Stone Washington
Trump-Pence's credo of American exceptionalism vs. Clinton-Kaine's punishment of globalism
By Stone Washington
"I will view as president the world through the clear lens of American interests. I will be America's greatest defender and most loyal champion. We will not apologize for becoming successful again, but will instead embrace the unique heritage that makes us who we are. The world is most peaceful and most prosperous when America is strongest. America will continue and continue forever to play the role of peacemaker. We will always help save lives and indeed humanity itself, but to play the role, we must make America strong again."
~ Donald Trump
"I have gone further than anybody that I'm aware of in American history. Now it's not a long history because we haven't had emails that long, as long as we've had them, I've gone longer and farther to try to be as transparent as possible. Nobody else has done that."
~ Hillary Clinton
Background to American Exceptionalism
How does one define American exceptionalism? What makes a country like America exceptional? Throughout America's History there have been many different ideas and beliefs toward the vital question of what makes America such an exceptional and distinguished nation, considered by many to be the greatest nation in the History of the World. It is widely known that the United States excels in almost every major category contested on the Global stage, having the largest military, economy, immigration system, etc. My understanding of American exceptionalism derives from the basis of the American Dream, envisioned by the Founding Fathers, which allows all people the equal possibility to achieve the utmost success and happiness toward whatever life they choose to pursue under natural law, natural rights, and within the rule of law in America.
The tenets of American exceptionalism are deeply embedded throughout the heart of the America's founding documents, emphasized and alluded to in multiple passages within the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and crafted throughout multiple pamphlets and books by such Founding Fathers as, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and many other heroic Patriots. John Adams, in a letter to Patrick Henry, expressed America's unyielding drive toward maintaining an exceptional prestige in the face of dissent in the world, almost a month before America formally declared its independence on July 4th 1776:
"The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what names you please, sigh and groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth must be established in America."
Even in the face of immense adversity and punitive renunciation imposed by more established countries in the World (most notably Great Britain), the Founders knew in their hearts that it was in the unique destiny of the United States and the rebellious American people (formally the colonists) to declare total autonomy from Great Britain and further establish an exceptional creed of liberty apart from the monarchial constraints of European nations colonizing territory across the globe. The Founding Father's established an extraordinary government and system of laws, securing the rights and equality of all men under the creation of a governing body of political representatives and judges ruled by a system of checks and balances.
The constitutional Framers created such an extraordinary government comprising a unique and complex mixture of revolutionary ideas and theories from some of Europe's greatest philosophers and thinkers of antiquity including, John Locke (1632-1704), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788), and Montesquieu (1689-1755). Utilizing and further synthesizing the greatest theories of governance from each of these great minds, the Founders were then able to establish a balanced legal and political structure that has helped launch America into an unparalleled level of superiority and excellence in the world in only 150 years.
In the years following America's independence, the Founders perceived that the exceptional nature fueling the United States' sovereignty and prosperity would reverberate across the World and inspire other revolutions, even a global superpower at the time like France (the French Revolution 1789-1799). America's illustrious reputation for excellence would spread throughout the world like an uncontainable wildfire and would only grow in acceptance by various countries and peoples as time passed. As an expansionist President who was responsible for nearly doubling the size of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase (1803) with France, Thomas Jefferson very much understood the foreseeable fact of America's ever expansive size and sphere of influence in the World. In an 1821 letter to John Adams, Jefferson stated, "The flames kindled on the 4th of July 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them."
Another Founder, Thomas Paine, also shared the mutual understanding behind the ever expansive significance of American exceptionalism and its profound role in inspiring the betterment of the rest of the World. In the introduction to his World famous pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), Paine stated,
"The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested."
Perhaps one of the most preeminent observers and outspoken admirers upon the exceptional nature of the United States was the famous French Historian, Alexander de Tocqueville, who spoke very highly upon the amazing prospect of American exceptionalism in his famous work, Democracy in America (1835-40), examining many of the exclusive laws, ethics, and core values that amalgamate into making the United States stand as an extraordinary nation beyond nations and an unrivaled phenomenon throughout the annals of History. In Democracy in America, Tocqueville expounded his many thoughts and discoveries upon analyzing America's exceptional nature, stating,
"The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical origin, their exclusively commercial habits, even the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of science, literature, and the arts, the proximity of Europe, which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into barbarism, a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the most important, have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects."
