On Ameican Exceptionalism

So today I was readying one of my articles on Colonial America and the War of Independence. And here comes the rub... according to the historian the US War of Independence came out of the British desire to make the Colonies (and Colonials) come to heel. This included a good sense of superiority over them colonials... and that this was unique to the US.

I wanted to scream... why? This is actually ONE of the causes for the Creoles in New Spain rising in revolt against the Spanish Government oh back in 1810. Now if this article was published in the dark ages, fine that was in the water. But this is 2000... and that is a problem. The US is not that exceptional and that pressure and push back towards metropolitan governments was not uniquely American. You could say it was in the water.

Now how does this affect the modern day US? Well we still believe in this crap, and that actually justifies quite a bit of our acting in the world stage as an EMPIRE. Yes, to the point that we believe we are somehow superior to others. Well, we are not.

That said there were a couple other things in the article, that I was reminded off. This penchant for small, locally controlled guv'mint, with low taxes, that the Tea Baggers scream about has a long history... as in the Colonies. Not that they know that... but that is where that is coming from.

Of course they have forgotten some of the reasons for the war, and one of the major grievances was the ability to make decisions for your local area, which the Crown wanted to take away... not that they know that...

Head huts.