Will Bunch, Philadelphia columnist, writes here about American exceptionalism.
Why do we have endless battles over small distractions while ignoring the most glaring problems in our midst?
Why do we have talk show hosts babbling about the latest burp in the culture wars while remaining silent about the stark inequality that blights our country?
Why do we celebrate the “success” of our billionaires instead of changing our tax code to assure liberty and justice for all?
Why do we call schools serving the neediest children “failing schools” instead of recognizing that their low scores are the consequence of massive social neglect and indifference? Why does our Secretary of Education insist on firing their teachers instead of thanking them for their willingness to work in schools that serve the students who struggle the most to live and learn?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
American exceptionalism? OY. Look who are in charge? There’s no exceptionaism there at all. Just more of the same warmed over, bad ideas.
LikeLike
So true! I was just reading an article on this inane “War on Christmas.” It’s a fine example of what Will Bunch is writing about.
LikeLike
Perhaps all this is a distraction to keep the suggestible public arguing over nothing so they see that truly, nobody knows how to fix what’s wrong and even if they did no one would let them do it.
LikeLike
I am reading Sinclair Lewis over the break from teaching 7th grade in the Philadelphia suburbs and I appreciate Will Bunch’s attack on the ludicrous notion of American Exceptionalism. I was drawn to this quote from Author Lewis: “it’s one of our favorite American myths that broad plains necessarily make broad minds and high mountains make high purpose.” At our last faculty meeting our principal presented a PowerPoint prepared by the Pa. DOE on the new value-added teacher evaluation system which clearly was beyond the comprehension of anyone in the room, including the principal. I have only a few years left before retirement and pretend not to care, but I do feel tremendous sympathy for the younger teachers and the would-be teachers who are being turned off and away from what once was a most rewarding career.
Merry Christmas.
LikeLike
You should check out Will Bunch’s column in today’s Philadelphia Daily News. He zeroes in on who is coordinating the drive for privatization of public schools in Philadelphia.
What does Philly schools funder Mark Gleason want?
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20131224_What_does_Philly_schools_funder_Mark_Gleason_want_.html#fI1XJqdOqCIqsvhH.99
LikeLike
Dr. Ravitch: You ask some most thought provoking questions. IMO, most people these days are so consumed with just getting by, that they don’t have time to look at what’s going on around them, much less question the status quo.
What kind of people are we becoming? Frankly, I fear for the future of this nation if we keep on the track we’re currently on.
LikeLike
Answers to the question the title of article poses:
America is different because:
1. We are a plutocracy where the rich control the media ever more.
2. We have gotten used to a middle class, softened lifestyle with lots of cheap, disposable things to buy from crappy, shiny, seductive stores like Target.
3. We have enjoyed cheap fossil fuels unlike any other nation save for the poil producing countries in the Middle East and South America.
4. We have grown and phenomenal middle class since the 1930s and have gradually grown not just softer from it but have put down our radar and antennae for decades, all while being robbed blindly year after year, little by little, a la “frogs in a pot” style
5. We are a very diverse country and so big that unity and consensus are still an issue.
6. We are still suffering the cultural division between North and South, post bellum.
7. We have allowed our plutocrats to sell philanthropy and private services which are masks to drive governmental and societal policy, the kind that serves the 1% to 5% of the population.
8. We have allowed our unions to become as if not more corrupt than the plutocrats themselves.
9. We have allowed our Democratic party to become decayed and corrupt with money and neo-liberalism.
10. We still suffer from a pioneer, wild west, me-and-my-family’s-survival-first mentaltiy, rather than looking to collectivist thinking to achieve social and fiscal justice.
11. We have allowed ourselves apathy if not helplessness as we – too many of us – do not keep on top of our elected officials the way one does upon the lid of a boiling pot of water . . . . . yet we still are very much privy to our still strong democratic processes.
But we are learning the hard way, and often, it is the hard way and through great pain on many levels that we learn the most, the fastest, the most effectively, and most permanently . . . .
“We” . . . . this is the ONLY word and concept that we can count on to change our country for the better . . . .
We are a young country still and we have many, many hard lessons to learn, but growing pains always increase our potential to realize real justice from generation to generation . . . . . .
