Being a successful American politician today requires declaring that America is different, blessed, exceptional. Thus, when other countries torture, it reflects their basic character. When we torture, it violates ours. But the wisest American thinkers have found a way to reconcile this need to feel special with the recognition that, as human beings, Americans are just as fallen as everyone else. In the mid-20th century, men like Schlesinger and Reinhold Niebuhr argued that, paradoxically, the more Americans recognized their sinfulness, and restrained it within systems of law, the more America would prove its superiority over those totalitarian systems that refused such restraints. This may be who we are, but do we want that to mean that we should never change. I believe the US is great, despite the many mistakes weve made in our history, because we strive to improve and evolve toward becoming a more just and humane country.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:55:35 +0000
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