Tocqueville further expresses his euphoric admiration of American living by encouraging all democrat societies across the globe to adopt and embrace the unique awareness, spiritual affinity, and morality influencing the prosperous way of life for the American people, which he attributes to being a key aspect behind the revolutionary success America maintains as the most powerful and thriving nation in the History of the World. Tocqueville continues,
"His passions, his wants, his education, and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward; his religion alone bids him turn, from time to time, a transient and distracted glance to heaven. Let us cease, then, to view all democratic nations under the example of the American people, and attempt to survey them at length with their own features."
Americanism Today
Perhaps the single greatest modern day example of American exceptionalism lies within the Presidential campaign of the 2016 GOP nominee, Donald J. Trump. Donald Trump's primary mission and campaign slogan, "Make America Great again," is utilized to encourage a nation-wide revival of American exceptionalism and success, in the midst of what many believe to be a troubling time in U.S History where America fails to maintain its reputation for greatness in the World and the American Dream is a little more than a myth of the past.
Trump's political philosophy of American exceptionalism or what he often calls "America First" or "Americanism," seeks to uphold and represent the mutual values and desires of the American people first and foremost, the polar opposite of what Trump often accuses his Democrat opponent, Hillary Clinton of sponsoring, being: "Globalism," an ideology seeking to place the shared interests of various countries and global organizations across the World above and beyond the interests of individual nations, including the desires of one's own country. Trump spoke on the crucial need to uphold the tenets of Americanism during his major acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention this past July. Trump stated in the speech,
"The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo. As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America First, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect. This will all change in 2017."
Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, echoes the same emphasis upon the preservation of America's exceptional heritage, which he understands is not being upheld and respected by the out-of-touch political elitists in Washington. Pence notably revealed his beliefs on American exceptionalism in a prominent speech at the Detroit Economic Club in 2010, almost 6 years before Trump delivered his own major speech in August 2016, where Pence declared,
"Finally, to renew American exceptionalism, we must recognize that our present crisis is not merely economic but moral in nature. At the root of these times should be the realization that people in positions of authority from Washington to Wall Street have walked away from the timeless truths of honesty, integrity, an honest day's work for an honest day's pay and the simple notion that you ought to treat the other guy the way you want to be treated."
Trump and Pence's impassioned defense of America's exceptional heritage and ideas can only be compared to that of Hillary Clinton's and her Vice Presidential running mate, Tim Kaine and their obsessive push toward adopting a Globalist society in the U.S. Clinton's corrupt track record as Secretary of State where she essentially utilized the U.S State Department as her own private hedge fund through exchanging benefits from the department to foreign governments and donors in exchange for tens of millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation (in reality pocketed by Bill and Hillary).
Donald Trump and Mike Pence VS. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine
Often seen at rallies speaking Spanish, jabbering about his time at Honduras or embracing Marxist-Socialists like Alexander Soros. Tim Kaine also shares Clinton's devastating globalist agenda to allow amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens crossing the U.S border from Mexico while increasing the inflow of undocumented Syrian refugees by 550%, letting in an estimated 65,000 refugees into the nation by Clinton's first term alone. This unhinged agenda by Clinton will in turn corrode and dilute America's identity from within, leaving a chain of irreparable social mayhem and economic imbalance that will only further cripple the nation, and continuing what Obama has inflicted in his two terms, or what my father Professor Ellis Washington called "Obama's Third Term."
On the contrary Trump seeks to reinvigorate the U.S. and renegotiate many of horrible trade deals, feckless military intervention, and failed amnesty policies of accepting millions of illegals from Mexico and tens of thousands of refugees originating from Islamic terrorist-stricken areas. Trump's powerful allegiance to American Exceptionalism will safeguard American interests and the American people first and foremost. For example, in a major foreign policy speech delivered in Washington D.C this past April, Trump explained many of the underlying factors within his foreign policy plan, seeking to elevate American values above the global interests of foreign nations involving any situation including various diplomatic negotiations and/or violent disputes overseas, stating quote,
"I will work with our allies to reinvigorate Western values and institutions. Instead of trying to spread universal values that not everybody shares or wants, we should understand that strengthening and promoting Western civilization and its accomplishments will do more to inspire positive reforms around the world than military interventions."
