The ‘Insurrection’ and Its Discontents: ‘American Exceptionalism’ Revisited | Ramzy Baroud
Ramzy Baroud -- Politics Today
Jan. 19, 2021
History is being written in the United States today.
Even the most pessimistic about the prospects of American democracy have rarely ventured out this far while offering a bleak analysis of America’s future, whether in terms of political polarization at home or global standing abroad.
As shocking and, certainly, telling as the images of thousands of American protesters taking over the symbols of America’s federal, representative democracy in Washington DC on Jan. 6, it was only a facet in a far more complex and devastating political trajectory that has been in the making for years.
While mainstream U.S. media has conveniently attributed all of America’s ills to the unruly character of outgoing President Donald Trump, the truth is not quite so convenient. The United States has been experiencing an unprecedented political influx at every level of society for years, leading us to believe that the rowdy years of Trump’s Presidency were a mere symptom, not the cause, of America’s political instability.
Even the storming of the congressional halls by angry pro-Trump crowds did not fundamentally alter the make-up of America’s political affiliations. Not only did Democrats remain firmly Democrats, but Republicans also remained entrenched in their republicanism and their allegiance to President Trump.
The House of Representatives’ vote on impeaching Trump, which was held on Jan. 13, hardly registered a significant shift even among establishment Republicans. Only ten Republican members of Congress voted to impeach Trump. But how about ordinary people -- have they changed their views on Trump following the congressional insurrection? Hardly.
According to an Economist/YouGov poll published on Jan. 13, 69 percent of all Republicans surveyed said that activists from the anti-fascist, leftist group, Antifa, are to be blamed for the takeover of the Capitol. While 22 percent said they are "unsure," a meager 9 percent agreed that Trump’s supporters instigated the violent events which, even then, should not automatically be understood to be an admission of guilt.
These results should not come as a surprise. The mistrust in the government and media in the United States is so widespread to the extent that the country is experiencing two parallel political realities, each committed to a fundamentally different set of aspirations. Each side perceives the other as the enemy, and while still believing in its own version of "democracy," it no longer agrees to any functional definition of the term.
This has not always been the case.
In their seminal book, “Manufacturing Consent,” Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman provided a most comprehensive analysis of how the "system" -- the government/ruling classes, big business and mainstream media -- has invented the most effective mechanism which allowed the United States to ensure two naturally contradicting realities: persistent popular consent within a seemingly democratic governance.
“The beauty of the system ... is that ... dissent and inconvenient information are kept within bounds and at the margins so that, while their presence shows that the system is not monolithic, they are not large enough to interfere unduly with the domination of the official agenda,” Chomsky and Herman argued.
Years later, Chomsky contested that, underneath this facade of democracy, the United States is, in actuality, a plutocracy, a country that is dedicated to serving the interests of the powerful few. He also argued that, while the United States does operate based on formal democratic structures, these are largely dysfunctional. In an interview with Global Policy Journal in 2019, the famed linguist and historian further asserted that the “U.S. Constitution was framed to thwart the democratic aspirations of most of the public.”
While these realizations have served as the core of the U.S. Left’s ideology, it was most interesting to see American Right constituencies leading what they call the ‘revolution’, referred to by mainstream media as "insurrection." Equally interesting, many of Trump’s supporters actually come from working-class and lower-middle-class America, itself a fascinating subject in its own right.
Regardless of what may transpire in the official investigation of the Capitol’s upheaval, U.S. political polarization, the breakdown of trust between the public and the ruling elites, along with their media allies, will continue unabated. Undoubtedly, the consequences will be dire.
But there is another consequential crisis that is also brewing, "American exceptionalism," a rare meeting point between Democrats and Republicans, is facing its greatest challenge since its coinage sometime in the mid-17th century.
Historically, the United States has defined and redefined its mission in the world based on lofty spiritual, moral and political maxims, starting with "Manifest Destiny," to fighting communism, to eventually serving as the defender of human rights and democracy around the world, using violence whenever necessary. In truth, "protecting human rights" or "restoring democracy" were mere pretenses often used to provide a moral cover that allows the United States to reorder the world for the sake of expanding its market and ensuring its economic dominance.
The late American historian, Howard Zinn, explained in his essay entitled "The Power and the Glory," the functional meaning of American exceptionalism as such: “... that the United States alone has the right, whether by divine sanction or moral obligation, to bring civilization, or democracy, or liberty to the rest of the world, by violence if necessary ...”
