the influence of Christian conservatives remains substantial and that they are rallying around the idea of "American exceptionalism" to press their political agenda and have lots of Republican presidential hopefuls to choose from.
via www.rightwingwatch.org
Of all possible sources, the mainstream media often produces the most belated of coverage on the Religious Right. When Newsweek writes about American exceptionalism, you can bet that others have been writing about it for months if not years earlier and probably more carefully.
Consider the coverage of the term "American exceptionalism." It's been identified with the Religious Right recently in the mainstream media. But, the media doesn't always explore well the fact that the Religious Right's version of American exceptionalism is not necessarily one informed about what the term "American exceptionalism" itself has meant throughout the nation's history. It's not a brand new concept. But, it's meaning changes--it's slipperly. This is an important part of the untold story, because it reveals how the Religious Right is claiming the notion of American exceptionalism as its own by stressing the theological characteristics of American exceptionalism, which does not necessarily mean excluding the non-theological characteristics, of course.
The original concept of American exceptionalism as understood in the early 1800's didn't imply national superiority in all things. It implied so many other interesting concepts--especially interesting when one considers that many European liberals embraced the reality of American exceptionalism, too--that one would think that would be sufficient enough to offer discussions, inspirations, or even mottos aplenty; but, no--not for today's Religious Right.
For the Religious Right, American exceptionalism is more likely to imply or even definitionally embrace the notion of America as somehow divinely best--not just a new thing in history but something with a divine role in history--that America serves in the political history of the world a role more or less like the role of Jesus in the Religious Right's theological understanding of the world: transformatively perfect, the best, the most powerful, the most humble, and essentially--that is almost in the Platonic sense of essence--aspecial nation with a special role and made real through God's will, (i.e., made actual, i.e., brought into "the course of human events"); and, therefore, to the extent that anything seemingly imperfect occurs within the American narrative, that something is also actually special, because it's happening within a nation specially blessed. It's as if America is under a unique heavenly dispensation. In less academic parlance: the US's shit either doesn't really stink or stinks with a Purpose, in the same way that for a Christian even bad things have a special divine purpose.
What is more, the Religious Right is keen to believe this wholeheartedly and see the understanding itself as special. American exceptionalism means special significance exists relative to anything American--including current events and certainly history--even if it's special significance best understood by or perhaps visible only to those who have the eyes to see it....even if it's superiority veiled in ostensible national imperfection. In other words, the Religious Right's understanding of American excetionalism is really about the Religious Right's own sense of exceptionalism--one, it might be added, that--like many theological assertions--is not falsifiable. They've got America, themselves, you, me, the purpose of history, and the rest of the world completely figured out; or, perhaps, for the proportionally humble among them, at least exceptionally figured out: figued out in a way that's figured out enough--more enougher than the way you've got it figured, anyway! There is no not-knowing--at least no not-knowing that's significant. There's only knowing about important truths in ways or to extents sufficiently superior to everyone else.
