Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
In the New York Times today, columnist Stanley Fish interviews Dinesh D'Souza, asking Dinesh to respond to readers' criticisms of Dinesh's movie, "2016: Obama's America." The entire interview is more than worth reading--Dinesh may be the most unflappably articulate man on the planet--but this exchange struck me as particularly marvelous:
S.F.: Some posters were dismissive of the idea of “American exceptionalism.” They wondered what the phrase meant and suspected that it was a rhetorical device enabling the United States to justify actions it would condemn if they were performed by other nations. What, in your view, is so exceptional about America?
D.D.: My definition of American exceptionalism is one of identifying the ways in which America is unique in the world. First of all, America is unique in being a country founded, in a sense, by a group of people sitting around a table. Other countries have been founded by “accidents of force.” America is a creation of thought. A second aspect of American exceptionalism is that while in other countries citizenship is a function of birth and blood, you become an American by assimilating to a certain way of life, a certain aspiration. And third, America has been a kinder, gentler superpower than traditional empires have been. What does the doctrine of American exceptionalism empower the United States to do? Nothing more than to act better than traditional empires — committed to looting and conquest — have done. So that’s American exceptionalism, an exceptionalism based on noble ideas, ideas that it holds itself to even when it falls short of them.
"America is a creation of thought." Beautiful.
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Aug '11
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
An excellent response to a loaded question!
Apr '11
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Thank you, Peter, for drawing our attention to this. I note that the interview is online only, not in the printed NYT, so many of us could have missed it. The introduction is telling, in which Stanley Fish writes that 99 percent of the more than 500 readers who responded to Fish's earlier comments on the "2016" movie were negative. I must make it a point to read Fish more often.
Sep '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
This is wonderful for many reasons but the one that sprang to my mind was how could he not begin with the phrase, "ok you spineless nebish let me spell it out for you."
Jun '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
If my great-grandfather immigrated to China in 1912, and the family never left, I'd still be a foreigner in China.
Nov '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
As Margret Thatcher said:
However, I'd go a little easy on the British Empire. As the latest Prager U pointed out, it was in many ways an Empire of Liberty. It's children who followed its example are the most prosperous and free societies on the planet. It's greatest child, America, became so because it took English ideas of liberty even further than the mother country was willing to go.
Aug '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Dinesh puts forth a credible theory about Obama with which you are free to agree or disagree. Those who attempt to dismiss it out of hand expose their own intellectual insecurity.
Dec '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Peter Robinson:
Dinesh may be the most unflappably articulate man on the planet
An apt description. I was not all that familiar with D'Souza, but having read and listened to several interviews recently, I've been extremely impressed with the way he handles himself. He seems to relish the loaded questions and the opportunity to directly and efficiently dispose of them. It gives me the feeling of watching a great hitter taking batting practice.
Edited on September 11, 2012 at 10:34pmJun '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Peter Robinson
. . . while in other countries citizenship is a function of birth and blood, you become an American by assimilating to a certain way of life, a certain aspiration.
Another beautiful thought. D'Souza did it. Yet I fear that assimilation is becoming another victim of multiculturalism.
Nov '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
It's not just that they were thinkers, those founders, it's that they had the right thoughts. For some counter examples, look to the Bolsheviks or the Hatian revolution.
Jul '12
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Can you think of two cities more cosmopolitan than Imperial Rome and Imperial London? Can you think of a nation more cosmopolitan than non imperial America?
Edited on September 11, 2012 at 11:21pmJan '12
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Thank you for posting this exchange with Dinesh D'Souza.
We assume that he has fielded 'loaded' questions before, but he still comes across as serious, respectful and guileless.
One thing that we miss, in reading this, is the perfect elocution of his smooth flowing, crystal clear, first-generation American voice!
If you want to treat yourself , get the unabridged, audio edition of 'The Roots of Obama's Rage", read by the author, Dinesh D'Souza, which forms the basis for the movie, '2016: Obama's America' , and listen to it when driving in your car (even if you have children with you).
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Dinesh (and later, Pat Caddell) will be on the Ricochet Podcast this week.
Sep '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Other aspects of American exceptionalism:
1) In the struggles that define America, the winning (and hence defining) side - in England's Glorious Revolution, the English Civil War, the Revolution, the American Civil War - was always that advancing liberty.
2) For a century and a half, our founders pledged to one another, not to a prince or to a city or to a race - from the Mayflower Compact through the New England town meeting to the Declaration ("...our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor").
3) Given England's hands-off approach to the colonies until 1763, our governments grew organically, with mass citizen participation; little was imposed from a ruling class or from the outside.