The 'America First' mission of reviving the nation's dormant quality for greatness and success lies at the heart of Donald Trump's revolutionary campaign, intertwined within the GOP nominee's every campaign platform and policy initiative. Like the Founding Fathers before him, Trump shares an unyielding respect and admiration toward the preservation of America's sacred laws, values, and unique heritage. Trump seeks to return America back to a time where the U.S was revered for being an extraordinarily exceptional nation by the rest of the World, where the philosophy of Americanism governs national desires, advocating that the United States' interests, needs, and goals come before that of any other country in the World. In his Foreign Policy Speech Trump continues by declaring,
"No country has ever prospered that failed to put its own interests first. Both our friends and our enemies put their countries above ours and we, while being fair to them, must start doing the same. We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism. The nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony."
In conclusion, by adhering to Trump's patriotic vision for the country, America, will shortly after his ascension to the presidency, return back to its rightful national and global position of dominance. Trump will place U.S. in a position of power and rightfully impress upon all other nations the enriched values, natural law ideas, and Judeo-Christian worldview that have established America's exceptional heritage since its founding 240 years ago. For the wellbeing of America's future, We the People must embrace Trump's superior credo of American exceptionalism and reject the failed continuance of the Obama-Clinton Socialist-Globalism.
Referenced Works:
1. Deseret News Editorial, "25 historical quotes about the Declaration of Independence, July 4th and America." Deseret News, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
2. Beckwith, Ryan. "Read Donald Trump's 'America First' Foreign Policy Speech" Time, 27 Apr. 2016, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
3. Friedman, Uri. "'American Exceptionalism': A Short History," Foreign Policy, 18 Jun. 2012, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
4. Hains, Tim. "Trump Accepts Nomination: Americanism, Not Globalism Will Be Our Credo.," 21 Jul. 2016, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
5. Caesar, James. "The Origins and Character of American Exceptionalism," American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions, and Culture, Volume 1, 2012, p. 26.
© Stone Washington
August 27, 2016
"I will view as president the world through the clear lens of American interests. I will be America's greatest defender and most loyal champion. We will not apologize for becoming successful again, but will instead embrace the unique heritage that makes us who we are. The world is most peaceful and most prosperous when America is strongest. America will continue and continue forever to play the role of peacemaker. We will always help save lives and indeed humanity itself, but to play the role, we must make America strong again."
~ Donald Trump
"I have gone further than anybody that I'm aware of in American history. Now it's not a long history because we haven't had emails that long, as long as we've had them, I've gone longer and farther to try to be as transparent as possible. Nobody else has done that."
~ Hillary Clinton
Background to American Exceptionalism
How does one define American exceptionalism? What makes a country like America exceptional? Throughout America's History there have been many different ideas and beliefs toward the vital question of what makes America such an exceptional and distinguished nation, considered by many to be the greatest nation in the History of the World. It is widely known that the United States excels in almost every major category contested on the Global stage, having the largest military, economy, immigration system, etc. My understanding of American exceptionalism derives from the basis of the American Dream, envisioned by the Founding Fathers, which allows all people the equal possibility to achieve the utmost success and happiness toward whatever life they choose to pursue under natural law, natural rights, and within the rule of law in America.
The tenets of American exceptionalism are deeply embedded throughout the heart of the America's founding documents, emphasized and alluded to in multiple passages within the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and crafted throughout multiple pamphlets and books by such Founding Fathers as, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and many other heroic Patriots. John Adams, in a letter to Patrick Henry, expressed America's unyielding drive toward maintaining an exceptional prestige in the face of dissent in the world, almost a month before America formally declared its independence on July 4th 1776:
"The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what names you please, sigh and groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth must be established in America."
Even in the face of immense adversity and punitive renunciation imposed by more established countries in the World (most notably Great Britain), the Founders knew in their hearts that it was in the unique destiny of the United States and the rebellious American people (formally the colonists) to declare total autonomy from Great Britain and further establish an exceptional creed of liberty apart from the monarchial constraints of European nations colonizing territory across the globe. The Founding Father's established an extraordinary government and system of laws, securing the rights and equality of all men under the creation of a governing body of political representatives and judges ruled by a system of checks and balances.
