"But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights."
-- Governor Sarah Palin, October 2, 2008
In a debate filled with eminently forgettable blather, here we have a statement of genuine importance -- a text that demands analysis. Where to begin?
Perhaps by noting the origins of this world view to which Governor Palin refers. The conception of America as the "city upon a hill" was not the handiwork of Ronald Reagan, or indeed of any other paladin of the Republican Party. Rather, John Winthrop, founding governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, first voiced the conviction that God had summoned the people of the New World - or at least those settling in New England - to serve as a model for all humankind.
Speaking in Boston Harbor to a small assembly of Puritans preparing to disembark from the ship Arabella in 1630, Winthrop announced that "The eyes of all people are upon us." Should the members of his community fail in their anointed mission, a dire fate awaited them: "we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world."
Winthrop described the core of that mission with great specificity. It had little to do with values such as tolerance and equal rights, in which Winthrop had little interest. It had everything to do with forging a covenant with God, who had summoned the Puritans to create a Christian commonwealth. Mindful of that imperative, Winthrop explained
[W]e must love one another with a pure heart fervently. We must bear one another's burdens. We must not look only on our own things, but also on the things of our brethren... We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others' necessities. ... We must delight in each other; make others' conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body.
To violate the terms of this covenant was to invite catastrophe: "[If] we shall neglect the observation of these articles," Winthrop continued,
and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.
Now there are three possibilities.
The first possibility is that God does not exist. In that case, the concept of American Exceptionalism first articulated by Winthrop, employed with great political effect by Ronald Reagan, and now endorsed by Sarah Palin, is simply nonsense - a fairy tale that may once have had a certain utility, but that in our own day has become simply pernicious. To persist in this nonsense is to make it impossible either to see ourselves as we really are or to see the world as it actually is.
The second possibility is that God exists, but that he has not singled out Americans as his new Chosen People. Indeed, consult Scripture and it becomes apparent that God himself has not spoken directly on the matter. In that case, Winthrop, Reagan, and Palin are remarkably presumptuous in claiming to interpret God's purposes and will. Further investigation might be in order - perhaps consulting with priests, ministers, rabbis, imams to see what they have to say on the matter.
The third possibility is that God exists and has indeed singled out America as his New Israel. In that event, John Winthrop's charge of 1630 demands urgent attention - not least of all his warning of what will befall America should it be seduced by earthly concerns and carnal desires and tend too much to superfluities.
Today no doubt, the eyes of all people are indeed on the United States - what happens here affects the world. Yet many of those who observe us don't like what they see. The question for Governor Palin and for other believers committed to the concept of American exceptionalism is this: have we kept the Lord's covenant? If not, perhaps the time has come to mend our ways before it's too late.
Who knows? The sound you hear even now on Wall Street may be God's wrath breaking out against us.
Andrew J. Bacevich is the author of The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.
From the Treaty with Tripoli. 1796-97 (unanimously approved by the Senate):
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
[See copy of entire treaty (scroll down for links to articles expounding on the meaning of the treaty in American discourse and policy) at http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/buckner_tripoli.html ]
Olbermann
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/
Kennedy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/governor-palins-reading-l_b_126478.html
I had heard about this campaign previously. There was an LP of Reagan using 'Red-scare' tactics to mobilize people against any form of national health care. The method of dissemination of the propaganda was housewife sponsored 'coffee-clatches' where women in neighborhoods would play this record and get all worked up into a frenzy over dread socialism.
It was a disgusting piece of manipulation and propaganda, using the same techniques as the Communists. This is especially typical after hearing today about the $200 mil the Pentagon has shelled out for pro-US & pro-Iraq propaganda in the Iraq media.
Colonel Bacevich, you, of all people, should be infuriated & want to do something about the revelation of anti-democratic behavior from the Pentagon.
He is someone who has had the intellectual curiosity and capability to examine the issues as far and deep as necessary to come to intelligent conclusions (however painful they may be) about how we came to this point, and how to move forward.
What you are referring to is but one of the many many more outrages perpetrated upon the Iraqi's (and not only). Regrettably -- and one can only hope these are all just rumors -- for the next 50-100 years we may be finding out a lot more about how we behaved. (One small sliver is Rumsfeld's own admission that there are even more disturbing, sick and horrific pictures of the prison in Abu Graib that never made it out to the public).
But, to come back to your point, the person that needs to do something about all these infuriating things is us. You, me, Andrew Bacevich, Arianna Huffington, ... everyone. We didn't really do this for a long time. We left congress along since the WWII and they forgot that they represent us, not some lobbyist.
Public figures can only do so much to raise awareness, etc. It is left up to the rest of us to examine their statements, and to verify them for ourselves, and then to take our opinions to the voting booth, mail-in ballot, etc.
Also, the irony of Reagan quoting this is delicious. Read Winthrop's application closely, and you'll see that he calls upon these chosen people to take care of each other, and some of his lines strangely prefigure Marx (he essentially says that each must give what he can, and each must receive what he needs). He says that if your neighbor needs help you must help him even more than you can afford to help. If your neighbor needs money but cannot afford to pay it back, you must still give that money. Winthrop would not recognize what has happened to his New Jerusalem.
You are a truly great man and I hope that more of our leaders will seek your advice and knowledge.
And I too turned to my wife and and said, "I wonder what Andrew Bacevich is thinking right now, if he is watching?"
What is important to point out is that, while Palin sees the concept in terms of American exceptionalism, Winthrop did not. For her, America is the ONLY "city on a hill." OTOH, for Winthrop and his group, the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts was merely one attempt among many to realize such a society - a Christian community that would be a light for the world.
Many, if not most, Christians would reject the idea that America today can be a city on a hill in that sense, simply because American is no longer a Christian society (if indeed it ever was).
To sum up: For Winthrop, the Plymouth colony was attempting to be one "city on a hill" among many. For Palin, America is THE city on a hill. For many other Christians, America cannot be a city on a hill, since it is not a Christian land.