The End of Exceptionalism

The United States has always thought of itself as exceptional, but nowadays we are standing apart for the wrong things.

By Fareed Zakaria | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Oct 22, 2007

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  • Posted By: rollyn @ 05/06/2008 4:44:06 PM

    The US government has just imposed an anti-immigration law. All I can say with that is that I think its very hard to track the illegal immigrants. They are so many now. But if the government would exert extra effort they could the law implemented so that the immigration issues will be solved.

    rollyn

    New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters <a href="http://www.e-us-visa.com">http://www.e-us-visa.com</a>

  • Posted By: rollyn @ 05/06/2008 4:43:13 PM

    The US government has just imposed an anti-immigration law. All I can say with that is that I think its very hard to track the illegal immigrants. They are so many now. But if the government would exert extra effort they could the law implemented.

    rollyn

    New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters <a href="http://www.e-us-visa.com">http://www.e-us-visa.com</a>

  • Posted By: rollyn @ 05/06/2008 4:42:30 PM

    The US government has just imposed an anti-immigration law. All I can say with that is that I think its very hard to track the illegal immigrants. They are so many now. But if the government would exert extra effort they could the law implemented.

    rollyn

    New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters <a href="http://www.e-us-visa.com">http://www.e-us-visa.com</a>

  • Posted By: rollyn @ 05/06/2008 4:41:42 PM

    The US government has just imposed an anti-immigration law. All I can say with that is that I think its very hard to track the illegal immigrants. They are so many now. But if the government would exert extra effort they could the law implemented.

    rollyn

    New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters http://www.e-us-visa.com

  • Posted By: rkasmerski @ 10/25/2007 3:59:09 PM

    The article begins by asserting that good news doesn???t sell, however only five pages later in this same Newsweek magazine is an article entitled ???The Healers at Camp Bastion??? describing the struggle of heroic medical personnel against incredible odds. Then, there???s an advertisement for ???The Smile Train???, arguably a very ???GOOD??? charitable organization, and the list goes on???.see page 48-9, 52, and how about page 59 where we read Paris Hilton is getting out of the ???bimbo business???!!!. That sounds like good news to me!

    Next, the article reports that Americans have a growing disinterest in strengthening trade ties. Of course the nation listed as most interested in strengthening trade ties was China. So, does that mean we should welcome the myriad of lead based painted toys from China arriving in our stores just in time for Christmas? Or, maybe we should just ???get over it??? and become more accepting of the criminally low wages China???s labor force endures? What about European countries that have exorbitantly high trade tariffs, and somehow think that reflects an attitude of strengthening trade ties? I suggest that actions speak louder than words on this one, and America has been much more welcoming to foreign trade than any other country mentioned, especially China.

    The article mentions Americans??? anti-immigration sentiment, but never addresses the issue of legal or illegal immigration; a rather significant distinction completely ignored in the article. I would love to see attitude statistics from other pro-immigration countries that have as many illegal immigrants as America.

    Finally, the article mentions that ???Eight of the 10 richest people are not Americans. The rest of the world is playing our game???well. ??? I guess the game referred to is capitalism, which can create enormous sums of wealth---especially in other countries that lack government and environmental controls, not to mention labor laws.

    Not to worry, the article concludes by blaming all this negative American sentiment on the inability of American political leaders to ???make Americans understand this new world???. So, if our political leaders would just think for us???instead of letting us think for ourselves???these negative attitudes would all just go away.

  • Posted By: jprattie @ 10/25/2007 9:13:39 AM

    Fareed Zakaria



    You sir, are a fool. The reason Americans have taken the position they have again immigration and trade is because they have watched their standard of living be destroyed systematically and methodically by corporations, who only answer to their limited number of investors, the Federal Reserve, who continues to print fiat money backed by nothing, and illegal immigrant who not only drive own wages but take far more in public services than they pay in taxes. That is why they are upset an pissed off.



    Exactly how much more of this behavior are US citizens expected to tolerate? Why should Americans have to tolerate trade deals which are stacked against the US, such as China, who floats their currency, helping to create huge deficits, while dumping inferior products and associated junk into US markets?



