believe they are exceptional, especially on St. Patrick’s Day. The best example of that is the buttons that read, “Kiss Me, I’m Irish.” I love the Irish, particularly Maureen O’Hara, but I have never found ethnicity to be a good enough reason to kiss someone. My own Italian ethnic group also believes we are exceptional. One of them sent me a video called “The Whole World Loves Italians.” How can the whole world love us when even Italians don’t love all Italians? My Uncle Nunzi hasn’t spoken to his brother Vincenzo for 63 years, and neither one remembers why he is angry. Maybe each one thinks he is more exceptional than the other. Only African-Americans and Jews are realistic about this love business. You can’t find an African-American or a Jew who believes the world loves them and they have the historical evidence to prove it.
Nevertheless, all of our presidents since Ronald Reagan have expressed the belief that we, above all nations, are truly exceptional. As Reagan used to say, it is “morning in America.” My wife occasionally makes eggs for dinner, proving that she too believes that it is always morning in America. Each of our presidents since Reagan have ended every address to the nation by asking that “God bless America,” as if the creator had any other choice. I do think under current circumstances, we could ask God to bless Japan just once, and maybe toss in Haiti too.
If we are truly exceptional in America, why is it that we have to bomb some countries in order for them to realize it? I would love to administer a word-association test among the populations of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya to ask what one word best describes America. Do you think that word would be “exceptional”?
We are in the midst of tightening budgets all over America at every level because we are in a deep budget hole. The last figure that I saw estimated that we are spending about $100 million a day to protect Libyan rebels from their dictator. Does that make us exceptional or as crazy as the guy who we are trying to depose? The Obama administration can’t even agree on whether our goal is to depose of the Libyan dictator or to just scare him into not killing the rebels who are diligently trying to kill him. Isn’t the aim of a civil war two sides trying to kill each other until one decides to give up? I believe that even Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis would have agreed. I have never considered myself in any way exceptional (unless it is my ability to continue to fool the editor into printing this column every week and paying me for it).
Dictators and monarchies have always believed in their own exceptionalism. Every time Henry VIII got rid of a wife in search of a male heir, it was because he thought his heir would be exceptional. Iran and North Korea want a nuclear arsenal because they believe that they too are exceptional and deserve to belong to the nuclear club. The irony is that the crazy Libyan dictator gave up his nuclear ambitions to assuage us, only to have us now raining bombs down on his command tent. What lesson do you think that Iran and North Korea take from that?
I want to believe that we in America are exceptional, but I just wish it would show in our life expectancy. We are currently ranked 47th in the world in life expectancy. Even Bosnia is several notches ahead of us, which I find amazing since it wasn’t long ago that we had to save them from genocide. We are 37th in overall health care among World Health Organization nations, lagging way behind Morocco (and think of the all the smoking they did in “Casablanca”). It is estimated that more than 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance.
Nothing exceptional about that. SPR
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