What does American exceptionalism mean to you?

archer wrote:

FredHayek wrote:

archer wrote:

Republicanism Works wrote: How about this...

"The specific term "American exceptionalism" was first used in 1929 by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin chastising members of the Lovestone-led faction of the American Communist Party for the heretical belief that America was independent of the Marxist laws of history "thanks to its natural resources, industrial capacity, and absence of rigid class distinctions." [/b][/i]

Anything that pisses Stalin off (and the political left in this country) is good enough for me.

I'm thinking the bolded portion is more likely to piss of the conservative right......they do so love their class distinctions, and work hard at preserving them. They also absolutely love plundering our natural resources rather than protecting them.......and industrial capacity is great, as long as they get to reap the rewards and not share them with the nation. yep.....I guess the political right are communists!!!!!!

Talk about making assumptions about the right!

How myopic of you to miss the assumptions twinny made of the left.....I was making fun of his post......but you really do have your conservative glasses on today.

Yes... the old "It was only a joke" gambit... spare me your juvenile games... go watch a ABC After School Special or something.

Exceptionalism:

Everybody pay mo taxes exceptionally me.

Its simply freedom to pursue happiness. Its worked well over the years since the country was founded. The results measured by economic stats and standard of living vs. other systems is clear.

jmc wrote: I always thought it meant a country of immigrants that did not buy into aristocracy or birthright.
What does this term mean for you?

You know...I only ask questions that I want the answer too, I don't ask questions just to ask questions. Who could possibly care what American exceptionalism means to people at 285Bound!?

Who!?

Seriously now..

and PS- I did'nt read the thread, im not going to read the thread, and I can't imagine what goes through the mind of someone who would.

jmc wrote: I always thought it meant a country of immigrants that did not buy into aristocracy or birthright.
What does this term mean for you?

A place where people were willing to risk dying to get into it rather than dying trying to escape from it. A place where people were willing to leave everything they knew behind in exchange for the opportunity to change the future for their posterity if they worked hard enough. A place where one could go from sewing children's aprons at night in their apartment and selling them on the street the next day to employing dozens of people sewing clothing a few years later. A place where hard work, along with some luck in timing and circumstance, has the potential to change entire paradigms. There is a reason that it is here that discoveries which change the world are made. There is a reason that it is here that the electric light bulb, the first powered flight, the first flight across the Atlantic, the breaking of the sound barrier, the Polio vaccination, the electronic calculator, the home computer, the internet, the smart phone, the tablet, the e-book reader and so much more has taken place.

That reason is our historical insistence on governing ourselves to the greatest extent possible, a reason which has been disappearing more and more as time moves forward - with the predictable consequences as we seem insistent on mirroring other places and other forms of government that didn't produce similar results.

Interesting insights from a collection of ill informed crackers here

PrintSmith wrote:

jmc wrote: I always thought it meant a country of immigrants that did not buy into aristocracy or birthright.
What does this term mean for you?

A place where people were willing to risk dying to get into it rather than dying trying to escape from it. A place where people were willing to leave everything they knew behind in exchange for the opportunity to change the future for their posterity if they worked hard enough.

Ah yes, the old third world country citizens want to come to a first-world country so we must be really great argument.

How many Canadians want to flee their homeland for the U.S.? How many British, how many French, Germans or Italians? You'll find most are very happy in their own country and don't think much of living in the United States.

In present day, how attractive is the U.S. to those who live in other first-world countries? Not very, from the people I've spoken to. Who would want to move to a new country where you could go bankrupt paying your medical bills or where it's first in the world in obesity, teen pregnancy, eating disorders, schizophrenia, down syndrome, motor vehicle deaths, pollution, murders with firearms, total crime and prisoners?

And the worn-out retort to this post would be, "If you think it's so great over there, why don't you move?" The answer is simple. I will when I retire.

Raees wrote:

PrintSmith wrote:

jmc wrote: I always thought it meant a country of immigrants that did not buy into aristocracy or birthright.
What does this term mean for you?

A place where people were willing to risk dying to get into it rather than dying trying to escape from it. A place where people were willing to leave everything they knew behind in exchange for the opportunity to change the future for their posterity if they worked hard enough.

Ah yes, the old third world country citizens want to come to a first-world country so we must be really great argument. How many Canadians want to flee their homeland for the U.S.? How many British, how many French, Germans or Italians? You'll find most are very happy in their own country and don't think much of living in the United States.

In present day, how attractive is the U.S. to those who live in other first-world countries? Not very.

In what universe is Britain, France, germany and Italy a third-world country?

They're not. That's why I asked how many from those countries really want to move here.

I know several europeans here illegally....