    Why should we accommodate illegal aliens who have broken the law in coming here in the first place; why should we reward them with medical care and social services paid for by legal, hardworking US citizens? If the average illegal alien pumps out two kids (more than likely more than that) ??? the average cost to educate a child in a public school is $10K/year. Then, the illegal doesn???t have health insurance, so now he uses the expensive emergency room care to treat a common cold or ??? ends up ahveing to have expensive surgery that because he does not have insurance or the ability to pay ??? will have to be paid by the tax payers once again ??? demonstrate just how much of a negative impact one illegal has on the economy. So what if I get my tomatoes for ten cents a pound cheaper or my meal in a restaurant a dollar cheaper ??? if I, like millions of other citizens are having to pay the real cost of illegals in this country.



    How the hell can YOU, as someone presumably in the US, enjoying all of the creatures comforts of a life here ??? tell American citizens they must pay for this? Exactly how many immigrants would you like? I???ve got news for you ??? the French are tired of this garbage too ??? and so are the Germans. When was the last time you were in either of their countries? Why should we have to lower our standard of living to accommodate everyone else? Sovereign nations are RESPOSIBLE ONLY TO THEIR OWN CITIZENS ??? that???s why they call them NATIONS



    JP Rattie

  • Posted By: jprattie @ 10/25/2007 9:12:50 AM

    Fareed Zakaria



    You sir, are a fool. The reason Americans have taken the position they have again immigration and trade is because they have watched their standard of living be destroyed systematically and methodically by corporations, who only answer to their limited number of investors, the Federal Reserve, who continues to print fiat money backed by nothing, and illegal immigrant who not only drive own wages but take far more in public services than they pay in taxes. That is why they are upset an pissed off.



    Exactly how much more of this behavior are US citizens expected to tolerate? Why should Americans have to tolerate trade deals which are stacked against the US, such as China, who floats their currency, helping to create huge deficits, while dumping inferior products and associated junk into US markets?



    Why should we accommodate illegal aliens who have broken the law in coming here in the first place; why should we reward them with medical care and social services paid for by legal, hardworking US citizens? If the average illegal alien pumps out two kids (more than likely more than that) ??? the average cost to educate a child in a public school is $10K/year. Then, the illegal doesn???t have health insurance, so now he uses the expensive emergency room care to treat a common cold or ??? ends up ahveing to have expensive surgery that because he does not have insurance or the ability to pay ??? will have to be paid by the tax payers once again ??? demonstrate just how much of a negative impact one illegal has on the economy. So what if I get my tomatoes for ten cents a pound cheaper or my meal in a restaurant a dollar cheaper ??? if I, like millions of other citizens are having to pay the real cost of illegals in this country.



    How the hell can YOU, as someone presumably in the US, enjoying all of the creatures comforts of a life here ??? tell American citizens they must pay for this? Exactly how many immigrants would you like? I???ve got news for you ??? the French are tired of this garbage too ??? and so are the Germans. When was the last time you were in either of their countries? Why should we have to lower our standard of living to accommodate everyone else? Sovereign nations are RESPOSIBLE ONLY TO THEIR OWN CITIZENS ??? that???s why they call them NATIONS



    JP Rattie



  • Posted By: crossroads45 @ 10/25/2007 7:48:32 AM

    Do not confuse immigration with illegal immigration. The United States is the most giving country in the world in financial and humanitarian resources. The United States is still a very desirable home for immigrants hence the flow of people risking life and limb to enter the country illegally. But don???t confuse Americans un-acceptance of an illegal act with, un-acceptance of lawful immigration. As abuses occur, more restrictions are put in place to stop the abuses. The restrictions are the affect, no the cause. What the article interprets as a general shift away from an acceptance of immigration is the reactionary push back against illegal abuse of the United States borders.

  • Posted By: jimojimo @ 10/23/2007 11:47:38 AM

    I've noticed Fareed appears to have taken statistics based on vague poll questions and twisted them to make his point.

    Regarding the statement "When asked if [foreign companies] had a positive impact a surprisingly large number agreed", Mr. Zakaria then goes on to state that in America, however, only 45% agreed. Did the poll ask in which specific context foreign companies had a positive impact?

