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Thom's blog
Time to Rethink American Exceptionalism?
Each country thinks that it’s exceptional, and, truth be told, each country really is exceptional in its own special ways. But there’s a difference between celebrating your own unique way of life and thinking that you can do whatever you want and force your way of life onto everyone else. And if we as Americans want to move forward both as a people and as members of the international community, we need to understand this fact and start basing our foreign policy around it.
“American exceptionalism,” the idea that the United States is different or better than other countries, has meant a lot of different things over the years. On the one hand, we’ve used the idea that we’re better than everyone else to justify bullying around countries much smaller than ours. And we’ve also used it to justify invading countries like Mexico and Iraq that were largely minding their own business.
This is the bad side of American exceptionalism. But there’s also a good side to American exceptionalism. For over 200 years, everyday people have used the idea that America is different and special for a lot of noble purposes, like ending slavery and enfranchising women. The idea that everyone should enjoy the “exceptional” core values of American society - “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” - has guided activists and revolutionaries since colonial days, and it will continue to do so well into the future.
In America, like in pretty much every country, it’s a political necessity to say that you love your country and that it’s the best place in the world. This can be a healthy thing, but it can also turn into something toxic when used to assert uniqueness and superiority over other groups.
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Not One More (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."
Need to Know: Not One More- Colin Goddard, Everytown for Gun Safety / V-Tech Survivor.
Screwed: The Link between Unions & Equality- David Laska, New York State Republican Party 
The Best of the Rest...
Your Take / My Take Live: Call Thom LIVE at (202) 904-2134 TONIGHT 7-8pm ET (check local listings)
Geeky Science: Global Warming Strikes Again!
Daily Take: The Problem with American Exceptionalism
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Wednesday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: ‘I Don’t Care if You’re Sorry,’ Do Something! Send a Postcard!!
PLUS, Is it possible that dog people are conservative and cat people liberal?
Quote: "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated" - Maya Angelou. Article: " 2nd Amendment". A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Hour Two: 'No guns' doesn't mean more crime- Timothy Johnson, Media Matters for America
Tweet: "Don't fall into trap of mental health argument. We need better MH but this kid had the top shrinks. It didn't matter. It's a bigger problem." - Michael Moore .
Quote: "I was struck with surprise when I heard him express himself alarmed with respect to the emancipation of slaves" - James Madison".
Hour Three: Ukraine...what's next?- Stephen Cohen, The Nation Magazine
Hour Four: Let's amend the constitution- Peter Schiff, The Peter Schiff Show
BIG announcement...- Sam Seder, Host of the Majority Report / Co-host, Ring of Fire Radio
Quote: " It's class warfare. My class is winning, but they shouldn't be." Warren Buffett", May 25, 2005.
Hour Five: What is 'New Economic Perspectives'?- William K. Black, University of Missouri in Kansas City
Hour Six: your calls
Speech: " A Rendezvous With Destiny", Franklin D. Roosevelt, 27 June 1936 speech to the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. " These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power." Speech: " First Inaugural Address", Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 4 March 1933. "let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
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Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET
Hour One: Billionaire pay gone wild- David Selig, Selig & Associates
Hour Two: Solar...game changer for global warming?- Rhone Resch, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)
Hour Three: Big Energy...using Big Tobacco's 3rd world playbook- Michael T. Klare, The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources
Hour Four: Hey Detroit: running water is a human right!!- Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians / Blue Future: Protecting Water For People And The Planet Forever
PLUS...on the road with the March for Democracy- Kai Newkirk, 99Rise
Hour Five: American exceptionalism...what it should be
BIG announcement...- Sam Seder, Host of the Majority Report / Co-host, Ring of Fire Radio
Hour Six: Could you be fired for being tax delinquent?- Judson Phillips, Tea Party Nation
$15 minimum wage passed by Seattle City Council today!!- Kshama Sawant, Member-Seattle City Council / a leader in the 15 Now campaign / Socialist Alternative member
And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...
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Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET
It's Friday and it's Brunch With Bernie...America's Senator...Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will be here talking about all the important issues of the week and he'll be taking YOUR calls too...
Plus, it's Anything Goes Friday...your turn to pick the topics we talk about...what's on your mind?
And, the best of the rest of the news plus your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"
And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
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Thom's Poll
Should Edward Snowden be granted clemency?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 5/28/14: Is America Exceptional Anymore?
Tonight's "Lone Liberal Rumble" discusses how to fix America's gun violence problem, Obama's latest foreign policy speech and how median CEO pay has now surpassed the $10 million mark. And in tonight's special edition of "Conversations with Great Minds" Thom talks the Koch Brothers with Mother Jones Magazine's Daniel Schulman, author of the new book "Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty."
Ukraine - What's Next?
Let's Amend the Constitution...
BIG Announcement...
No Such Thing as a Political Savior
The True History of the 2nd Amendment
No Guns Doesn't Mean More Crime
Not One More! Send Congress a Postcard...
The Thom Hartmann Program - May 28, 2014 p2
The Thom Hartmann Program-May 28, 2014 p1
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Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village (NESCV) in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow. Can you help? Now on Facebook. |
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