4) Again, given England's hands-off approach, we developed a culture of individual initiative and voluntary association, demonstrated by Franklin and noted by Tocqueville, and exemplified by hundreds of fraternal organization that did for free people what governments did for subjects elsewhere.
5) We grew with virtually no history of a privilidged class - no one deserving an office or a legal exemption by virtue of birth.
6) The Revolution - almost uniquely - did not eat its young.
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Bob Croft: Other aspects of American exceptionalism:
1) In the struggles that define America, the winning (and hence defining) side - in England's Glorious Revolution, the English Civil War, the Revolution, the American Civil War - was always that advancing liberty.
2) For a century and a half, our founders pledged to one another, not to a prince or to a city or to a race ... ("...our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor").
3) Given England's hands-off approach to the colonies until 1763, our governments grew organically..little was imposed from a ruling class or from the outside.
4) Again, given England's hands-off approach, we developed a culture of individual initiative and voluntary association...exemplified by hundreds of fraternal organization that did for free people what governments did for subjects elsewhere.
5) We grew with virtually no history of a privilidged class - no one deserving an office or a legal exemption by virtue of birth.
6) The Revolution - almost uniquely - did not eat its young. · 3 hours ago
Gorgeous summary, Bob. You know your history! Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us.
May '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Dinesh came to speak to my school years ago, when he was his own agent. It was a marvelous event...I'm not surprised that he continues to handle himself calmly and with great aplomb now that he is in the line of fire.
Word is that he is trying to get 2016 a TV deal before the election.
Game, set, match.
Aug '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
The idea that America is exceptional because it was created by thought rather than accident bothers me. All totalitarian regimes are created by thought--they are the imposition of an intellectual abstraction on an unwilling people. The fact that we managed to have a revolution that worked is the rare exception. The reason it worked is that our founders didn't try to invent an entirely new world, they more or less codified the culture that had evolved naturally in the preceding century and a half. I think organic cultures have a better record than artificial ones, because the latter tend to be utopian and therefore unworkable.
My take on American exceptionalism: a rare combination of staggering power and basic goodness. It is perhaps an accident of history, and one that may have a finite lifespan and may not be repeated for centuries once it is gone.
Aug '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
I, too, noticed that disclaimer. Says a lot about the NYT readership, does it not?
Jul '12
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Paul DeRocco: The idea that America is exceptional because it was created by thought rather than accident bothers me. All totalitarian regimes are created by thought--they are the imposition of an intellectual abstraction on an unwilling people. The fact that we managed to have a revolution that worked is the rare exception. The reason it worked is that our founders didn't try to invent an entirely new world, they more or less codified the culture that had evolved naturally in the preceding century and a half. I think organic cultures have a better record than artificial ones, because the latter tend to be utopian and therefore unworkable.
My take on American exceptionalism: a rare combination of staggering power and basic goodness. It is perhaps an accident of history, and one that may have a finite lifespan and may not be repeated for centuries once it is gone. · 11 hours ago
Well said. Our great good fortune ( read blessing ) is that those who debated and fashioned our government were men of intellect, but not 'intellectuals'.
Sep '10
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Peter Robinson
Bob Croft: Other aspects of American exceptionalism:
1) In the struggles that define America, the winning (and hence defining) side - in England's Glorious Revolution, the English Civil War, the Revolution, the American Civil War - was always that advancing liberty.
2) For a century and a half, our founders pledged to one another, not to a prince or to a city or to a race.
3) Given England's hands-off approach to the colonies until 1763, our governments grew organically..little was imposed from a ruling class or from the outside.
4) Again, given England's hands-off approach, we developed a culture of individual initiative and voluntary association...exemplified by hundreds of fraternal organization that did for free people what governments did for subjects elsewhere.
5) We grew with virtually no history of a privilidged class - no one deserving an office or a legal exemption by virtue of birth.
6) The Revolution - almost uniquely - did not eat its young. · 3 hours ago
Gorgeous summary, Bob. You know your history! Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us. · 16 hours ago
Peter, from a writer of your caliber, high praise indeed. You've made my day!
Jul '12
Re: Dinesh D'Souza on American Exceptionalism
Randall
Well said. Our great good fortune ( read blessing ) is that those who debated and fashioned our government were men of intellect, but not 'intellectuals'. · Sep 12 at 10:14am
I hope that when I put intellectuals in quotes that people don't think I'm one of those people who don't like them pointy-headed professor types. Nothing could be further from the truth. Gosh knows I don't have the talent, training, or ability to earn my daily bread using my brain. The only thing greater than my admiration for those who can and do is my envy. Just saying for the record, in case, you know , I may have given the wrong impression.