    For example, if the poll asked "Do foreign companies who build a plant and bring jobs to your impoverished nation make a positive impact?", you might get one answer. If the poll asked "Do foreign companies who sell you dangerous and cheaply made goods while putting your countrymen out of work make a positive impact?", I'd expect another answer.

    If the question was vague, the pollee will answer in the context most familiar to him. Pollsters know this, and I would expect Mr. Zakaria to know this also. And I think you can see where that context might differ between Bangladesh and America.

    And on the immigration question--did the poll happen to specify whether the immigration we Americans were "against" was legal or illegal immigration? I think if pollsters and those who comment on these polls stopped playing these little games we all might have a better "world view".

  • Posted By: Harriet The Spy @ 10/19/2007 3:11:12 PM

    It isn't difficult to understand why Americans are increasingly sketical that globalization will be good for them. For most of us...outside of the economic and political elites that Mr. Zakaria travels in...the period of globilazation coincides with a dimmunition in our quality of life and a curtailment of the prospects for economic advancement for ourselves and our children.

    Add that to the fact that globiazation's "benefits", if they exist, are almost invisible, and that virtually nothing we've been promised over the last 20 years by those same elites has come to pass, and you can understand the disillusionment of the general population. NAFTA, for example, was justified as a solution to the problem of illegal immigration. The sell job was that NAFTA would result in substantial economic growth in Mexico, thereby reducing the incentives for poor Mexicans to cross the border illegally. Well, we got NAFTA, lost manufacturing jobs in the US and still got the illegals.

    The problem is that people like Mr. Zakaria have no real fear that they will loose their jobs to somebody in a third world or even a second world country, so they look down their noses at the rest of us. If they got outside of the Beltway once in a while, or traveled beyond the comfy confines of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, they might get some inkling of the precarious edge that most of the rest of us live on. Virtually all the economic growth this country has experienced since the 1990's has been enjoyed by people who were alread in the top 10-20% of the income distribution to begin with. No wonder they like globilazation. If the rest of us had made the kind of money the hedge fund managers and the CEOs and the newspaper and magazine columnists and editors have made over the last 20 years, we'd like globilization too.

    What WE got, instead, was more stress, a smaller piece of the income pie, higher tuitions at public universities, the disappearance of manufacturing jobs, outsourcing of many of the good jobs that were left and no health care. While the standard of living is going up in other countries, ours is going down. So it doesn't take a genius to figure out why globilization is popular in other countries, and we, by and large, don't. care for it a whole hell of a lot. The economists, and all the other suits who pitch this nonsense will tell you that globilization raises everyone's standard of living. What Americans have seen is that is simply not true.

  • Posted By: methinks @ 10/17/2007 9:46:32 AM

    • Posted By: methinks @ 10/19/2007 9:13:20 AM

      Enter Your ComYes people will be given the opportunity. But you just cannot let everyone who wants to come here. You just cannot open the flood gates. There just won???t be enough jobs and not the necessary infrastructure to handle for all those who want to come. Other countries don???t do it. Yet you expect us to. It is easier for companies to open up in other countries because they have less restrictions concerning the amount pay, the amount of work hours, no child labor laws, and working conditions you would not find here. Yes, things cost less to make, but I sure did not see any prices drop. We actually expect companies to treat people like humans and not cannon fodder that can be tossed away when they no longer perform a useful function. And all these billions coming to America to create high paying services? What is the color of the sky in your world? Can you show me where these are at? I have a bunch of friends who would love to get these jobs. Service jobs are at the low end of the economic ladder. You need to in touch with the real world and not some theory class you took or book you read. Yes, people complain about our trade policies because we were told that all these agreements, like NAFTA, would create more high paying jobs here. Well they didn???t. Too many people have seen their jobs disappear to some other country with nothing to replace it except being a clerk at Wal-Mart. It happened to me. It happened to a lot of people I know. Most do not make the money they did 6-7 years ago. Now some did ok, but they had to pick up and move to other states. Is there is resentment against foreigners? Yes. There are many with H1B visas who take jobs that Americans had. Where I work there are hundreds of programmers from India . Hard to believe they had to come here because Americans could not be found. Odd since I know of those who are looking. The H1Bs are cheaper to employ. There is a little proviso in the law that allows companies to pay H1Bs 25% less that the going rate. Some of them I cannot understand because their ability to speak English is so poor. Then sometimes I have to tell them how to do the jobs they are responsible for. They there are those who come here and never learn to speak English. Ballots are printed in their language. And you wonder why some people are upset. I can only imagine the reaction if I moved to France and expected the have everything done for me in Enlgish. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I only wish that people who come here would do the same. A brother of a friend of mine was a programmer, got laid off, and was replaced by someone from India. He had a friend in another department and tried to catch on there. His friend told him he could not hire him because his boss told him not to hire any of the laid off people. He could only hire those from India. And you wonder why we hold resentment. You need to get a grip on the real world, pal. Wait until something like that happens to you and see how you feel.ment

