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The Limits of Power and the End of American Exceptionalism

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Submitted By RyanJessee
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The End of American Exceptionalism? The Limits of Power is a primary reading that was published in 2008 before the results of the presidential election was known. It was written by Andrew Bacevich who is a retired U.S. Army colonel and professor of history and international relations at Boston University. In the book Bacevich argues that the United States has been in a unique position since its inception. It has a large amount of inherent advantages, such as an abundance of natural resources and a lack of nearby external threats. Despite these advantages, he sees the United States as having embarked on a disastrous path of rampant consumption and attempted empire building that is corrupting and bankrupting the country, all while using American exceptionalism as a justification.
When asked what American exceptionalism means in an interview shortly after his book was published Bacevich answered, “Well, this is not an idea that’s original with me. It’s clear that from the founding of the Anglo-American colonies, from the time that John Winthrop made his famous sermon and declared that “we shall be as a city upon a hill” a light to the world it’s clear that, from the outset, there has been a strong sense among Americans that we are a special people with a providential mission.
In the twentieth century, probably going back to roughly the time of Woodrow Wilson, certainly since the end of the Cold War, this concept of a providential mission, a responsibility to the world, has translated into a sense of empowerment or prerogative to determine the way the world is supposed to work, what it’s supposed to look like, and also, over the last twenty years or so, an increasing willingness to use military force to cause the world to look the way we want it to look. And I think that that expression of American exceptionalism is one that’s not only utterly false, but is greatly

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