Many examples and numerous violent images can be immediately summoned when Zinn’s definition is translated into historical precedents. From the genocide of the Native Americans, to the enslaving of millions of Africans, to the never-ending interventions in South America -- starting with the Monroe doctrine of 1823 -- all the way to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, American exceptionalism has always served the purpose of reinforcing the notion that America possesses a moral, divine right to do as it pleases for the betterment of mankind.
When former U.S. President George W. Bush took it upon himself to ‘restore democracy’ in Iraq as part of the U.S.-championed "war on terror," his ultimatum to the United Nations reflected both American entitlement and its rooted sense of exceptionalism. “You are either with us or with the terrorists,” he said on Sept. 21, 2001. According to that maxim, the world was divided into categories, of "moderates" and "extremists," "with us" or "against us," "Old Europe" and "New Europe," and so on. Despite the palpable irrationality -- let alone arrogance -- of that logic, U.S. "democratic" institutions and mainstream media cheered Bush on. The "war president’s" ratings seemed to increase as his rhetoric and actions grew more violent.
But the orchestrated "popular consent" is finally breaking down, raising an unprecedented challenge to the notion of American exceptionalism, a banner under which America’s ruling elites have long united. The more political chaos and societal division widen, the more the notion of exceptionalism will be exposed as bizarre, selfish and unsustainable.
Surely, the storming of the U.S. Congress will have global repercussions, not least among them the collective rejection of the outdated notion of American exceptionalism. But with that, there is also an opportunity: first for Americans to swap their ‘manufactured consent’ with real dialogue; to salvage and, eventually, renew trust in their democratic institutions and second, for the world to challenge America’s hegemonic discourse of fraudulent democracy and other self-serving fables.
(This article was originally published in Politics Today - www.politicstoday.org)
- Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
- CreatedTuesday, January 19, 2021
- Last modifiedFriday, February 05, 2021
World Desk Activities
medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-optimism-contribute…
Study suggests maintaining optimism contributes to better mobility in women as they grow older
A large team of social scientists, psychologists and geriatric specialists affiliated with a host of institutions across the U.S. reports that women who remain optimistic…
medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-association-histori…
New study shows association of historical housing discrimination and shortfalls in colon cancer treatment
A nationwide study of 196 cities shows that housing discrimination from 90 years ago still casts a historical shadow of inequities in colon cancer care…
medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-biomarker-numerous-…
Possible new biomarker for better detection of numerous inflammatory diseases
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, which means that it cannot be produced by the body but must be included as part of our diet.…
techxplore.com/news/2024-03-highlights-global-stra…
techxplore.com/news/2024-03-amazon-billion-centers…
techxplore.com/news/2024-03-responsible-ai-tools-b…
techxplore.com/news/2024-03-white-house-policies-f…
phys.org/news/2024-03-perceptions-good-schools-hea…
Perceptions of 'good' schools are heavily dependent on the preparation of the students entering them, study finds
Are schools that feature strong test scores highly effective, or do they mostly enroll students who are already well-prepared for success? A study co-authored by…
Latest Stories
Electronic Frontier Foundation
- EFF Asks Oregon Supreme Court Not to Limit Fourth Amendment Rights Based on Terms of Service March 27, 2024
- Meta Oversight Board’s Latest Policy Opinion a Step in the Right Direction March 26, 2024
- Speaking Freely: Robert Ssempala March 26, 2024
- Podcast Episode: About Face (Recognition) March 26, 2024
The Intercept
- Pro-Israel Advocates Are Weaponizing “Safety” on College Campuses March 28, 2024
- Kamala Harris Touts Secret Service Program Encouraging High School Spying March 28, 2024
- Pentagon Ignores Law Calling for Report on How It Trained So Many African Coup Leaders March 28, 2024
- Anti-Abortion Doctors Struggle to Explain Mifepristone Harms Before Supreme Court March 27, 2024
VTDigger
- PHOTOS: Northeast Kingdom student wins Vermont spelling bee with ‘utilitarian’ March 28, 2024
- Final Reading: Phil Scott’s education secretary pick draws opposition March 28, 2024
- State resolves troopers’ reckless endangerment charges with pretrial diversion March 28, 2024
- Senate advances tax on streaming services to bolster public media March 28, 2024
Mountain Times -- Central Vermont
- Hartland School Board explains budget before vote, April 2 March 28, 2024
- The Mountain Times – Volume 51, Number 13 – March 27 – April 2, 2024 March 27, 2024
- Weekly Horoscope — March 27 – April 2, 2024 March 27, 2024
- Easter flowers: what’s in your bouquet? March 27, 2024