  • Posted By: methinks @ 10/17/2007 9:53:19 AM

    Disagree with Fareed on this one. We are not against immigration, just illegal immigration. We like trade, we just do not like our jobs going overseas with it. I have one friend from an unemployment suport group report that he was not gettting many hits on his online resume. He added to the title "H1B visa" -- not on the resume, just the title. He had more hits in one day than he had in three months. So much for not being able to find qualified Americans. They are just not looking for them.

    • Posted By: Azim @ 10/17/2007 10:41:01 AM

      What not to agree with Fareed. You cite that you are not against immigration yet trying to curtail the process of fair and legal immigration. There are about five to ten million people that are awiting for their dreams to become a reality has been tornished. And you call this a legal immigration? These people are trying to assimilate in the American society in order to find happiness.
      On the other hand Mr. Fareed has rightly pointed out that we are for every thing right including Democracy, open market, open trade to name a few but on the contrary we lean towards the opposite spectrum of the issues. This attitude must change if we are to compete in this Global environment or else as the article rightfully points out that we have to practice what we preach. Than only we can bring our image to what we like to call it American values.

      • Posted By: methinks @ 10/17/2007 12:03:06 PM

        Just where did you find where I wrote I was against any legal immigration - in your mind? Fair trade should be fair trade and not wages and working conditions that even you would not work at. Also, other governments subsidize companies where we do not. How about being competitive at even levels? Other countries restrict what goods we can ship them, but we have more liberal restrictions of what they can send us. Free trade should be free trade. Why should we trade when it becomes an imbalance to us? Ever looked at our trade deficit? We cannot keep doing this forever otherwise we will be a bankrupt nation

        • Posted By: Azim @ 10/17/2007 3:16:34 PM

          Enter Your Comment: Oh by the way trade deficit is the creation of the U.S. Government. You see we have trade deficit only with China and Japan and if we have again a playing level field in trade we can bring this gap proportinately. Look at the trade balances with other countries around the world, we have trade surpluses wit them except those two countries that I have reffered to. Again, build a policy that can sustain ia sustainable trade regime that can bring fruits to our economy.

          • Posted By: methinks @ 10/19/2007 9:12:39 AM

            The trade deficit is a creation of the U.S. government. Well. Duh? Why don???t you overstate the obvious. It always has been a creation of government. They set up the rules for business to operate. If there has been some business that operates outside of any type of government regulation, point it out to me. With other countries we have deficits, you don???t count Mexico, Germany , or Canada . Where are you getting your information or are you making this stuff up? A possible consequence of the massive U.S. current account deficit is that foreigners will lose confidence in the U.S. economy and stop purchasing U.S. assets. If this happens, the supply of dollars in the global banking system will exceed demand and the exchange value of the dollar will fall. Some people believe this is already happening. Over the past few years, the dollar lost about one-third of its value relative to the euro. This could signify that foreigners are shifting from U.S. to euro-based assets. If the supremacy of dollar ends, its value will only continue to fall. Now what could this mean? Any sustained loss of confidence in the dollar could have many potentially serious ramifications. Just remember, if this country falls, then you???ve got no other place to run.

        • Posted By: Azim @ 10/17/2007 3:09:52 PM

          It is that notion that you describe about legality or illegality of Immigration. In order for you to say that those people who has been toiiling to fend of the U.S. export of agricultural product to foriegn countries while Government of ours are earning billions of Agro revenues behind the backs of these illegal aliens that you see them as. But that is not the question, it is this notion that this country is built for opportunities for all for those who can make it. You give them this opportunity, you will see the fruits of prosperiety that this country for centuries has enjoyed. I believe there is a place for every one for those who plays by the rule and that's what we have to create in our mind.

