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This is simply the leftist version of the American exceptionalism thesis. Whereas conservatives focus on supposed positive exceptional attributes of America, m

This is simply the leftist version of the American exceptionalism thesis. Whereas conservatives focus on supposed positive exceptional attributes of America, multiple generations of leftists have now promoted and developed the inverse: the idea that America is forever fundamentally broken (due to the power of big corporations, evil conservatives, Fox News, etc.), and thus certain problems that others can solve are deemed inherently unsolveable in America.

dragonwriter 11y ago
> This is simply the leftist version of the American exceptionalism thesis. Strange description, because pretty much every example I've seen of this has been someone on the left saying "Of course we can do better in this area, see how it works in <other country>!" followed by someone on the right saying "No, we that won't work here, because America!". (Sometimes pointing to something that might arguably be a legitimate difference -- I'm not saying that this pattern is universally wrong, just that there doesn't seem to be anything leftist about it, if anything, it tends to be the opposite.) The closest I've seen from the Left to this is the defeatist version "we could in theory do that here and it would work, but it isn't politically viable because America!." But, OTOH, I've seen that form from the Right, too, just on different issues.
Frondo 11y ago
Yeah, like dragonwriter says, I never see this on the left. The left is almost always coming out and saying "This is what's wrong with America, and we should fix it." I can't remember ever seeing any left-leaning or progressive type throw up their hands and say, "well, that just won't work here." I will acknowledge that political conservatives or right-leaning types often do suggest that problems are solvable, but these days I only ever see right-leaning types suggesting that "the free market" will solve a problem (and, conversely, if it's one of the large class of things that the free market can't solve, then it is either not a problem or it is not solvable). Still, the whole "it can't be done here" is, if not right-leaning, at least a conservative attitude in the sense of not trying to change anything. It just adds in an extra layer of (often irrelevant or nonsensical) defeatism, like the problem is unsolvable, and not just difficult. It's weird, because we could put people on the moon, but a city can't adapt to a more bike-friendly way of life?
maxxxxx 11y ago
You should add that conservatives focus on the government messing up everything so nothing can be solved either. See the healthcare debate,

dragonwriter 11y ago

> This is simply the leftist version of the American exceptionalism thesis. Strange description, because pretty much every example I've seen of this has been someone on the left saying "Of course we can do better in this area, see how it works in <other country>!" followed by someone on the right saying "No, we that won't work here, because America!". (Sometimes pointing to something that might arguably be a legitimate difference -- I'm not saying that this pattern is universally wrong, just that there doesn't seem to be anything leftist about it, if anything, it tends to be the opposite.) The closest I've seen from the Left to this is the defeatist version "we could in theory do that here and it would work, but it isn't politically viable because America!." But, OTOH, I've seen that form from the Right, too, just on different issues.

Frondo 11y ago

Yeah, like dragonwriter says, I never see this on the left. The left is almost always coming out and saying "This is what's wrong with America, and we should fix it." I can't remember ever seeing any left-leaning or progressive type throw up their hands and say, "well, that just won't work here." I will acknowledge that political conservatives or right-leaning types often do suggest that problems are solvable, but these days I only ever see right-leaning types suggesting that "the free market" will solve a problem (and, conversely, if it's one of the large class of things that the free market can't solve, then it is either not a problem or it is not solvable). Still, the whole "it can't be done here" is, if not right-leaning, at least a conservative attitude in the sense of not trying to change anything. It just adds in an extra layer of (often irrelevant or nonsensical) defeatism, like the problem is unsolvable, and not just difficult. It's weird, because we could put people on the moon, but a city can't adapt to a more bike-friendly way of life?

maxxxxx 11y ago

You should add that conservatives focus on the government messing up everything so nothing can be solved either. See the healthcare debate,