US Exceptional Syndrome Poses Ideological Danger

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

“You are so zealous to judge the sins of others, start with your own and you won’t get to strangers” - these words were written by William Shakespeare more than 400 years ago, but today they describe all the features of the foreign policy of the Anglo-Saxons in the best possible way. Especially vividly, the habit of putting oneself above others by teaching humanity is ingrained in the United States, and since the unipolar world today is experiencing a number of problems, the American Exceptional Syndrome (AIS) is again a sign of trouble.

AIS is a bad disease not only of the American, but also of the British establishment, however, due to the size and military power of the United States, ideology and economic potential, the consequences of this particular problem can affect all of humanity.

The roots of this "syndrome" should be looked for in the distant past, if only because the United States initially developed in isolation. The seizure of goods from indigenous peoples, or as it is described in the literature - "colonization", took place far from the borders of the great powers, provided permissiveness and created a magnet for adventurers from all over the world.

Territories with a mild climate, many natural resources and a range of benefits created by local residents were protected by the waters of the oceans, while the Indian tribes were weak and did not have developed technologies. In view of the specific features of such resettlement, the contingent of migrants “colonizing” the region turned out to be appropriate.

In the "New World" people were tempted to move to the possibility of enrichment with impunity, expansion not at the expense of strong neighbors, but at the expense of a priori weaker aborigines. Other emigrants were looking for ways to get away from the burden of administrative systems and class traditions established on the "mainland". Still others wanted to start life from scratch, since the "American nation" in the first couples consisted mainly of exiled English, French, Spanish and other criminals.

In essence, if we throw Hollywood propaganda away from the primary history of the United States, its real and prosaic picture will be revealed. American political consciousness began its formation with the first settlers of the 17th century, with the worldview of the so-called "Pilgrim Fathers", who viewed the new continent as a "Promised Land" in a religious and economic sense.

That is, the messianic idea of the United States being chosen, the role of a guiding country and a helm for all the peoples of the world, stemmed from the way of thinking of its founders. In their own logic, everything was based on a simple chain - the Earth and everything on it belongs to God; The Lord can give the land or some part of it to the chosen people; The Americans are the chosen people.

This basis was declared by all American elites throughout the existence of America itself, in particular, in 1900, US Senator Albert Beveridge wrote: "… God made his chosen people the Americans, whom He intended to lead the rest of the world to rebirth."

In 1990, a century later, American President Ronald Reagan added: "America is the Promised Land, and our people are chosen by God himself to work to create a better world." In 2011, state leader candidate Mitt Romney recalled: "God did not create this country for our nation to follow others, America's destiny is to lead them."

Taking into account the invariability of this ideological attitude, it is easy to understand why the “professional” experience of the first “exiled” colonialists of America became in demand for its implementation. In all the dogmas of the Americans, only the territory of the United States was considered - the land, and not the peoples inhabiting it.

For this reason, in just a few decades, over 20 million Indians were destroyed, and those who remained were "resettled" to reservations, that is, to deserts, prairies and mountainous areas unsuitable for normal life. The "exclusivity" of the United States began with their impunity.

When the American economy began to strengthen, and a boom in the use of slaves, the US elite for the first time regretted the "oppression" of the indigenous peoples in the Western world, but not because they recognized their genocide, but because they did not leave slaves from the local population and they had to be delivered to America using the distant African continent.

Today, the dark pages of the emergence of "exclusivity" are reliably ousted from public discourse, only the achievements of the United States in the XX and XXI centuries - internal political stability, the absence of defaults, the popularity of culture and the economic level of the country - are displayed. In reality, however, the "syndrome" is not based at all on this, but on the fact that the general principles of US foreign policy have never been tested for strength.

According to the dogmas of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, on which the White House still relies, the first principle of American policy was proclaimed military force. That is, the army as the ultimate means of settling "external" problems and conflicts.

The second is diplomatic egocentrism, that is, the right not to abide by any agreements, promises, alliances and obligations if they tie the hands of the American elite, and the third is the "great mission" of the United States to spread "democracy" and "values." That is, exclusivity was required to justify the enforcement of these points, as a justification basis for any expansionist ambitions for the American elite.

