81–90 of 139 posts
The biggest issue we Europeans have with the american exceptionalism are the implications on foreign politics. Victoria Nuland giving cookies at the Maidan square and appointing the post Yanukovich government? US can. Paying italian Mafia to kill socialist workers in Italy? US can. Having US drunk air force peoppe kill 30 civillians in Italy because they wanted to see how low they coukd fly and sending them back home…
The logic of "The US is the greatest if you likes X things and bad if you prefer Y" is poor because it can be applied to anything. Colombia during Pablo Escobar's time was probably considered pretty great if you were a Narco Trafficker. The article entirely misses the problem non-US people have with the US faffing on about greatness or its exceptionality. Which is that individuals from the US seem to see this as an i…
In a collective endeavor, which the administration of a state undoubtedly is, especially in a democratically structured system, each individual of course contributes negligibly on average. It is the aggregate of their activities that we end up looking at when we make these determinations. And of course some people pull more weight than others, and a few disproportionately so. But we all play our part, however small.
The logic of "The US is the greatest if you likes X things and bad if you prefer Y" is poor because it can be applied to anything. Colombia during Pablo Escobar's time was probably considered pretty great if you were a Narco Trafficker. The article entirely misses the problem non-US people have with the US faffing on about greatness or its exceptionality. Which is that individuals from the US seem to see this as an i…
US citizens contribute to US greatness by continuing to accept values such as free speech, free market, personal responsibility and limited government. Which in turns drives economic and cultural innovation and provides sufficient tax revenue to pay for defense of other countries that would otherwise be taken over. Many Australian citizens would not have accepted higher risk from COVID in exchange for greater persona…
Nah, I disagree. First, individuals who were educated across the globe, money from across the globe, and access to global resources are all necessary (and a fundamental part of the history) of Silicon Valley's success.
There really is no argument that Silicon Valley-like innovation do occur in distinctly non-free environments. For example; The Soviet Union's part in the Space Race, the current entrepreneurial and technological development in China, the British component of the Industrial Revolution.
Each of these demonstrate scientific innovation in otherwise less-free societies than California. I'm sure there are many more examples if you wanted to extend the historic timeline further.
Not an endorsement of the CCP.
A nation founded on the principles of all men being created equal, along with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is indeed exceptional. The results have been exceptional, too. The US does indeed have plenty of problems, but those problems are usually traceable to neglecting those founding principles.
> A nation founded on the principles of all men being created equal, along with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness Isn't the legacy of these 'founding principles' tarnished from the fact that many of the founding fathers owned hundreds of slaves? We are still within a living generation of segregation in southern states, an injustice that owes directly to how the founding fathers applied…
[1] this did not use to be the case, the Athenian democracy had no qualms about slavery
A nation founded on the principles of all men being created equal, along with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is indeed exceptional. The results have been exceptional, too. The US does indeed have plenty of problems, but those problems are usually traceable to neglecting those founding principles.
> A nation founded on the principles of all men being created equal, along with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness Isn't the legacy of these 'founding principles' tarnished from the fact that many of the founding fathers owned hundreds of slaves? We are still within a living generation of segregation in southern states, an injustice that owes directly to how the founding fathers applied…
A nation founded on the principles of all men being created equal, along with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is indeed exceptional. The results have been exceptional, too. The US does indeed have plenty of problems, but those problems are usually traceable to neglecting those founding principles.
> A nation founded on the principles of all men being created equal, along with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness Isn't the legacy of these 'founding principles' tarnished from the fact that many of the founding fathers owned hundreds of slaves? We are still within a living generation of segregation in southern states, an injustice that owes directly to how the founding fathers applied…
Is the US an imperfect implementation of those principles? Yes.
Does that invalidate those principles? No.
Has the US done a pretty good job of implementing those principles? Yes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
US citizens contribute to US greatness by continuing to accept values such as free speech, free market, personal responsibility and limited government. Which in turns drives economic and cultural innovation and provides sufficient tax revenue to pay for defense of other countries that would otherwise be taken over. Many Australian citizens would not have accepted higher risk from COVID in exchange for greater persona…
>Yet without great freedom, great innovation like Silicon Valley is impossible Nah, I disagree. First, individuals who were educated across the globe, money from across the globe, and access to global resources are all necessary (and a fundamental part of the history) of Silicon Valley's success. There really is no argument that Silicon Valley-like innovation do occur in distinctly non-free environments. For example;…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, confederacies are older than monarchies in human history. Even in N. America there was the Iroquois Confederacy right there. Not to take away from the rebellion and the formalization of political philosophy, but this is typical puffery by the ascendent Anglo-Saxons who were looking for a superiority narrative to serve the need of colonial nation-building and subsequently world domination.
>this is typical puffery by the ascendent Anglo-Saxons who were looking for a superiority narrative By what metric was there not superiority?
A nation founded on the principles of all men being created equal, along with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is indeed exceptional. The results have been exceptional, too. The US does indeed have plenty of problems, but those problems are usually traceable to neglecting those founding principles.
White men of property, you mean. Nobody else was exceptional. Of course, Jefferson's words established no basis in American law. It was signed before America existed. The Treaty of Paris ending the war established America only as a sovereign country, not a free one. (We were free of monarchy only). In fact, the intended audience for both documents was international, not national. Never a legal document, the Declarati…
BTW, the Constitution was amended to outlaw slavery. That counts.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok, now do positives.
Sure. The reasons where US shines & is able to draw talent is probably several of these: * US is absolutely the leader in innovation. No doubts about it. * Champion of democracy. The US political system & constitution has inspired a lot of other countries. Its a very immaculately drawn political system built on checks & balances * High degree of choices to an individual to shape his life * High degree of demographic…
Inherent to the US, or an accident of them just happening to be the largest economy?
When UK (and/or Germany or France) where large(r) economies, innovations was happening there (e.g., Industrial Revolution). Now that the US is the large(st) economy, it's happening there.
How much are innovation levels 'just' a correlation with a lot of money sloshing around?
> High social mobility for a lot of people (not all but a big chunk).
The high-ish wealth inequality ties into low social mobility in the US: