On July 4th Rush Limbaugh appeared in Joplin, Mo., and gave a rousing Independence Day speech on “American Exceptionalism” saying: “America is blessed by God” and that we are the planet’s exceptional human beings. And, God has lavished Limbaugh with high rewards of fame and prosperity; but the question is: “How does that tune play in uptown Harlem and on MLK Avenues across America?” The “American Exceptionalism” Limbaugh espouses is the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other countries and uniquely “blessed by God.” Limbaugh’s “exceptionalism” stems from an American ideology, based on “liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire capitalism.”
But, in contrast to the American practices Limbaugh extols, there’s a thread in American history that runs through the processes of Indian genocide to American adventures in the Mexican-American and the Spanish-American Wars, into the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq that constitute patterns of racism and imperialism. In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was an American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. America’s Manifest Destiny mission grew to a posture to promote and defend democracy throughout the world. The “American Exceptionalism” historical thread celebrated by Limbaugh and his listeners includes many acts and endeavors of western imperialism. Historically, whenever Americans wanted something another nation had – land, oil or other resources – we’ve been able to justify taking it. The usual plot involves theories that the world’s non-Whites are unable to govern themselves, so America must heed it’s "divine mission" to liberate them from their own ignorance and corruption by our bringing gifts of freedom, democracy and Christianity — whether they want them or not. Now, during Barack Obama’s presidency, the reign of people like Limbaugh is being questioned. While some African Americans seek to enjoin this national identity, others openly question some of the underpinnings of Americans’ ideologies of individual initiative and responsibility. The very engines of “America’s Exceptionalism” carry a stigma of hypocrisy; and throughout the centuries America’s prevailing ethic and electorate ensured that no government policy initiatives would ever be used to actually improve minorities’ quality of life.
How large is the segment of African Americans that go along with “American Exceptionalism’s” racist and religious tenets? Blacks need to note that from the beginning America’s majority population has garnered enormous wealth from Blacks’ captivity, but has never embraced an egalitarian economic philosophy. “American Exceptionalists” ridicule Black Reparations, but, if you trace the fortunes of the Rockefellers, Mellon’s, Carnegies, Biltmore’s, and others, you’ll find the source as being “slavery.” Without the underpinnings of slavery, American enterprise would never have achieved its zenith. But, what will we do in the face of the re-emergence of the “American Exceptionalists’ ” values of class inequities, imperialism and war? The swagger of “American Exceptionalism” assuages Americans’ guilt of the violence we’ve used abroad, and at home, and hides the fundamental racism ingrained in America. It’s a shame that African-American voters are willing to allow President Obama to cater to the “Manifest Destiny/American Exceptionalism” crowd before dealing with Blacks and our needs that have gone unmet for all this time, because he’s president of all of the country.
Even to the point of having the “first Black President of the country,” Black Americans remain captive to the “he is President of the country” mindset and elect to leave their concerns on the back burner. Even the most fervent among us craving for Obama’s re-election as President of these United States would have to admit that he doesn’t fit America’s image of bedrock exceptionalism of military, economic and cultural preeminence. What upsets Limbaugh and his crowd is that Obama appears to be egalitarian and motivated more by a vision of America as it being just one more unremarkable country among many than American imperialist. Therefore, demanding Obama target public policy to Black voters who accounted for 13 percent of the electorate in ‘08, and who are now experiencing the culmination of centuries of economic crises is needed policy as well as good politics.
(William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via BaileyGroup.org)
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