American Normalicy

by C. A. Jones

It isn't surprising that Mitt Romney played the "American Exceptionalism" card in his first major foreign-policy address. What was startling, given Romney's image for moderation, was that he credited God for that exceptionalism.

"This century must be an American century," Romney said. "In an American century, America has the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world. God did not create this country to be a nation of followers."

This takes the invocation of the Deity a step further than George W. Bush's much-criticized 2003 State of the Union address, in which he said, "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world; it is God's gift to humanity." Bush's line is actually anti-chauvinistic, whereas Romney is claiming a divine blessing for his assertion that "We're No. 1." Well, God is an American, right?

Has the United States always been an exceptionally free and virtuous nation? (Are you kidding me??) If you have to ask the question, you are already well on the road to unpatriotic perdition—or so every Republican about to run for president seems to think. “Don’t kid yourself with the lie,” Rick Santorum recently told a group of college Republicans. “America is exceptional, and Americans are concerned that there are a group of people in Washington who don’t believe that any more.” Mike Huckabee gives the same indictment a quasi-spiritual spin: “To deny American exceptionalism,” he told Politico last August, “is in essence to deny the heart and soul of this nation.” In his new book, Mitt Romney adds a messianic note: “Billions of people today live in freedom, or have the hope of freedom who otherwise would have lived in despair, if not for the greatness of the United States.”

Romney, the Robbinsense projected winner of the Republican nomination, further states: “I believe we are an exceptional country with a unique destiny and role in the world.” It is noteworthy that there is zero Biblical citation to support such a claim. This, by default, comes from a “de facto,” “third testament” of The Bible, which only people like Republicans seem to grasp. Or maybe this would be straight from the writings of Joe Smith (LDS founder), who claimed to have “found” ancient writings, and who also happened to be an American. Well people always find reasons to believe that they are the chosen. But Romney goes on to state that those who don’t subscribe to his Third Testament are ready to “wave the white flag of surrender.” As such, they would be presumed to be unpatriotic. Sorry, Mitt, but a true patriot, is NOT in denial as to the transgressions of his loved ones, including his country; he assumes responsibility for their faults and errors. We expect, we demand this of our president!

God’s chosen are not bound by the rules of other mortals; certainly they need never admit error: “I will never, ever apologize for America,” he goes on. “When America is strong, the world is safer.” Vietnam notwithstanding, even a peek at world history since the fall of the “Iron Curtain” makes a mockery of this statement. This is precisely the dangerous attitude in a president that has launched three wars in the last decade!

The issue of Romney’s Christianity (as a Mormon) is moot. The significance here is that he openly subscribes to “faith-based” statesmanship. And virtually no prominent Republican will gainsay these assertions.

You can see, there is no “logic” or rational argument being forwarded here. This is pure “sentiment,” a notion to be taken on faith…faith, the issue that drives religion. We’re not supposed to operate our government on this element of human frailty, much less our country.

Today in a poll conducted by The Hill, 69% of Americans believe we are in decline. Yet even President Obama, in response to the drumbeat, is reluctant to buck the sentiment in an election cycle. He posits that “the 21^st Century will be another American century.”

Growing up in the ‘50s, politicians didn’t make pronouncements like this. There was no need to. We were that country, and the whole world knew it. Now this sentiment is central to the essence of the Republican Party, and its campaign buzz. The reason they trumpet this cause is that it is no longer true. But they will say it over and over again. We are bludgeoned by oh so many lies, leading us to irrational wars, irrational election decisions, over and over again, because they know that if they repeat a lie often enough, people will come to believe it.

In the action films of the ‘50s, the sheriff, Gary Cooper or John Wayne, was a normal person, with the courage to stand up for the weak and prevail against odds. This was accepted as a metaphor for our country. After our prestige and integrity were destroyed in Vietnam, Rambo emerged to signify our national will. Our new heroes were pumped up with artificial muscles and bristling with overwhelming firepower, like our pumped-up military. Rambo was a creature of American defeat.

The politicians who trumpet this cause are stand-ins for Rambo. Our government seduces us with: “Support Our Troops” to distract us from looking closely at the wars being waged in our names. When we had real wars and normal, conscripted Americans fighting them, our sons and neighbors, we were not distanced from the fighting. The “professional fighting force” gives us separation from war. Our politicians no longer ask us to pay for wars…more separation. They can wage their economic and political battles in a vacuum, away from our surveillance.

Today our heroes return from war to a country that has lost its nerve, lost its spirit, lost its prestige, and has no jobs to offer them. Does anyone wish to take on a rational discussion of American Exceptionalism?

C. A. Jones is a Robbinsense staff writer