Nice article! I'm awfully proud of American ideals, of the fact that the Great Experiment was the first government of laws--not individual rulers--in the history of the world. But I have no illusions of either personal or national infallibility (not since I read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee as a teen). Boldness and courage are of course important, but so are wisdom and humility.

I can't find the quote, but even Thomas Jefferson wrote something to the effect of: I shudder to think that God indeed is Just, for this nation is tainted by the sin of slavery. (Of course, Jefferson's God/Creator, was a much more Deist/universalist conception than is employed by most people today who speak of "God and Country.")

What could make more sense than trying to understand the motivation of the 9/11 bombers? Is it so hard to discern? How can our leaders make wise decisions about how to protect this country if they don't understand specifics, and can only drone on about fighting concepts like "terror" and protecting concepts like "freedom"?

In an early Repub debate, Guliani dropped a b.s. bomb on Ron Paul when Paul pointed out that our foreign policy might just have something to do with it. Guliani, a former prosecutor (!) who has certainly cut through a logical fallacy or two in his life, accused Paul of saying that New Yorkers DESERVED it.. on t.v., he said this, and apparently without shame.

If a doctor seeks to diagnose the cause of my illness, she isn't necessarily saying I deserve to be ill. This is obvious, right?

We as Americans do need to adopt a more grown-up and sophisticated mindset, especially NOW.

____

All that said, I think the Wright flap is more complicated than just pointing out unpleasant truths about America, though. (There are many unpleasant truths, and patriots will face them and learn from them, in order to keep working toward a more perfect union.) He did kinda lump a bunch of us together.

Black anger is certainly understandable. Slavery (torture, murder, rape...). Jim Crow. The Tuskeegee experiment. Driving While Black. The Bluest Eye. As we learn more and more about PTSD from our returning military vets, we may wonder exactly what it would be like to grow up black in this country, and we may, as Mike Huckabee admirably suggested

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZNwMPNxwHmQ

cut these people a little slack.

Stupide quotes aside, I don't think Wright is a raving hater, and white people who've been in his congregation has reported

been greeted warmly and treated like members of the human family.

But I've never believed that there's no such thing as a black racist. Simply, if a minority group is oppressed and appeals to the humanity/fairness of the majority, they're arguing universal principles. This is undercut when an opressed person loses sight of principles and loses sight of the HUMANITY of those in the oppressive group. We should remind them.

Faulkner, who Obama quoted, is great for this--acknowledging the utter horror and brutality of slavery while reminding of us the humanity of ALL his characters. Look at the dehumanizing effect the role of slaveowner has on slaveowners!

I can understand why white people, especially the working poor, especially Southern whites (many of whom are in communities still crippled by Reconstruction all these years later, and are still mocked by hateful caricatures) would have plenty of resentment of their own, especially when coming face to face with what they feel is unfair black resentment...

Ideally we white folks would bend over backward to be fair and understanding to those who've been systematically bought and sold, tortured and lynched, and black folks would bend over backward to show that they value universalist human values.

This is what Harold Washington (first black mayor of Chicago) did,

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=84

and for my money it's what Obama will do.

There's a lot of unfairness in this world, and we can't keep killing the messenger. We can't keep blaming the evil white man; we can't keep demamanding the "grateful negro" and seeing simple fairness as "special rights." Maybe we should work together, cause we're all paying for that CEO's Golden Parachute...

check out this doc: A Class Divided

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/

Good point. Historical hyperbole. There is the Iroquois Constitution, for a close example.

And I don't intend to further the notion that Americans themselves are more valuable human beings than human beings in other countries.

You're right to point out that Exceptionalism is both immoral and dangerous.

But we do have a pretty remarkable legacy. When MLK made his Dream speech, he spoke of making good on a promise of the Founders (All men are created equal). He was using the logic of the system against itself, but likely also believed it, for this flawed system contained within it mechanisms for improvement.

If we're going to talk about flag pins, let's see if we can't just worm into the conversation what the flag is supposed to represent.

Thank you!

Just for fun, here's a speech about globalization, nationalism, and practical metaphors...

http://www.combusem.com/HAVEL.HTM

What else is on that list? Propoganda? Designating an evil Other to unite against? Confluence of govt/business/military? Secret prisons?