          Yes, there has to be playing level field in Trade off course. I do not dispute that. We are all for fair trade and your assumption is as such the companies that go overseas and open up businesses there are to exploit cheap labour. It is that they find it easier to invest there. In turn, these companies brings Billions in this country helping the service industry to create jobs with high paying salaries. Anyway, give a company from India or Bangladesh to invest here in the U.S. and see if they make it here? These are the things that Fareed has talked about in a nut shell.

  • Posted By: jaferap @ 10/18/2007 8:56:05 PM

    almost every civilisation in history declined after a particular period becuase of its own follies and arrogance.I'm afraid America also may not be an exception

  • Posted By: jaferap @ 10/18/2007 8:50:35 PM

    every civilisation at the zenith of the power thought that it will stay atop for ever

  • Posted By: langeash @ 10/17/2007 3:12:04 PM

    What a great article! These findings are not surpriing if you accept the idea that the US is an economic and military giant entering a gradaul state of decline. What's ironic is that our tendancy to look back and reject change if the very thing that's likely to hasten our demise, and make us less capable of confronting the challenges of the 21st century. We appear to be in a period similar to that of Victorian England. I have hopes, however, that the younger generations growing up in this global world will embrace, rather than reject it and allow us to conintue to move forward.

  • Posted By: maliagar @ 10/17/2007 2:01:18 PM

    If "illegal" immigrants remain undocumented, it is because U.S. voters don't want them to be legal. Voters enojy the cheaper strawberries and tomatoes and hotel rooms and chicken and meat and other foods and cleaning services, etc. But they don't want to legalize the "aliens". Let us enjoy the cheaper products. Let our companies have bigger profits. Let our governments collect the taxes that result of increased economic activity. But keep THEM illegal. How civilized!

  • Posted By: maliagar @ 10/17/2007 2:00:59 PM

    If "illegal" immigrants remain undocumented, it is because U.S. voters don't want them to be legal. Voters enojy the cheaper strawberries and tomatoes and hotel rooms and chicken and meat and other foods and cleaning services, etc. But they don't want to legalize the "aliens". Let us enjoy the cheaper products. Let our companies have bigger profits. Let our governments collect the taxes that result of increased economic activity. But keep THEM illegal. How civilized!

  • Posted By: Max40 @ 10/16/2007 10:39:09 AM

    What Mr. Zakaria is apparently loathe to point out is that all those "inclusive" western european countries are all dying off, and Mexico is a third world hell hole with tens of thousands of people risking even death in an effort to simply get away from there.
    The reason two men cannot "marry" is because that simply is not what a marriage is. I also cannot marry my father, my SUV, or my left shoe, because again, that is not what marriage is. This is exactly what Orwell warned us of in his book 1984, war is peace, freedom is slavery, 2+2=5, and now apparently two men sodomizing each other is a "marriage". Any people, culture, society, or civilization, that has lost, or abandoned, even the ability to perceive, much less believe in, objective reality, will not, and can not, long endure.

    • Posted By: angelus1967 @ 10/17/2007 1:37:55 PM

      Since when is it possible to equate two people who love each other and want to marry and commit for life to being able to marry and SUV or a SHOE??? This has got to be one of the more intolerant rants that I have read in a long time. I thought marrieage was simply two people who love each other wanting to commit to each other for life. If I am mistaken would you please enlighten me as to what marriage really IS??

  • Posted By: Azim @ 10/17/2007 10:22:21 AM

    Comment: It is unfortunante that the attitude of our Govrnment towards others around the world. has caused aal these tension. In other words we tend to preach other nations about Democracy and open market yet we are the ones that are becoming more of an obstacles in that regard. Mr. Fareed has rightfully shown some statistics that are not encouraging to a country that preaches those values. I believe this attitude may change once there is a new Administration takes over the Presidency of the United States. In the mean time we have to fine tune our attitude that United States can be trusted to doing business with other nations around the world.

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