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Fine, I hope all the people who feel this way leave. Go. Get the fuck out. I believe in American exceptionalism. I believe that there's something about the

Fine, I hope all the people who feel this way leave. Go. Get the fuck out. I believe in American exceptionalism. I believe that there's something about the immigrant experience that allows people to pull themselves up and live their dreams with lots of hard work. Yes, it takes luck - but so does everything else worth having, including love and health. You can become rich and fabulous and no one will fault you for your accent or your class. So take my taxes - I'm happy to have a profit enough to pay them. I'm safe in my country's borders, I have 500 channels of TV available to me, I can eat meat every day for every meal if I wanted to, and I get to watch my two favorite teams play baseball day and night during the season. My father chose to move here for me, before I was even born. Not that India is some kind of hellhole - far from it - but, today, on what would have been his 60th birthday were he alive, I know what gift he gave me.

edw519 18y ago
Great post! Thank you sachinag. When things get tough and my motivation ebbs, I think of my 2 grandfathers. As teenagers, they left everything and everyone they ever knew with no assurance of ever seeing them again to come here. Why? So that I could have a better life. I have to get back to work; I simply can't let them down.
danteembermage 18y ago
I believe there's something about the immigrant experience too, but we don't let immigrants in anymore (I'm being a bit sensationalist but even if you include all of the tacitly allowed illegal immigration we are accepting four or five times less immigrants than we did before the 1920 act) I'm not at home but it's something like 15% pre and 3% post. And to be really controversial I think we are perilously close to creating ethnic Americans and I don't think that's what we should want.
Prrometheus 18y ago
I believe in competent government. I believe in getting what you pay for. I believe that I have huge advantages as an American because of past capital investment in this country, but those advantages are becoming more and more likely to disappear as capital becomes global and mobile and the cost of doing business here increases. Finally, I believe that any business that can afford to do so can instantly increase its profit by 25% simply by moving to Ireland. That's my strongest belief of all, simply because it's based on running the tax numbers.
rw 18y ago
If you were born elsewhere, and could never get to America, would you be fine with American exceptionalism?
- anamax 18y ago
  > If you were born elsewhere, and could never get to America, would you be fine with American exceptionalism? Sure. Why would I care what Americans think about themselves? Why would I care what Americans think about me? And, on a more objective note, the argument for American exceptionalism isn't that America does so well, but that other countries do so badly. After all, let's compare the stereotypical American with the stereotypical European and then look at the aggregate results. Some might argue that the stereotypes are wrong. Others give credit to the flying spaghetti monster. Maybe the Illuminati are to blame. And so on.
  - rw 18y ago
    Could you precisely define what you mean by "American exceptionalism"? I'm not getting what you're saying.
    - anamax 18y ago
      > Could you precisely define what you mean by "American exceptionalism"? I'm okay with "American exceptionalis refers to the belief that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations, because of its national credo, historical evolution, distinctive political and religious institutions, ethnic origins and composition, or national ideals." from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism You seem to think that non-Americans should be bothered by American exceptionalism. Why?
      - rw 18y ago
        > the belief that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations, Is that belief that the United States is better, or just different?
anthonyrubin 18y ago
Have you considered that the US is a desirable place to be because of dissent and people acting upon dissatisfaction? The tiresome rhetoric encouraging people to leave because they disagree with the status quo is antithetical to the principles this country was founded upon.
- anamax 18y ago
  > Have you considered that the US is a desirable place to be because of dissent and people acting upon dissatisfaction? So, dissent against Obama is necessarily good, right? Dissent, like change, isn't necessarily good or bad. The specifics matter.

edw519 18y ago

Great post! Thank you sachinag. When things get tough and my motivation ebbs, I think of my 2 grandfathers. As teenagers, they left everything and everyone they ever knew with no assurance of ever seeing them again to come here. Why? So that I could have a better life. I have to get back to work; I simply can't let them down.

danteembermage 18y ago

I believe there's something about the immigrant experience too, but we don't let immigrants in anymore (I'm being a bit sensationalist but even if you include all of the tacitly allowed illegal immigration we are accepting four or five times less immigrants than we did before the 1920 act) I'm not at home but it's something like 15% pre and 3% post. And to be really controversial I think we are perilously close to creating ethnic Americans and I don't think that's what we should want.

Prrometheus 18y ago

I believe in competent government. I believe in getting what you pay for. I believe that I have huge advantages as an American because of past capital investment in this country, but those advantages are becoming more and more likely to disappear as capital becomes global and mobile and the cost of doing business here increases. Finally, I believe that any business that can afford to do so can instantly increase its profit by 25% simply by moving to Ireland. That's my strongest belief of all, simply because it's based on running the tax numbers.

rw 18y ago

If you were born elsewhere, and could never get to America, would you be fine with American exceptionalism?

anamax 18y ago
> If you were born elsewhere, and could never get to America, would you be fine with American exceptionalism? Sure. Why would I care what Americans think about themselves? Why would I care what Americans think about me? And, on a more objective note, the argument for American exceptionalism isn't that America does so well, but that other countries do so badly. After all, let's compare the stereotypical American with the stereotypical European and then look at the aggregate results. Some might argue that the stereotypes are wrong. Others give credit to the flying spaghetti monster. Maybe the Illuminati are to blame. And so on.
- rw 18y ago
  Could you precisely define what you mean by "American exceptionalism"? I'm not getting what you're saying.
  - anamax 18y ago
    > Could you precisely define what you mean by "American exceptionalism"? I'm okay with "American exceptionalis refers to the belief that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations, because of its national credo, historical evolution, distinctive political and religious institutions, ethnic origins and composition, or national ideals." from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism You seem to think that non-Americans should be bothered by American exceptionalism. Why?
    - rw 18y ago
      > the belief that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations, Is that belief that the United States is better, or just different?

anthonyrubin 18y ago

Have you considered that the US is a desirable place to be because of dissent and people acting upon dissatisfaction? The tiresome rhetoric encouraging people to leave because they disagree with the status quo is antithetical to the principles this country was founded upon.

anamax 18y ago
> Have you considered that the US is a desirable place to be because of dissent and people acting upon dissatisfaction? So, dissent against Obama is necessarily good, right? Dissent, like change, isn't necessarily good or bad. The specifics matter.