We are in great pain now and are living in very, very sinister, dangerous times, yet we are and should never be without hope . . . .
LikeLike
These are the symptoms. What’s the remedy?
So “we…band together to change our country for the better” as you said. Now what? What would your objectives, covenant, philosophy, etc. be for the group to lead them to better our society?
Many have said taking action is the way to make change. However, lots of times the action may be effective only for a short time, because there was no long-term planning. Americans love to argue to win arguments which are rhetorical and of waste time. Unless we truly want what is best for our country, do we settle for partial compromises that makes minimal changes or are we really ready to change the status quo and our hidden agenda?
LikeLike
jon,
Believe it or not, the answer is political. I believe that we need a political party that runs without compromise on a platform for the 99%. Notice I did not say a third party. Right now we have one party which runs on the platform of the oligarchy which runs this country. They are opposite sides of the same coin. The Democrats play good cop to the Republicans bad cop. In the end the 99% always lose no matter which party is in power because who is in power never really changes.
Look at this video from Chicago’s Labor Beat:
LikeLike
Jon (Pelto?),
Your questions are more complex than the time I have to respond with even simple answers.
As a big idea, my very gut, visceral reaction (which cannot be measured with data, but that stems from my own human-ness and instinct) is that change starts with not great politicians or parties or systems; it starts, grows, and is maintained by what people feel within themselves and how they connect those feelings to other people.
It’s the connections that are questionable and the consensus that is still substandard. We have motivations and social media, but it is not enough. However, time and effort will reveal all, I think.
Temporary or short term changes, as you have implied, are not acceptable.
Of course, we could go the course of revolution, and that almost always seems to work for the long term. Yet, I shutter to think the costs of life and limb. Still, it can never be ruled out and should be taken seriously. It’s not something I would personally want to encounter, and at the same time, as a thinker not in the throes of it, it has been historically proven to be a contender in the menu of choices.
To use the democratic functions and machinery of our society and to organize and mobilize are still just as powerful, if not more, than the solutions that involve radical actions.
I often wonder if change will occur for the long term better in my life time. I am cautiously hopeful and work hard as an acitivist in public education . . . . .
Please don’t lose hope ever because if you did, you’d be giving your power away to people and organizations that simply don’t deserve it.
LikeLike
Robert Rendo- Great answers! Thanks for saying exactly what I was thinking, and expressing it so eloquently.
LikeLike
You’re welcome. . . .sorry for typos and lack of editing. Was writing in my usual rush . . .
LikeLike
We are not perfect but some people are not content to complain, so they use freedoms to
* Win battles in state after state for marriage equality
* Convince state legislatures to put more money into early childhood education
* Create wonderful new options in public education such as Boston Pilot schools
* Ignore naysayers and find ways to work together
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/joe-nathan/encouraging-responses-increasing-minnesota-charter-public-school-enrollment
* Lead their unions into convincing state legislators to allow teachers to create site/self governed schools within districts (see above link)
* Invent things like the internet which promote greater communication
* Elect an African American president, which forever changed what some youngsters thought was possible
* Came close to nominating an extremely talented woman (Hilary Clinton) for president
* Increased the number of talented women in Congress
* Expanded voting rights from just white men with property to a much broader group of people
* Developed medical advances recognized and used throughout the world
* Continue to attract millions of people who want to live here, even if immigrant -rights battles are not still all won
Lots to do, but lots that has been done.
LikeLike
Clearly many of you guys don’t understand what was once truly exceptional about America but has been under attack by the progressive philosophy for over a hundred years, a philosophy which has largely triumphed in government, and STILL you aren’t satisfied with the destruction which you yourselves have wrought and thus continue to try to bring down the country and exterminate that exceptionalism and make the USA just like every other nation in history.
LikeLike
“…what was once truly exceptional about America….”
I dunno, I give up. The genocide of the Indians? The kidnapping, importation and enforced slavery of Africans? De facto apartheid?
LikeLike
How about new Marriage equity laws in a variety of states?
Or expansion of voting rights?
Or a vast array of inventions?
Or a country that people all over the country want to live in?
LikeLike
“…what was ONCE truly exceptional about America….” (Harlan’s words, my emphasis). I wasn’t aware that marriage equality is something that would qualify as what was “once”….
