Last weekend, Thanksgiving Day Weekend, I did something that took very little effort on my part. I watched all of the Band of Brothers movie. I had seen part 1 and 2 before more than once but never made it beyond and always felt the need to start from the beginning at each attempt. This time I committed myself on Saturday evening and most of the day Sunday to the couch and plowed through the all 10 hours plus the documentary. The thing that I keep coming back to is the bravery and exceptionalism of these men. You could say "They don't make them like that anymore" and in a way this is true. I am not taking away anything from our current generation of brave men & women. Bravery & exceptionalism are qualities that typically expose themselves when circumstances & environment create the opportunity. We have many soldiers and everyday Americans who if in the same situation would respond in the same way.
When you talk about American exceptionalism, there seems to be a discomfort in the concept and it comes from both sides. Both Liberals & Conservatives will squirm at the idea of us claiming the mantle of superiority. I would agree, it sounds egotistical and boastful. To claim that we are better as individual people than any other of God's Children around the globe would be to say that all men are not created equal. What needs to be explained is what it is that makes us, as Americans, exceptional. It is just like those soldiers in World War II. The circumstances and the environment in which they were thrust into created the opportunity for those things they had inside of them, as humans, to expel. It is hard to say that one could ever equal the bravery of a soldier advancing against an enemy in a hail of bullets when one has never been in a war.
What makes Americans exceptional is the environment in which we live. Freedom to pursue our dreams whatever they may be allowes us to excel to our fullest potential as human beings. The protection of our individual rights creates the circumstance where we have been able to achieve much more in a short period of time than many civilizations that have existed for thousands of years. People from all corners of the earth have risked everything and given all they had including their lives to simply live on this soil. American exceptionalism simply represents human exceptionalism given the freedom to flourish. Americans are not better than anyone else in the world but to be American is exceptional!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The pivot
Today, the day after the mid-term election where the Republicans have regained control of the House after 4 years out of power the question is, will Obama pivot to the center like Bill Clinton in '94? The answer is yes and no.
He will make pledges to work with "the other side". He will moderate his rhetoric to appear as though he is sensitive to the voice of the people. This will be dis-arming for the Republicans but they must understand his strategy. Obama feels that his vision for our country is a highly developed understanding of what is best for society in general. This comes from the consensus that he and his deeply intellectual academics have conceived in the sequestered existence of their Ivy League lecture halls and tenured government positions.
Governing in a Representative Republic is not what he has in mind. Making changes toward his goals through administrative and near impossible to repeal legislation is a much more effective approach. This is what he and the Democrats have accomplished, against the will of the majority of Americans, in a quick 2 years. While the Republicans have been scratching their heads as to why the Democrats would commit political suicide they have pushed an agenda through that will be reversed over his politically dead body. Obama is not a politician like Clinton, he is a revolutionary. He has already set into motion changes and precedence that will not be easily be corrected. Waiting to see if Obama is going to meet in the middle is a waste of time. The people have given their opinion of the direction we have been dragged, kicking and screaming the whole way. Now is the time for a hard line in the sand and an all out effort to undo the damage. In other words, he will not pivot.
He will make pledges to work with "the other side". He will moderate his rhetoric to appear as though he is sensitive to the voice of the people. This will be dis-arming for the Republicans but they must understand his strategy. Obama feels that his vision for our country is a highly developed understanding of what is best for society in general. This comes from the consensus that he and his deeply intellectual academics have conceived in the sequestered existence of their Ivy League lecture halls and tenured government positions.
Governing in a Representative Republic is not what he has in mind. Making changes toward his goals through administrative and near impossible to repeal legislation is a much more effective approach. This is what he and the Democrats have accomplished, against the will of the majority of Americans, in a quick 2 years. While the Republicans have been scratching their heads as to why the Democrats would commit political suicide they have pushed an agenda through that will be reversed over his politically dead body. Obama is not a politician like Clinton, he is a revolutionary. He has already set into motion changes and precedence that will not be easily be corrected. Waiting to see if Obama is going to meet in the middle is a waste of time. The people have given their opinion of the direction we have been dragged, kicking and screaming the whole way. Now is the time for a hard line in the sand and an all out effort to undo the damage. In other words, he will not pivot.
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