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Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
You do find some dumb stuff sometimes COG. Care to explain how a minor agrarian country like the United States surpassed the rest of the world in technology, lifestyle, freedom, and economic power in less than 150 years?
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Lack of any real threat (both economic and military) from our neighbors combined with vast (for the time) amounts of natural resources and space? Essentially, up until WWI, all we did was focus on growing our economy, agriculture, etc. and didn't put much spending into military (due to lack of threatening neighbors) while the rest of the world were squabbling and fighting with everyone around them?
Essentially, because we had lack of external pressures keeping us down, we had the freedom to expand and grow as quickly and unchecked by those around us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy
JD, I wasn't referring to the American Exceptionalism we used to have. Capitalism and freedom turned us into the greatest country in history. The cartoon was referring to where we are headed, and mourning the death of American exceptionalism. You can tell from the other posters in this thread, there isn't much hope of returning to our former greatness.
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I do believe that today, we're so used to shouting "America is the best at everything!" that we've started resting on our laurels instead of, you know... actually being the best.
What I think many Americans today (with our tendency to look only inward and ignore the rest of the world) don't realize is that the world around us has become more united, has learned from us, and has caught up to us / surpassed us in many respects.
Recognizing that we've let ourselves slip behind in some areas is the first step to reclaiming our spot at the top.
American Exceptionalism