LikeLike
Progress on marriage equity is what people like the columnist quoted conveniently ignore.
LikeLike
Sorry, Joe, but I’m not putting most of my eggs in the marriage equality basket, as all people, regardless of who they are and love, have to ask themselves what’s in their wallets at the end of the day, if they will be able to afford college, home ownership, healthcare that is affordable and comprehensive, etc. and enter into an old age that is financially dignified.
As a nation, we are an abject failure at those things . . . .
LikeLike
Nope, I’m not putting all the eggs on one basket. Thought Obama care has had plenty of problems in rolling out, it has allowed many people access to health care. We agree that there are plenty of progress.
I’d simply pointing out there are many areas of progress. I realize many people who post here prefer to focus on what’s wrong.
LikeLike
You leave out the more important element of individual freedom under law. That’s not nothing. Our sins were what they were, but now we are losing a sense of independence and self-reliance. Lots of people don’t want freedom because with it come responsibility for the self.
LikeLike
Dienne: I agree. People tend to forget that we didn’t discover America, but conquered it with bloodshed. It is why we find it difficult to be United in the USA. “Hypocrites of the…” instead of United sound more like it. Government continues to divide people into social classes, many who live on reservations and subsidized neighborhoods. What kind of government treats its people they’ve used and exploited in the past and continues to do so? We still have a passive civil war existing in America.
Joe: What you listed, is it solving the true problems that exist?
LikeLike
Jon, yes, I think everything I listed is an example of progress on a real problem. Do you disagree?
LikeLike
I don’t exactly disagree. I feel they are the least important issues that government can readily respond to versus issues of human services, poverty, immigration, healthcare, the role of politics, corporate monopolization, etc.
We’ve condoned politicians and big corp. for too long and they’ve taken advantage by dictating our lives which compromises our democracy. Don’t you think that warrants some attention?
LikeLike
Yes, absolutely agree that the things you mention deserve attention & action.
LikeLike
I suppose that recognizing the full humanity of some of our fellow human beings can be seen as relatively unimportant if your humanity has already been acknowledged.
LikeLike
People who helped the country make great progress were not content to post negative comments on websites.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/12/03/248217871/how-2013-became-the-greatest-year-in-gay-rights-history
LikeLike
Robert Rendo: It is NOT the nation’s responsibility to provide all those things. It’s the individual’s responsibility. “as all people, regardless of who they are and love, have to ask themselves what’s in their wallets at the end of the day, if they will be able to afford college, home ownership, healthcare that is affordable and comprehensive, etc. and enter into an old age that is financially dignified.
As a nation, we are an abject failure at those things . . . .”
Whoever thought one could make adult life one without worries. Maybe if you like the life of a child, when others are providing for you, such a social ambition would be worthy BUT to provide all those things the society would have to make all its citizens into children, and even then, it wouldn’t work, because the people, individually, do the work of production and un-free people won’t work except by compulsion, like slaves or prisoners.
Thus I have to dismiss your criterion for national success.
LikeLike
You’re right Harlan on this one.
So why not relinquish your very childish social security and your childish accpetance of it to some poor family who needs it more than you do? Social Security came from a program that is polar opposite of your Tea Party views. It would be wonderful to gather hardcore data on all the registered memebers of the Tea Party and/or those identify with or identify themselves as members of it, and find out who is on public assistance of any kind and who is on Social Security.
All those individual rights and the I-Me-My thinking did Sandy Hook and Columbine a world of good, I see.
Happy Individualist Holidays . . .
Me, I’ll stick with my own “power in numbers” approach to living.
LikeLike
I know you will, regardless of sensible argument.
LikeLike
Here’s a brief essay printed Sunday in Minnesota’s largest daily paper. It was written by a St. Paul Public Schools graduate, first generation American (immigrant), high school and college graduate.
One of the things that makes this country extraordinary, at least for some of us, is the ability of the nation to help immigrants move in one generation from not speaking English and being very low income, to speaking English and having a fine education.
YOUR holiday will be happier, richer & more meaningful if you take 2 minutes to read this extraordinary essay by Kao Kalia Yang, published in Sunday’s Star Tribune.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/236724421.html
This award-winning young woman also has written an incredible book about her experiences with her family and with the St. Paul Public Schools.
LikeLike