The constitutional Framers created such an extraordinary government comprising a unique and complex mixture of revolutionary ideas and theories from some of Europe's greatest philosophers and thinkers of antiquity including, John Locke (1632-1704), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788), and Montesquieu (1689-1755). Utilizing and further synthesizing the greatest theories of governance from each of these great minds, the Founders were then able to establish a balanced legal and political structure that has helped launch America into an unparalleled level of superiority and excellence in the world in only 150 years.
In the years following America's independence, the Founders perceived that the exceptional nature fueling the United States' sovereignty and prosperity would reverberate across the World and inspire other revolutions, even a global superpower at the time like France (the French Revolution 1789-1799). America's illustrious reputation for excellence would spread throughout the world like an uncontainable wildfire and would only grow in acceptance by various countries and peoples as time passed. As an expansionist President who was responsible for nearly doubling the size of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase (1803) with France, Thomas Jefferson very much understood the foreseeable fact of America's ever expansive size and sphere of influence in the World. In an 1821 letter to John Adams, Jefferson stated, "The flames kindled on the 4th of July 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them."
Another Founder, Thomas Paine, also shared the mutual understanding behind the ever expansive significance of American exceptionalism and its profound role in inspiring the betterment of the rest of the World. In the introduction to his World famous pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), Paine stated,
"The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested."
Perhaps one of the most preeminent observers and outspoken admirers upon the exceptional nature of the United States was the famous French Historian, Alexander de Tocqueville, who spoke very highly upon the amazing prospect of American exceptionalism in his famous work, Democracy in America (1835-40), examining many of the exclusive laws, ethics, and core values that amalgamate into making the United States stand as an extraordinary nation beyond nations and an unrivaled phenomenon throughout the annals of History. In Democracy in America, Tocqueville expounded his many thoughts and discoveries upon analyzing America's exceptional nature, stating,
"The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical origin, their exclusively commercial habits, even the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of science, literature, and the arts, the proximity of Europe, which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into barbarism, a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the most important, have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects."
Tocqueville further expresses his euphoric admiration of American living by encouraging all democrat societies across the globe to adopt and embrace the unique awareness, spiritual affinity, and morality influencing the prosperous way of life for the American people, which he attributes to being a key aspect behind the revolutionary success America maintains as the most powerful and thriving nation in the History of the World. Tocqueville continues,
"His passions, his wants, his education, and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward; his religion alone bids him turn, from time to time, a transient and distracted glance to heaven. Let us cease, then, to view all democratic nations under the example of the American people, and attempt to survey them at length with their own features."
Americanism Today
Perhaps the single greatest modern day example of American exceptionalism lies within the Presidential campaign of the 2016 GOP nominee, Donald J. Trump. Donald Trump's primary mission and campaign slogan, "Make America Great again," is utilized to encourage a nation-wide revival of American exceptionalism and success, in the midst of what many believe to be a troubling time in U.S History where America fails to maintain its reputation for greatness in the World and the American Dream is a little more than a myth of the past.
Trump's political philosophy of American exceptionalism or what he often calls "America First" or "Americanism," seeks to uphold and represent the mutual values and desires of the American people first and foremost, the polar opposite of what Trump often accuses his Democrat opponent, Hillary Clinton of sponsoring, being: "Globalism," an ideology seeking to place the shared interests of various countries and global organizations across the World above and beyond the interests of individual nations, including the desires of one's own country. Trump spoke on the crucial need to uphold the tenets of Americanism during his major acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention this past July. Trump stated in the speech,
"The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo. As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America First, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect. This will all change in 2017."
Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, echoes the same emphasis upon the preservation of America's exceptional heritage, which he understands is not being upheld and respected by the out-of-touch political elitists in Washington. Pence notably revealed his beliefs on American exceptionalism in a prominent speech at the Detroit Economic Club in 2010, almost 6 years before Trump delivered his own major speech in August 2016, where Pence declared,
"Finally, to renew American exceptionalism, we must recognize that our present crisis is not merely economic but moral in nature. At the root of these times should be the realization that people in positions of authority from Washington to Wall Street have walked away from the timeless truths of honesty, integrity, an honest day's work for an honest day's pay and the simple notion that you ought to treat the other guy the way you want to be treated."
