American Exceptionalism?

Last week I watched an interview with Senator John McCain. McCain is storied for his short fuse, quick wit, political savvy world view of things but for me, he is actually rather refreshing for you never have to question very long what he believes and thinks regardless of party affiliation.  In the interview with Charlie Rose, whom I admire for his interviewing skills and demeanor, the topic was, of course, America's place in the new century globalized economic system flavored with specific event discussion of today such as the Palestinan / Israel stalemate, Iran, China and the aggression by Russia in the Ukraine.

 

I was most taken with his lucid and I believe correct assessments on these issues and others when he took a direct shot at Mr. Obama by stating that "he does not see America as exceptional on the global scene ..."  That term has fermented and resonated in me since that moment for some reason and I have awakened earlier than normal with that chiming in my brain.  As many of you reading this due to your point in history and age, I believe you will agree in the twentieth century, especially the last half, America was the poster child for Exceptionalism in an array of avenues. Education, military, power projection, blue sea navy, manufacturing, entrepreneurship, music, the arts, medicine values, the US dollar and the list goes on and one. That provided America at the aggregate an earned sense of pride which melted into arrogance and in that arrogance, we began as a nation to take for granted that we were by some divine right exceptional so we stop or slowed in pushing that envelope I believe.

 

Most of the nations in the world were in recovery mode from the devastation of WWII and later the scars of Vietnam from which many lost faith in the American Dream and the world began to look at Exceptional America as America the Bully or America the Uncaring. We the Baby Boomers led the way in destroying the sense of Exceptionalism via drugs, mores, values deterioration that led to divorce on a historic scale, sexual liberalism and all of this has evolved to what I would call an Age of Toleration.  Instead of America being exceptional and all that goes with that in the form of challenge and responsibility, we have devolved to a place where we are to tolerate every thing with less and less fundamental absoluteness as the boilerplate of a culture.  We we are living through, I believe, a very negative and unattractive time in our history where our exceptionalism has changed polars caps meaning we are becoming less and less culturally exceptional.

 

Thus, instead of people pushing to come to America and be part of the Dream as we all were somewhere in our DNA contributors, we have now devolved via distrust and too much Government. We see toleration of aberrant lifestyles as a mandate which holds true for spiritual beliefs exemplified with our nation moving more rapidly toward a Godless society. We as a Nation continue to turn from our Creator and the very clear absolutes contained in the Holy Bible. So if that is true, and it is, is it any wonder that our scepter of Exceptionalism has been taken away in the form of not fearing American military power and its projection capabilities, mores shifting negatively, overflowing jails and prisons, a generation of young people most of which have grown up in homes with unconventional family structures?

 

As I bring this to a close I realize these words from my heart actually are more of an indictment or even worse, and epitaph of a once great nation when we were, in fact, Exceptional for many stellar reasons.  More and more foreign students that come here for their education that would have just a few years ago longed to remain in America are more and more returning to their home countries which I find sad, frankly.  As I have written on these pages before from my decade of university teaching experience to over 7,000 students, having an Asian student in a class of fifty American students would always cause the American students to work harder for they saw first hand the Asian student working harder than they, hungrier than they for knowledge and desiring more deeply than they to learn.  There was no sign of laziness, disrespect, work not getting done and done well, coming to class late or not coming at all. Is it any wonder, then, that Asia is overtaking American Exceptionalism? Certainly no surprise to me!

 

If some of you take offense to my thesis, then great and my challenge; prove me wrong via example and experience, please!  America needs to be Exceptional. I believe the world wants America to be Exceptional but I do not see our national political leadership seeking nor acting as a nation of Exceptionalism for we are more focused, it appears to me, to be seeking install safety nets of entitlement and the multi-generational cost of that taking precedent over America standing tall in the shadows of dictatorships, national aggression and colonialism. I do not see America standing up for the weak and struggling nations of the world that need time and room and protection to given them a chance to learn to walk and then run.  I see American diplomacy as weak, impotent and misguided.  That which made us strong seems to be evaporating an at ever increasing rate which is depressing and scary as the implications. But then when you study the rise and decline of all histories' great empires, you will their fall came not from external aggression but primarily from internal strife, rife and entitlement spending they less and less could afford.

 

Remember my five Principles?

1. If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten
2. If you do not stand from something you will fall for anything
3. If you do not know where you are going, you will most assuredly get there
4. Whatever it is in this world you are looking for, you will find it
5. STAY IN THE FIGHT

From my perch what I see being fought for is political advantage, political campaigns measured only by the amount of monies raised and provided by prostitutional PACS and lobbyists and not by qualified men and women yearning to fight the fights for betterment.  I see American diplomacy focused on wrong paths that are wired to misread historical triggers.  I sense deeply that embracing China for her size, her wealth, her drive should be a priority but it seems we are taking a very reverse tact which will have global implication.

 

The Russia aggression will not stop for there is nothing there to stop it thus we are watching the only nation of earth that could have made a shift in this fiasco as wavering, inept and seemingly fearful to tackle the tough, core contributors to this aggression thus cowering on the side lines hoping it will just all stop and go away.  This with Russia is proven, it is historical and it is Hitler circa 1939 with America playing the role of UK's Chamberlain of assuring the people of the world Hitler posed no threat.  All historical evidence to the contrary as we all know, I believe we are watching that same aggression unfold Russian style being unleashed first on the former Soviet republics AND THEN the more Western nations of Europe. Yes, that can happen again never forget!

 

We serve a Risen Savior, He's in the world today, I know that He is living no matter what men may say. I see His Hand mercy, I hear His voice of cheer and just the time I need Him, He's ALWAYS NEAR. He Lives, He Lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He Lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives, HE LIVES WITHIN MY HEART! Such a great song of the church. Such a great reality for our world going forward. 

 

Be blessed this day!