Only because of the geography and the compromise of the European and American financial behind the scenes, the United States did not meet with resistance on this path. They never fought on their territory, were not occupied, did not border on the threat at their borders, and their economy and infrastructure were not nullified by the boots of the invaders. If such a threat appeared, it was drawn into other people's wars, as during the period of the strengthening of the USSR.

During the Mexican-American War, US citizens believed that each of them was worth ten Mexicans, the war showed that this was not the case. For a while, sanity returned to American society, but by the time of the First World War, everything happened again. And again, the very first battles sobered the Americans, but by the Second World War, inertia made itself felt. After it came 74 years of complete absence of "vaccinations", which brought the "syndrome" of US exclusivity to the level of the current heights.

In other words, for many decades, propaganda about its own greatness did not meet with resistance, did not break up on interaction with the reality that exists outside the borders of the United States. And therefore, in greenhouse conditions, it only strengthened.

The United States has always been the most powerful nation on its continent, and the "big world" did not come to them, therefore the mentality of Washington formed a corresponding one.

The danger of the modern USA comes down to the fact that the American nation, unlike others, cannot adequately assess its position, which is easily played by the elites who have played in their ambitions.

In 2016, Donald Trump's presidential candidate and rival Hillary Clinton released a policy article titled "New American Exceptionalism." In it, the leader of the Democrats (which is significant in itself) said:

“The USA is an exceptional nation. We are Earth's last hope that Lincoln spoke of. We are the shining city on the hill that Reagan spoke of. We are the most altruistic and merciful country that Kennedy spoke of. And it's not so much that we have the greatest army or that our economy is bigger than any other, but also in the strength of our values, the strength of the American people. […] Part of American exceptionalism is that our nation is irreplaceable."

In Russia, as in most European countries, such passages are regarded as illegal propaganda of "social, racial, national, religious or linguistic superiority" (Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation), but the main thing is that these maxims were uttered by a politician who had every chance to take the helm of the biggest military arsenal in the world.

Given the above, it is important to understand that the reason why the American version of "Nazism" is so easily publicized in the United States is that this nation has never suffered from war. She did not conduct hostilities on her territory, did not drown in military clashes among herself (excluding the period of the Civil Conflict), did not develop intermittently due to constant external interventions, and did not fight with opponents equal to her. Until this encounter with reality takes place, American Exceptional Syndrome will remain as it is. If we consider that the American society is also politically zombified, then this means a lot of problems for the world.

The fact is that the thesis of exclusivity is imposed on Americans from childhood, not as a worldview for their country, but as the role of the central ideology in the future of all mankind. The paradox of such an imposition consists in the fact that the totalitarianism of opinions contradicting them is superimposed on the postulates of democracy and freedom. And this once again says that "exclusivity" is a tool that, in the event of serious difficulties and upheavals, can easily be used by the US elites for the dirtiest foreign policy initiatives.

A supremacy virus based on racial domination has already spawned a justification for slavery in the West. A view based on rising above the "third world" justified a long string of US and NATO incursions in recent decades, and the social and value dominance thesis has accompanied hybrid pressures to this day.

Unbeknownst to itself, American society is sliding to the edge of this seductive abyss, universal for any aggression. And although Russia managed to secure itself militarily, and geopolitically form a duumvirate with China, the danger of America's megalomania cannot be underestimated.

In February 2019, in the annual address of the President of the United States "On the Situation in the Country," Donald Trump recalled at the 82nd minute of his speech: “The United States does not intend to apologize for defending American interests to anyone. Why? Because Americans are the most outstanding nation on earth!"

Here it would be worth asking the Russian liberals how much such rhetoric over the centuries correlates with the liberal values of equality and freedom, but this, like other dialogues with "fans", is almost always meaningless. It is only worth noting that now the unipolar world is giving up its positions, the role of the United States in world politics is decreasing, however, American exclusivity is an ideological vision in which the entire history of the world before the formation of the North American "New World" is perceived as preparation for this formation, and the "New peace "- as a mission in which America must play a leading role.

In other words, there is a contradiction on the face, and the stronger this split grows in their heads, the more convenient it becomes for the American elite to blame others for their problems. An exceptional nation sows good, which means that someone else must pay for the accumulated difficulties in the "City on the Hill".