Trump and Pence's impassioned defense of America's exceptional heritage and ideas can only be compared to that of Hillary Clinton's and her Vice Presidential running mate, Tim Kaine and their obsessive push toward adopting a Globalist society in the U.S. Clinton's corrupt track record as Secretary of State where she essentially utilized the U.S State Department as her own private hedge fund through exchanging benefits from the department to foreign governments and donors in exchange for tens of millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation (in reality pocketed by Bill and Hillary).
Donald Trump and Mike Pence VS. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine
Often seen at rallies speaking Spanish, jabbering about his time at Honduras or embracing Marxist-Socialists like Alexander Soros. Tim Kaine also shares Clinton's devastating globalist agenda to allow amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens crossing the U.S border from Mexico while increasing the inflow of undocumented Syrian refugees by 550%, letting in an estimated 65,000 refugees into the nation by Clinton's first term alone. This unhinged agenda by Clinton will in turn corrode and dilute America's identity from within, leaving a chain of irreparable social mayhem and economic imbalance that will only further cripple the nation, and continuing what Obama has inflicted in his two terms, or what my father Professor Ellis Washington called "Obama's Third Term."
On the contrary Trump seeks to reinvigorate the U.S. and renegotiate many of horrible trade deals, feckless military intervention, and failed amnesty policies of accepting millions of illegals from Mexico and tens of thousands of refugees originating from Islamic terrorist-stricken areas. Trump's powerful allegiance to American Exceptionalism will safeguard American interests and the American people first and foremost. For example, in a major foreign policy speech delivered in Washington D.C this past April, Trump explained many of the underlying factors within his foreign policy plan, seeking to elevate American values above the global interests of foreign nations involving any situation including various diplomatic negotiations and/or violent disputes overseas, stating quote,
"I will work with our allies to reinvigorate Western values and institutions. Instead of trying to spread universal values that not everybody shares or wants, we should understand that strengthening and promoting Western civilization and its accomplishments will do more to inspire positive reforms around the world than military interventions."
The 'America First' mission of reviving the nation's dormant quality for greatness and success lies at the heart of Donald Trump's revolutionary campaign, intertwined within the GOP nominee's every campaign platform and policy initiative. Like the Founding Fathers before him, Trump shares an unyielding respect and admiration toward the preservation of America's sacred laws, values, and unique heritage. Trump seeks to return America back to a time where the U.S was revered for being an extraordinarily exceptional nation by the rest of the World, where the philosophy of Americanism governs national desires, advocating that the United States' interests, needs, and goals come before that of any other country in the World. In his Foreign Policy Speech Trump continues by declaring,
"No country has ever prospered that failed to put its own interests first. Both our friends and our enemies put their countries above ours and we, while being fair to them, must start doing the same. We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism. The nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony."
In conclusion, by adhering to Trump's patriotic vision for the country, America, will shortly after his ascension to the presidency, return back to its rightful national and global position of dominance. Trump will place U.S. in a position of power and rightfully impress upon all other nations the enriched values, natural law ideas, and Judeo-Christian worldview that have established America's exceptional heritage since its founding 240 years ago. For the wellbeing of America's future, We the People must embrace Trump's superior credo of American exceptionalism and reject the failed continuance of the Obama-Clinton Socialist-Globalism.
Referenced Works:
1. Deseret News Editorial, "25 historical quotes about the Declaration of Independence, July 4th and America." Deseret News, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
2. Beckwith, Ryan. "Read Donald Trump's 'America First' Foreign Policy Speech" Time, 27 Apr. 2016, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
3. Friedman, Uri. "'American Exceptionalism': A Short History," Foreign Policy, 18 Jun. 2012, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
4. Hains, Tim. "Trump Accepts Nomination: Americanism, Not Globalism Will Be Our Credo.," 21 Jul. 2016, (Accessed 19 August 2016).
5. Caesar, James. "The Origins and Character of American Exceptionalism," American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions, and Culture, Volume 1, 2012, p. 26.
© Stone Washington
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(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
