Exceptional sophistry
by digby
This opening paragraph about American “exceptionalism” by Scott Shane in today’s New York Times is quite compelling:
IMAGINE a presidential candidate who spoke with blunt honesty about American problems, dwelling on measures by which the United States lags its economic peers.
What might this mythical candidate talk about on the stump? He might vow to turn around the dismal statistics on child poverty, declaring it an outrage that of the 35 most economically advanced countries, the United States ranks 34th, edging out only Romania. He might take on educational achievement, noting that this country comes in only 28th in the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool, and at the other end of the scale, 14th in the percentage of 25-to-34-year-olds with a higher education. He might hammer on infant mortality, where the United States ranks worse than 48 other countries and territories, or point out that, contrary to fervent popular belief, the United States trails most of Europe, Australia and Canada in social mobility.
The candidate might try to stir up his audience by flipping a familiar campaign trope: America is indeed No. 1, he might declare — in locking its citizens up, with an incarceration rate far higher than that of the likes of Russia, Cuba, Iran or China; in obesity, easily outweighing second-place Mexico and with nearly 10 times the rate of Japan; in energy use per person, with double the consumption of prosperous Germany.
How far would this truth-telling candidate get? Nowhere fast. Such a candidate is, in fact, all but unimaginable in our political culture. Of their serious presidential candidates, and even of their presidents, Americans demand constant reassurance that their country, their achievements and their values are extraordinary.
It’s really about a narcissistic culture. The right uses the “USA! USA! Fuck Yeah!” approach. The left uses the “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for” approach. But in the end it’s all about how great Americans think they are. And I don’t think facts will change that.
Unfortunately, Shane then takes us to the land of he said/she said:
Democrats are more loath than Republicans to look squarely at the government debt crisis indisputably looming with the aging of baby boomers and the ballooning cost of Medicare. Republicans are more reluctant than Democrats to acknowledge the rise of global temperatures and its causes and consequences. But both parties, it is fair to say, prefer not to consider either trend too deeply.
Both parties would rather avert their eyes from such difficult challenges — because we, the people, would rather avert our eyes.
Thanks. That’s a big help.
First of all, the deficit is not even remotely equivalent to the global warming crisis. The worst thing that happens if the debt becomes the catastrophe all the deficit hawks say it will, is economic turmoil down the road That’s not a good thing, but we’ve weathered economic turmoil many times and it is highly unlikely to cause droughts, famine and refugee crises all over the planet killing millions of people. This is a truly silly and absurd comparison.
Yes, liberals are unwilling to concede that future debt is more important than the health and security of the people, particularly since the country has more than enough wealth to pay for it and currently spends trillions of dollars on military adventures it does not approve of. (How about this as a solution?)
Moreover, the need to focus on the alleged “debt crisis” that is “indisputably” looming at the expense of our current economic problems is irresponsible in the extreme. Indeed, it will be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Starving the economy today is what will lead to a more low growth and higher debt. Liberals are against this deficit hysteria because we know that it’s exactly the wrong thing to do to fix the projected debt!
Global warming, on the other hand, may not play out the way the scientific consensus believes it will — but God help the species if it does. The consequences are so horrifying that it’s not just irresponsible, it’s immoral to delay, much less deny its existence as the right increasingly does.
I won’t even get into the economic motivations of the people who are pimping deficit fetishism and global warming denialism. It’s easy enough to see where the money is on both of those arguments.
But hey — let’s all agree that both sides should get together and hold hands as they jump over the cliff. The liberals will agree to give up the social insurance programs that have kept the nation from having even worse statistics than those outlined above while the right will “agree” to let their children have air to breathe and water to drink. What an awesome deal. We really are exceptional, aren’t we?
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